Sample records for special issue software-engineering

  1. Statistical modelling of software reliability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Miller, Douglas R.

    1991-01-01

    During the six-month period from 1 April 1991 to 30 September 1991 the following research papers in statistical modeling of software reliability appeared: (1) A Nonparametric Software Reliability Growth Model; (2) On the Use and the Performance of Software Reliability Growth Models; (3) Research and Development Issues in Software Reliability Engineering; (4) Special Issues on Software; and (5) Software Reliability and Safety.

  2. Special Issue on Creativity at Work.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donnelly, Brian; And Others

    1994-01-01

    Special issue includes "Creativity at the Workplace" (Donnelly); "Creativity Revisited" (Iandoli); interviews with 16 people who work in or teach industrial engineering, software, and graphic design; "On Creativity and Schooling" (Coppola, Iandoli); and "End Notes: What I Learned" (Iandoli). (SK)

  3. NASA Tech Briefs, March 1998. Volume 22, No. 3

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1998-01-01

    Topics include: special coverage of computer aided design and engineering, electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, computer software, special coverage on mechanical technology, machinery/automation, manufacturing/fabrication, mathematics and information sciences, book and reports, and a special section of Electronics Tech Briefs. Profiles of the exhibitors at the National Design Engineering show are also included in this issue.

  4. Avionics Simulation, Development and Software Engineering

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2002-01-01

    During this reporting period, all technical responsibilities were accomplished as planned. A close working relationship was maintained with personnel of the MSFC Avionics Department Software Group (ED14), the MSFC EXPRESS Project Office (FD31), and the Huntsville Boeing Company. Accomplishments included: performing special tasks; supporting Software Review Board (SRB), Avionics Test Bed (ATB), and EXPRESS Software Control Panel (ESCP) activities; participating in technical meetings; and coordinating issues between the Boeing Company and the MSFC Project Office.

  5. Product Engineering Class in the Software Safety Risk Taxonomy for Building Safety-Critical Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hill, Janice; Victor, Daniel

    2008-01-01

    When software safety requirements are imposed on legacy safety-critical systems, retrospective safety cases need to be formulated as part of recertifying the systems for further use and risks must be documented and managed to give confidence for reusing the systems. The SEJ Software Development Risk Taxonomy [4] focuses on general software development issues. It does not, however, cover all the safety risks. The Software Safety Risk Taxonomy [8] was developed which provides a construct for eliciting and categorizing software safety risks in a straightforward manner. In this paper, we present extended work on the taxonomy for safety that incorporates the additional issues inherent in the development and maintenance of safety-critical systems with software. An instrument called a Software Safety Risk Taxonomy Based Questionnaire (TBQ) is generated containing questions addressing each safety attribute in the Software Safety Risk Taxonomy. Software safety risks are surfaced using the new TBQ and then analyzed. In this paper we give the definitions for the specialized Product Engineering Class within the Software Safety Risk Taxonomy. At the end of the paper, we present the tool known as the 'Legacy Systems Risk Database Tool' that is used to collect and analyze the data required to show traceability to a particular safety standard

  6. Evan Weaver | NREL

    Science.gov Websites

    Evan Weaver Photo of Evan Weaver Evan Weaver Researcher III-Software Engineering Evan.Weaver , he works as a software engineer developing whole-building energy modeling tools. Prior to joining NREL, he worked in the biomedical industry as a software engineer, specializing in graphical user

  7. In the soft-to-hard technical spectrum: Where is software engineering?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Leibfried, Theodore F.; Macdonald, Robert B.

    1992-01-01

    In the computer journals and tabloids, there have been a plethora of articles written about the software engineering field. But while advocates of the need for an engineering approach to software development, it is impressive how many authors have treated the subject of software engineering without adequately addressing the fundamentals of what engineering as a discipline consists of. A discussion is presented of the various related facets of this issue in a logical framework to advance the thesis that the software development process is necessarily an engineering process. The purpose is to examine more of the details of the issue of whether or not the design and development of software for digital computer processing systems should be both viewed and treated as a legitimate field of professional engineering. Also, the type of academic and professional level education programs that would be required to support a software engineering discipline is examined.

  8. A Novel Coupling Pattern in Computational Science and Engineering Software

    EPA Science Inventory

    Computational science and engineering (CSE) software is written by experts of certain area(s). Due to the specialization, existing CSE software may need to integrate other CSE software systems developed by different groups of experts. The coupling problem is one of the challenges...

  9. A Novel Coupling Pattern in Computational Science and Engineering Software

    EPA Science Inventory

    Computational science and engineering (CSE) software is written by experts of certain area(s). Due to the specialization,existing CSE software may need to integrate other CSE software systems developed by different groups of experts. Thecoupling problem is one of the challenges f...

  10. Consolidated View on Space Software Engineering Problems - An Empirical Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Silva, N.; Vieira, M.; Ricci, D.; Cotroneo, D.

    2015-09-01

    Independent software verification and validation (ISVV) has been a key process for engineering quality assessment for decades, and is considered in several international standards. The “European Space Agency (ESA) ISVV Guide” is used for the European Space market to drive the ISVV tasks and plans, and to select applicable tasks and techniques. Software artefacts have room for improvement due to the amount if issues found during ISVV tasks. This article presents the analysis of the results of a large set of ISVV issues originated from three different ESA missions-amounting to more than 1000 issues. The study presents the main types, triggers and impacts related to the ISVV issues found and sets the path for a global software engineering improvement based on the most common deficiencies identified for space projects.

  11. Multidisciplinary and Active/Collaborative Approaches in Teaching Requirements Engineering

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosca, Daniela

    2005-01-01

    The requirements engineering course is a core component of the curriculum for the Master's in Software Engineering programme, at Monmouth University (MU). It covers the process, methods and tools specific to this area, together with the corresponding software quality issues. The need to produce software engineers with strong teamwork and…

  12. Materials & Engineering: Propelling Innovation MRS Bulletin Special Issue Session

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Rao, Gopal

    Materials enable engineering; and, engineering in turn depends on materials to transform design concepts and equations into physical entities. This relationship continues to grow with expanding societal demand for new products and processes. MRS Bulletin, a publication of the Materials Research Society (MRS) and Cambridge University Press, planned a special issue for December 2015 on Materials and Engineering: Propelling Innovation. This special issue of MRS Bulletin captured the unique relationship between materials and engineering, which are closely intertwined. A special half day session at the 2015 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston captured this discussion through presentations by high level expertsmore » followed by a panel discussion on what it takes to translate materials discoveries into products to benefit society. The Special Session included presentations by experts who are practitioners in materials as well as engineering applications, followed by a panel discussion. Participants discussed state-of-the-art in materials applications in engineering, as well as how engineering needs have pushed materials developments, as also reflected in the 20 or so articles published in the special issue of MRS Bulletin. As expected, the discussions spanned the broad spectrum of materials and provided very strong interdisciplinary interactions and discussions by participants and presenters.« less

  13. Software engineering as an engineering discipline

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Freedman, Glenn B.

    1988-01-01

    The purpose of this panel is to explore the emerging field of software engineering from a variety of perspectives: university programs; industry training and definition; government development; and technology transfer. In doing this, the panel will address the issues of distinctions among software engineering, computer science, and computer hardware engineering as they relate to the challenges of large, complex systems.

  14. Testing Scientific Software: A Systematic Literature Review.

    PubMed

    Kanewala, Upulee; Bieman, James M

    2014-10-01

    Scientific 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. This study aims to identify specific challenges, proposed solutions, and unsolved problems faced when testing scientific software. We conducted a systematic literature survey to identify and analyze relevant literature. We identified 62 studies that provided relevant information about testing scientific software. We 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. Scientific 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.

  15. Engineering bioinformatics: building reliability, performance and productivity into bioinformatics software.

    PubMed

    Lawlor, Brendan; Walsh, Paul

    2015-01-01

    There is a lack of software engineering skills in bioinformatic contexts. We discuss the consequences of this lack, examine existing explanations and remedies to the problem, point out their shortcomings, and propose alternatives. Previous analyses of the problem have tended to treat the use of software in scientific contexts as categorically different from the general application of software engineering in commercial settings. In contrast, we describe bioinformatic software engineering as a specialization of general software engineering, and examine how it should be practiced. Specifically, we highlight the difference between programming and software engineering, list elements of the latter and present the results of a survey of bioinformatic practitioners which quantifies the extent to which those elements are employed in bioinformatics. We propose that the ideal way to bring engineering values into research projects is to bring engineers themselves. We identify the role of Bioinformatic Engineer and describe how such a role would work within bioinformatic research teams. We conclude by recommending an educational emphasis on cross-training software engineers into life sciences, and propose research on Domain Specific Languages to facilitate collaboration between engineers and bioinformaticians.

  16. Engineering bioinformatics: building reliability, performance and productivity into bioinformatics software

    PubMed Central

    Lawlor, Brendan; Walsh, Paul

    2015-01-01

    There is a lack of software engineering skills in bioinformatic contexts. We discuss the consequences of this lack, examine existing explanations and remedies to the problem, point out their shortcomings, and propose alternatives. Previous analyses of the problem have tended to treat the use of software in scientific contexts as categorically different from the general application of software engineering in commercial settings. In contrast, we describe bioinformatic software engineering as a specialization of general software engineering, and examine how it should be practiced. Specifically, we highlight the difference between programming and software engineering, list elements of the latter and present the results of a survey of bioinformatic practitioners which quantifies the extent to which those elements are employed in bioinformatics. We propose that the ideal way to bring engineering values into research projects is to bring engineers themselves. We identify the role of Bioinformatic Engineer and describe how such a role would work within bioinformatic research teams. We conclude by recommending an educational emphasis on cross-training software engineers into life sciences, and propose research on Domain Specific Languages to facilitate collaboration between engineers and bioinformaticians. PMID:25996054

  17. The MDE Diploma: First International Postgraduate Specialization in Model-Driven Engineering

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cabot, Jordi; Tisi, Massimo

    2011-01-01

    Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is changing the way we build, operate, and maintain our software-intensive systems. Several projects using MDE practices are reporting significant improvements in quality and performance but, to be able to handle these projects, software engineers need a set of technical and interpersonal skills that are currently…

  18. 76 FR 66350 - Eighteenth Meeting: RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-10-26

    ... Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems AGENCY: Federal Aviation.../EUROCAE WG-71 meeting: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems. SUMMARY: The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software...

  19. Software development environments: Status and trends

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Duffel, Larry E.

    1988-01-01

    Currently software engineers are the essential integrating factors tying several components together. The components consist of process, methods, computers, tools, support environments, and software engineers. The engineers today empower the tools versus the tools empowering the engineers. Some of the issues in software engineering are quality, managing the software engineering process, and productivity. A strategy to accomplish this is to promote the evolution of software engineering from an ad hoc, labor intensive activity to a managed, technology supported discipline. This strategy may be implemented by putting the process under management control, adopting appropriate methods, inserting the technology that provides automated support for the process and methods, collecting automated tools into an integrated environment and educating the personnel.

  20. 40 CFR 1033.625 - Special certification provisions for non-locomotive-specific engines.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... name of the engine manufacturer and engine family identifier for the engines. (ii) A brief engineering... proprietary engine software. Note that this allowance to separately submit some of the information required by...

  1. 40 CFR 1033.625 - Special certification provisions for non-locomotive-specific engines.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... name of the engine manufacturer and engine family identifier for the engines. (ii) A brief engineering... proprietary engine software. Note that this allowance to separately submit some of the information required by...

  2. 40 CFR 1033.625 - Special certification provisions for non-locomotive-specific engines.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... name of the engine manufacturer and engine family identifier for the engines. (ii) A brief engineering... proprietary engine software. Note that this allowance to separately submit some of the information required by...

  3. Testing Scientific Software: A Systematic Literature Review

    PubMed Central

    Kanewala, Upulee; Bieman, James M.

    2014-01-01

    Context Scientific 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. Objective This study aims to identify specific challenges, proposed solutions, and unsolved problems faced when testing scientific software. Method We conducted a systematic literature survey to identify and analyze relevant literature. We identified 62 studies that provided relevant information about testing scientific software. Results We 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. Conclusions Scientific 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. PMID:25125798

  4. Is Chinese Software Engineering Professionalizing or Not?: Specialization of Knowledge, Subjective Identification and Professionalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Yan

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: This paper aims to discuss the challenge for the classical idea of professionalism in understanding the Chinese software engineering industry after giving a close insight into the development of this industry as well as individual engineers with a psycho-societal perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The study starts with the general…

  5. Remote Thermal Analysis Through the Internet

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Malroy, Eric T.

    2002-07-01

    The Heater of the Hypersonic Tunnel Facility (HTF) was modeled using SINDA/FLUINT thermal software. A description of the model is given. The project presented the opportunity of interfacing the thermal model with the Internet and was a demonstration that complex analysis is possible through the Internet. Some of the issues that need to be addressed related to interfacing software with the Internet are the following: justification for using the Internet, selection of the web server, choice of the CGI language, security of the system, communication among the parties, maintenance of state between web pages, and simultaneous users on the Internet system. The opportunities available for using the Internet for analysis are many and can present a significant jump in technology. This paper presents a vision how interfacing with the Internet could develop in the future. Using a separate Optical Internet (OI) for analysis, coupled with virtual reality analysis rooms (VRAR), could provide a synergistic environment to couple together engineering analysis within industry, academia, and government. The process of analysis could be broken down into sub-components so that specialization could occur resulting in superior quality, minimized cost and reduced time for engineering analysis and manufacturing. Some possible subcomponents of the system are solver routines, databases, Graphical User Interfaces, engineering design software, VRARs, computer processing, CAD systems, manufacturing, and a plethora of other options only limited by ones imagination. On a larger scope, the specialization of companies on the optical network would allow companies to rapidly construct and reconstruct their infrastructure based on changing economic conditions. This could transform business.

  6. Automatic Parameter Tuning for the Morpheus Vehicle Using Particle Swarm Optimization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Birge, B.

    2013-01-01

    A high fidelity simulation using a PC based Trick framework has been developed for Johnson Space Center's Morpheus test bed flight vehicle. There is an iterative development loop of refining and testing the hardware, refining the software, comparing the software simulation to hardware performance and adjusting either or both the hardware and the simulation to extract the best performance from the hardware as well as the most realistic representation of the hardware from the software. A Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) based technique has been developed that increases speed and accuracy of the iterative development cycle. Parameters in software can be automatically tuned to make the simulation match real world subsystem data from test flights. Special considerations for scale, linearity, discontinuities, can be all but ignored with this technique, allowing fast turnaround both for simulation tune up to match hardware changes as well as during the test and validation phase to help identify hardware issues. Software models with insufficient control authority to match hardware test data can be immediately identified and using this technique requires very little to no specialized knowledge of optimization, freeing model developers to concentrate on spacecraft engineering. Integration of the PSO into the Morpheus development cycle will be discussed as well as a case study highlighting the tool's effectiveness.

  7. 40 CFR 1033.625 - Special certification provisions for non-locomotive-specific engines.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... and engine family identifier for the engines. (ii) A brief engineering analysis describing how the... engine software. Note that this allowance to separately submit some of the information required by § 1033...

  8. 40 CFR 1033.625 - Special certification provisions for non-locomotive-specific engines.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... and engine family identifier for the engines. (ii) A brief engineering analysis describing how the... engine software. Note that this allowance to separately submit some of the information required by § 1033...

  9. Technology Transfer Challenges for High-Assurance Software Engineering Tools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Koga, Dennis (Technical Monitor); Penix, John; Markosian, Lawrence Z.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper, we describe our experience with the challenges thar we are currently facing in our effort to develop advanced software verification and validation tools. We categorize these challenges into several areas: cost benefits modeling, tool usability, customer application domain, and organizational issues. We provide examples of challenges in each area and identrfj, open research issues in areas which limit our ability to transfer high-assurance software engineering tools into practice.

  10. A Role-Playing Game for a Software Engineering Lab: Developing a Product Line

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zuppiroli, Sara; Ciancarini, Paolo; Gabbrielli, Maurizio

    2012-01-01

    Software product line development refers to software engineering practices and techniques for creating families of similar software systems from a basic set of reusable components, called shared assets. Teaching how to deal with software product lines in a university lab course is a challenging task, because there are several practical issues that…

  11. A software engineering approach to expert system design and verification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bochsler, Daniel C.; Goodwin, Mary Ann

    1988-01-01

    Software engineering design and verification methods for developing expert systems are not yet well defined. Integration of expert system technology into software production environments will require effective software engineering methodologies to support the entire life cycle of expert systems. The software engineering methods used to design and verify an expert system, RENEX, is discussed. RENEX demonstrates autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations, including replanning trajectory events and subsystem fault detection, onboard a space vehicle during flight. The RENEX designers utilized a number of software engineering methodologies to deal with the complex problems inherent in this system. An overview is presented of the methods utilized. Details of the verification process receive special emphasis. The benefits and weaknesses of the methods for supporting the development life cycle of expert systems are evaluated, and recommendations are made based on the overall experiences with the methods.

  12. A Guideline of Using Case Method in Software Engineering Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zainal, Dzulaiha Aryanee Putri; Razali, Rozilawati; Shukur, Zarina

    2014-01-01

    Software Engineering (SE) education has been reported to fall short in producing high quality software engineers. In seeking alternative solutions, Case Method (CM) is regarded as having potential to solve the issue. CM is a teaching and learning (T&L) method that has been found to be effective in Social Science education. In principle,…

  13. Engine Structures Modeling Software System (ESMOSS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1991-01-01

    Engine Structures Modeling Software System (ESMOSS) is the development of a specialized software system for the construction of geometric descriptive and discrete analytical models of engine parts, components, and substructures which can be transferred to finite element analysis programs such as NASTRAN. The NASA Lewis Engine Structures Program is concerned with the development of technology for the rational structural design and analysis of advanced gas turbine engines with emphasis on advanced structural analysis, structural dynamics, structural aspects of aeroelasticity, and life prediction. Fundamental and common to all of these developments is the need for geometric and analytical model descriptions at various engine assembly levels which are generated using ESMOSS.

  14. Working Notes from the 1992 AAAI Workshop on Automating Software Design. Theme: Domain Specific Software Design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Keller, Richard M. (Editor); Barstow, David; Lowry, Michael R.; Tong, Christopher H.

    1992-01-01

    The goal of this workshop is to identify different architectural approaches to building domain-specific software design systems and to explore issues unique to domain-specific (vs. general-purpose) software design. Some general issues that cut across the particular software design domain include: (1) knowledge representation, acquisition, and maintenance; (2) specialized software design techniques; and (3) user interaction and user interface.

  15. Software Engineering Education Directory. Software Engineering Curriculum Project

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-05-01

    1986 with a questionnaire mailed to schools selected from Peterson’s Graduate Programs in Engineering and Applied Sciences 1986. We contacted schools...the publi- cation more complete. To discuss any issues related to this report, please contact: Education Program Software Engineering Institute...considered to be required course reading. How to Use This Section This portion of the directory is organized by state (in the U.S.), province (in

  16. Automated software development workstation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prouty, Dale A.; Klahr, Philip

    1988-01-01

    A workstation is being developed that provides a computational environment for all NASA engineers across application boundaries, which automates reuse of existing NASA software and designs, and efficiently and effectively allows new programs and/or designs to be developed, catalogued, and reused. The generic workstation is made domain specific by specialization of the user interface, capturing engineering design expertise for the domain, and by constructing/using a library of pertinent information. The incorporation of software reusability principles and expert system technology into this workstation provide the obvious benefits of increased productivity, improved software use and design reliability, and enhanced engineering quality by bringing engineering to higher levels of abstraction based on a well tested and classified library.

  17. Evaluation and Validation (E&V) Team Public Report. Volume 5

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-10-31

    aspects, software engineering practices, etc. The E&V requirements which are developed will be used to guide the E&V technical effort. The currently...interoperability of Ada software engineering environment tools and data. The scope of the CAIS-A includes the functionality affecting transportability that is...requirement that they be CAIS conforming tools or data. That is, for example numerous CIVC data exist on special purpose software currently available

  18. Software Engineering Infrastructure in a Large Virtual Campus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cristobal, Jesus; Merino, Jorge; Navarro, Antonio; Peralta, Miguel; Roldan, Yolanda; Silveira, Rosa Maria

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: The design, construction and deployment of a large virtual campus are a complex issue. Present virtual campuses are made of several software applications that complement e-learning platforms. In order to develop and maintain such virtual campuses, a complex software engineering infrastructure is needed. This paper aims to analyse the…

  19. Agile Software Teams: How They Engage with Systems Engineering on DoD Acquisition Programs

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-07-01

    under Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineer- ing Institute, a federally funded...issues that would preclude or limit the use of Agile methods within the DoD” [Broadus 2013]. As operational tempos increase and programs fight to...environment in which it operates . This makes software different from other disciplines that have toleranc- es, generally resulting in software engineering

  20. Software Engineering Improvement Plan

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2006-01-01

    In performance of this task order, bd Systems personnel provided support to the Flight Software Branch and the Software Working Group through multiple tasks related to software engineering improvement and to activities of the independent Technical Authority (iTA) Discipline Technical Warrant Holder (DTWH) for software engineering. To ensure that the products, comments, and recommendations complied with customer requirements and the statement of work, bd Systems personnel maintained close coordination with the customer. These personnel performed work in areas such as update of agency requirements and directives database, software effort estimation, software problem reports, a web-based process asset library, miscellaneous documentation review, software system requirements, issue tracking software survey, systems engineering NPR, and project-related reviews. This report contains a summary of the work performed and the accomplishments in each of these areas.

  1. Issues in Software System Safety: Polly Ann Smith Co. versus Ned I. Ludd

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Holloway, C. Michael

    2002-01-01

    This paper is a work of fiction, but it is fiction with a very real purpose: to stimulate careful thought and friendly discussion about some questions for which thought is often careless and discussion is often unfriendly. To accomplish this purpose, the paper creates a fictional legal case. The most important issue in this fictional case is whether certain proffered expert testimony about software engineering for safety critical systems should be admitted. Resolving this issue requires deciding the extent to which current practices and research in software engineering, especially for safety-critical systems, can rightly be considered based on knowledge, rather than opinion.

  2. Averting Denver Airports on a Chip

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sullivan, Kevin J.

    1995-01-01

    As a result of recent advances in software engineering capabilities, we are now in a more stable environment. De-facto hardware and software standards are emerging. Work on software architecture and design patterns signals a consensus on the importance of early system-level design decisions, and agreements on the uses of certain paradigmatic software structures. We now routinely build systems that would have been risky or infeasible a few years ago. Unfortunately, technological developments threaten to destabilize software design again. Systems designed around novel computing and peripheral devices will spark ambitious new projects that will stress current software design and engineering capabilities. Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and related technologies provide the physical basis for new systems with the potential to produce this kind of destabilizing effect. One important response to anticipated software engineering and design difficulties is carefully directed engineering-scientific research. Two specific problems meriting substantial research attention are: A lack of sufficient means to build software systems by generating, extending, specializing, and integrating large-scale reusable components; and a lack of adequate computational and analytic tools to extend and aid engineers in maintaining intellectual control over complex software designs.

  3. Flight software issues in onboard automated planning: lessons learned on EO-1

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tran, Daniel; Chien, Steve; Rabideau, Gregg; Cichy, Benjamin

    2004-01-01

    This paper focuses on the onboard planner and scheduler CASPER, whose core planning engine is based on the ground system ASPEN. Given the challenges of developing flight software, we discuss several of the issues encountered in preparing the planner for flight, including reducing the code image size, determining what data to place within the engineering telemetry packet, and performing long term planning.

  4. Collaborative engineering and design management for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope tracker upgrade

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mollison, Nicholas T.; Hayes, Richard J.; Good, John M.; Booth, John A.; Savage, Richard D.; Jackson, John R.; Rafal, Marc D.; Beno, Joseph H.

    2010-07-01

    The engineering and design of systems as complex as the Hobby-Eberly Telescope's* new tracker require that multiple tasks be executed in parallel and overlapping efforts. When the design of individual subsystems is distributed among multiple organizations, teams, and individuals, challenges can arise with respect to managing design productivity and coordinating successful collaborative exchanges. This paper focuses on design management issues and current practices for the tracker design portion of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Wide Field Upgrade project. The scope of the tracker upgrade requires engineering contributions and input from numerous fields including optics, instrumentation, electromechanics, software controls engineering, and site-operations. Successful system-level integration of tracker subsystems and interfaces is critical to the telescope's ultimate performance in astronomical observation. Software and process controls for design information and workflow management have been implemented to assist the collaborative transfer of tracker design data. The tracker system architecture and selection of subsystem interfaces has also proven to be a determining factor in design task formulation and team communication needs. Interface controls and requirements change controls will be discussed, and critical team interactions are recounted (a group-participation Failure Modes and Effects Analysis [FMEA] is one of special interest). This paper will be of interest to engineers, designers, and managers engaging in multi-disciplinary and parallel engineering projects that require coordination among multiple individuals, teams, and organizations.

  5. Special issue: engineering toxins for 21st-century therapies: introduction.

    PubMed

    Acharya, K Ravi

    2011-12-01

    This special issue on 'Engineering toxins for 21st century therapies' provides a critical review of the current state of multifaceted aspects of toxin research by some of the leading researchers in the field. It also highlights the clinical potential and challenges for development of novel biologics based on engineered toxin derived products. © 2011 The Author Journal compilation © 2011 FEBS.

  6. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1993-01-01

    The workshop provided a forum for software practitioners from around the world to exchange information on the measurement, use, and evaluation of software methods, models, and tools. This year, approximately 450 people attended the workshop, which consisted of six sessions on the following topics: the Software Engineering Laboratory, measurement, technology assessment, advanced concepts, process, and software engineering issues in NASA. Three presentations were given in each of the topic areas. The content of those presentations and the research papers detailing the work reported are included in these proceedings. The workshop concluded with a tutorial session on how to start an Experience Factory.

  7. San Antonio I Software Workshop Proceedings. DoD Software for the 1990s, Held in San Antonio, Texas on 28 January - 1 February 1991

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-12-01

    management and engineering issues common to the military-industrial complex, - to learn from past experience, - to understand future software...prospective policy documents. - :Prepare a draft issue paper and presentation for the DAE. These items should address the key implementation issues with...respect to MCCR software metrics and establish a clear need for DAE support. Long Term Actions ( past 12-18 mcnths) ... Draft final implementation

  8. Pratt and Whitney Overview and Advanced Health Management Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Inabinett, Calvin

    2008-01-01

    Hardware Development Activity: Design and Test Custom Multi-layer Circuit Boards for use in the Fault Emulation Unit; Logic design performed using VHDL; Layout power system for lab hardware; Work lab issues with software developers and software testers; Interface with Engine Systems personnel with performance of Engine hardware components; Perform off nominal testing with new engine hardware.

  9. Use of Soft Computing Technologies for a Qualitative and Reliable Engine Control System for Propulsion Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Trevino, Luis; Brown, Terry; Crumbley, R. T. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    The problem to be addressed in this paper is to explore how the use of Soft Computing Technologies (SCT) could be employed to improve overall vehicle system safety, reliability, and rocket engine performance by development of a qualitative and reliable engine control system (QRECS). Specifically, this will be addressed by enhancing rocket engine control using SCT, innovative data mining tools, and sound software engineering practices used in Marshall's Flight Software Group (FSG). The principle goals for addressing the issue of quality are to improve software management, software development time, software maintenance, processor execution, fault tolerance and mitigation, and nonlinear control in power level transitions. The intent is not to discuss any shortcomings of existing engine control methodologies, but to provide alternative design choices for control, implementation, performance, and sustaining engineering, all relative to addressing the issue of reliability. The approaches outlined in this paper will require knowledge in the fields of rocket engine propulsion (system level), software engineering for embedded flight software systems, and soft computing technologies (i.e., neural networks, fuzzy logic, data mining, and Bayesian belief networks); some of which are briefed in this paper. For this effort, the targeted demonstration rocket engine testbed is the MC-1 engine (formerly FASTRAC) which is simulated with hardware and software in the Marshall Avionics & Software Testbed (MAST) laboratory that currently resides at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, building 4476, and is managed by the Avionics Department. A brief plan of action for design, development, implementation, and testing a Phase One effort for QRECS is given, along with expected results. Phase One will focus on development of a Smart Start Engine Module and a Mainstage Engine Module for proper engine start and mainstage engine operations. The overall intent is to demonstrate that by employing soft computing technologies, the quality and reliability of the overall scheme to engine controller development is further improved and vehicle safety is further insured. The final product that this paper proposes is an approach to development of an alternative low cost engine controller that would be capable of performing in unique vision spacecraft vehicles requiring low cost advanced avionics architectures for autonomous operations from engine pre-start to engine shutdown.

  10. Adaptive Optimization of Aircraft Engine Performance Using Neural Networks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Simon, Donald L.; Long, Theresa W.

    1995-01-01

    Preliminary results are presented on the development of an adaptive neural network based control algorithm to enhance aircraft engine performance. This work builds upon a previous National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) effort known as Performance Seeking Control (PSC). PSC is an adaptive control algorithm which contains a model of the aircraft's propulsion system which is updated on-line to match the operation of the aircraft's actual propulsion system. Information from the on-line model is used to adapt the control system during flight to allow optimal operation of the aircraft's propulsion system (inlet, engine, and nozzle) to improve aircraft engine performance without compromising reliability or operability. Performance Seeking Control has been shown to yield reductions in fuel flow, increases in thrust, and reductions in engine fan turbine inlet temperature. The neural network based adaptive control, like PSC, will contain a model of the propulsion system which will be used to calculate optimal control commands on-line. Hopes are that it will be able to provide some additional benefits above and beyond those of PSC. The PSC algorithm is computationally intensive, it is valid only at near steady-state flight conditions, and it has no way to adapt or learn on-line. These issues are being addressed in the development of the optimal neural controller. Specialized neural network processing hardware is being developed to run the software, the algorithm will be valid at steady-state and transient conditions, and will take advantage of the on-line learning capability of neural networks. Future plans include testing the neural network software and hardware prototype against an aircraft engine simulation. In this paper, the proposed neural network software and hardware is described and preliminary neural network training results are presented.

  11. On Correlated Failures in Survivable Storage Systems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2002-05-01

    Littlewood, D.R. Miller, “Conceptual modeling of coincident failures in multiversion software”, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Volume: 15 Issue...Recovery in Multiversion Software”. IEEE Transaction on Software Engineering, Vol. 16 No.3, March 1990 [Plank1997] J. Plank “A tutorial on Reed-Solomon

  12. Information Systems and Software Engineering Research and Education in Oulu until the 1990s

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oinas-Kukkonen, Henry; Kerola, Pentti; Oinas-Kukkonen, Harri; Similä, Jouni; Pulli, Petri

    This paper discusses the internationalization of software business in the Oulu region. Despite its small size, the region grew rapidly and very successfully into a global information and communication technology business center. The University of Oulu, which was the northern most university in the world at the time of its establishment (1958) had a strong emphasis on engineering since its very beginning. Research on electronics was carried out since the early 1960s. Later, when the Department of Information Processing Science was founded in 1969, research on information systems and later also on software engineering was carried out. This paper discusses the role of the information systems and software engineering research for the business growth of the region. Special emphasis is put on understanding the role of system-theoretical and software development expertise for transferring research knowledge into practice.

  13. The State of Software for Evolutionary Biology.

    PubMed

    Darriba, Diego; Flouri, Tomáš; Stamatakis, Alexandros

    2018-05-01

    With Next Generation Sequencing data being routinely used, evolutionary biology is transforming into a computational science. Thus, researchers have to rely on a growing number of increasingly complex software. All widely used core tools in the field have grown considerably, in terms of the number of features as well as lines of code and consequently, also with respect to software complexity. A topic that has received little attention is the software engineering quality of widely used core analysis tools. Software developers appear to rarely assess the quality of their code, and this can have potential negative consequences for end-users. To this end, we assessed the code quality of 16 highly cited and compute-intensive tools mainly written in C/C++ (e.g., MrBayes, MAFFT, SweepFinder, etc.) and JAVA (BEAST) from the broader area of evolutionary biology that are being routinely used in current data analysis pipelines. Because, the software engineering quality of the tools we analyzed is rather unsatisfying, we provide a list of best practices for improving the quality of existing tools and list techniques that can be deployed for developing reliable, high quality scientific software from scratch. Finally, we also discuss journal as well as science policy and, more importantly, funding issues that need to be addressed for improving software engineering quality as well as ensuring support for developing new and maintaining existing software. Our intention is to raise the awareness of the community regarding software engineering quality issues and to emphasize the substantial lack of funding for scientific software development.

  14. Peeling the Onion: Okapi System Architecture and Software Design Issues.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, S.; And Others

    1997-01-01

    Discusses software design issues for Okapi, an information retrieval system that incorporates both search engine and user interface and supports weighted searching, relevance feedback, and query expansion. The basic search system, adjacency searching, and moving toward a distributed system are discussed. (Author/LRW)

  15. Repository-based software engineering program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilson, James

    1992-01-01

    The activities performed during September 1992 in support of Tasks 01 and 02 of the Repository-Based Software Engineering Program are outlined. The recommendations and implementation strategy defined at the September 9-10 meeting of the Reuse Acquisition Action Team (RAAT) are attached along with the viewgraphs and reference information presented at the Institute for Defense Analyses brief on legal and patent issues related to software reuse.

  16. Continuous integration for concurrent MOOSE framework and application development on GitHub

    DOE PAGES

    Slaughter, Andrew E.; Peterson, John W.; Gaston, Derek R.; ...

    2015-11-20

    For the past several years, Idaho National Laboratory’s MOOSE framework team has employed modern software engineering techniques (continuous integration, joint application/framework source code repos- itories, automated regression testing, etc.) in developing closed-source multiphysics simulation software (Gaston et al., Journal of Open Research Software vol. 2, article e10, 2014). In March 2014, the MOOSE framework was released under an open source license on GitHub, significantly expanding and diversifying the pool of current active and potential future contributors on the project. Despite this recent growth, the same philosophy of concurrent framework and application development continues to guide the project’s development roadmap. Severalmore » specific practices, including techniques for managing multiple repositories, conducting automated regression testing, and implementing a cascading build process are discussed in this short paper. Furthermore, special attention is given to describing the manner in which these practices naturally synergize with the GitHub API and GitHub-specific features such as issue tracking, Pull Requests, and project forks.« less

  17. Continuous integration for concurrent MOOSE framework and application development on GitHub

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Slaughter, Andrew E.; Peterson, John W.; Gaston, Derek R.

    For the past several years, Idaho National Laboratory’s MOOSE framework team has employed modern software engineering techniques (continuous integration, joint application/framework source code repos- itories, automated regression testing, etc.) in developing closed-source multiphysics simulation software (Gaston et al., Journal of Open Research Software vol. 2, article e10, 2014). In March 2014, the MOOSE framework was released under an open source license on GitHub, significantly expanding and diversifying the pool of current active and potential future contributors on the project. Despite this recent growth, the same philosophy of concurrent framework and application development continues to guide the project’s development roadmap. Severalmore » specific practices, including techniques for managing multiple repositories, conducting automated regression testing, and implementing a cascading build process are discussed in this short paper. Furthermore, special attention is given to describing the manner in which these practices naturally synergize with the GitHub API and GitHub-specific features such as issue tracking, Pull Requests, and project forks.« less

  18. 33 CFR 322.5 - Special policies.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 322.5 Navigation and Navigable Waters CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, DEPARTMENT OF... Special policies. The Secretary of the Army has delegated to the Chief of Engineers the authority to issue...), the district engineer will review the applicant's provisions for siting, constructing, monitoring...

  19. 33 CFR 322.5 - Special policies.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 322.5 Navigation and Navigable Waters CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, DEPARTMENT OF... Special policies. The Secretary of the Army has delegated to the Chief of Engineers the authority to issue...), the district engineer will review the applicant's provisions for siting, constructing, monitoring...

  20. 33 CFR 322.5 - Special policies.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 322.5 Navigation and Navigable Waters CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, DEPARTMENT OF... Special policies. The Secretary of the Army has delegated to the Chief of Engineers the authority to issue...), the district engineer will review the applicant's provisions for siting, constructing, monitoring...

  1. System Re-engineering Project Executive Summary

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-11-01

    Management Information System (STAMIS) application. This project involved reverse engineering, evaluation of structured design and object-oriented design, and re- implementation of the system in Ada. This executive summary presents the approach to re-engineering the system, the lessons learned while going through the process, and issues to be considered in future tasks of this nature.... Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE), Distributed Software, Ada, COBOL, Systems Analysis, Systems Design, Life Cycle Development, Functional Decomposition, Object-Oriented

  2. Special Issue: 3D Printing for Biomedical Engineering.

    PubMed

    Chua, Chee Kai; Yeong, Wai Yee; An, Jia

    2017-02-28

    Three-dimensional (3D) printing has a long history of applications in biomedical engineering. The development and expansion of traditional biomedical applications are being advanced and enriched by new printing technologies. New biomedical applications such as bioprinting are highly attractive and trendy. This Special Issue aims to provide readers with a glimpse of the recent profile of 3D printing in biomedical research.

  3. Proceedings of the Workshop on software tools for distributed intelligent control systems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Herget, C.J.

    1990-09-01

    The Workshop on Software Tools for Distributed Intelligent Control Systems was organized by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the United States Army Headquarters Training and Doctrine Command and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The goals of the workshop were to the identify the current state of the art in tools which support control systems engineering design and implementation, identify research issues associated with writing software tools which would provide a design environment to assist engineers in multidisciplinary control design and implementation, formulate a potential investment strategy to resolve the research issues and develop public domain code which can formmore » the core of more powerful engineering design tools, and recommend test cases to focus the software development process and test associated performance metrics. Recognizing that the development of software tools for distributed intelligent control systems will require a multidisciplinary effort, experts in systems engineering, control systems engineering, and compute science were invited to participate in the workshop. In particular, experts who could address the following topics were selected: operating systems, engineering data representation and manipulation, emerging standards for manufacturing data, mathematical foundations, coupling of symbolic and numerical computation, user interface, system identification, system representation at different levels of abstraction, system specification, system design, verification and validation, automatic code generation, and integration of modular, reusable code.« less

  4. Bringing the Unidata IDV to the Cloud

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fisher, W. I.; Oxelson Ganter, J.

    2015-12-01

    Maintaining software compatibility across new computing environments and the associated underlying hardware is a common problem for software engineers and scientific programmers. While traditional software engineering provides a suite of tools and methodologies which may mitigate this issue, they are typically ignored by developers lacking a background in software engineering. Causing further problems, these methodologies are best applied at the start of project; trying to apply them to an existing, mature project can require an immense effort. Visualization software is particularly vulnerable to this problem, given the inherent dependency on particular graphics hardware and software API's. As a result of these issues, there exists a large body of software which is simultaneously critical to the scientists who are dependent upon it, and yet increasingly difficult to maintain.The solution to this problem was partially provided with the advent of Cloud Computing; Application Streaming. This technology allows a program to run entirely on a remote virtual machine while still allowing for interactivity and dynamic visualizations, with little-to-no re-engineering required. When coupled with containerization technology such as Docker, we are able to easily bring the same visualization software to a desktop, a netbook, a smartphone, and the next generation of hardware, whatever it may be.Unidata has been able to harness Application Streaming to provide a tablet-compatible version of our visualization software, the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV). This work will examine the challenges associated with adapting the IDV to an application streaming platform, and include a brief discussion of the underlying technologies involved.

  5. The State of Software for Evolutionary Biology

    PubMed Central

    Darriba, Diego; Flouri, Tomáš; Stamatakis, Alexandros

    2018-01-01

    Abstract With Next Generation Sequencing data being routinely used, evolutionary biology is transforming into a computational science. Thus, researchers have to rely on a growing number of increasingly complex software. All widely used core tools in the field have grown considerably, in terms of the number of features as well as lines of code and consequently, also with respect to software complexity. A topic that has received little attention is the software engineering quality of widely used core analysis tools. Software developers appear to rarely assess the quality of their code, and this can have potential negative consequences for end-users. To this end, we assessed the code quality of 16 highly cited and compute-intensive tools mainly written in C/C++ (e.g., MrBayes, MAFFT, SweepFinder, etc.) and JAVA (BEAST) from the broader area of evolutionary biology that are being routinely used in current data analysis pipelines. Because, the software engineering quality of the tools we analyzed is rather unsatisfying, we provide a list of best practices for improving the quality of existing tools and list techniques that can be deployed for developing reliable, high quality scientific software from scratch. Finally, we also discuss journal as well as science policy and, more importantly, funding issues that need to be addressed for improving software engineering quality as well as ensuring support for developing new and maintaining existing software. Our intention is to raise the awareness of the community regarding software engineering quality issues and to emphasize the substantial lack of funding for scientific software development. PMID:29385525

  6. Guide to Special Information in Scientific and Engineering Journals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harris, Mary Elizabeth

    This annotated bibliography lists 203 special features or special issues of science and technology periodicals with emphasis on compilations of information that appear in periodicals on a regular basis. Subjects covered in the guide include aeronautics, air-conditioning and refrigeration engineering, astronomy, automobiles, biology, botany,…

  7. Professional Ethics of Software Engineers: An Ethical Framework.

    PubMed

    Lurie, Yotam; Mark, Shlomo

    2016-04-01

    The purpose of this article is to propose an ethical framework for software engineers that connects software developers' ethical responsibilities directly to their professional standards. The implementation of such an ethical framework can overcome the traditional dichotomy between professional skills and ethical skills, which plagues the engineering professions, by proposing an approach to the fundamental tasks of the practitioner, i.e., software development, in which the professional standards are intrinsically connected to the ethical responsibilities. In so doing, the ethical framework improves the practitioner's professionalism and ethics. We call this approach Ethical-Driven Software Development (EDSD), as an approach to software development. EDSD manifests the advantages of an ethical framework as an alternative to the all too familiar approach in professional ethics that advocates "stand-alone codes of ethics". We believe that one outcome of this synergy between professional and ethical skills is simply better engineers. Moreover, since there are often different software solutions, which the engineer can provide to an issue at stake, the ethical framework provides a guiding principle, within the process of software development, that helps the engineer evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different software solutions. It does not and cannot affect the end-product in and of-itself. However, it can and should, make the software engineer more conscious and aware of the ethical ramifications of certain engineering decisions within the process.

  8. Research flight software engineering and MUST, an integrated system of support tools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Straeter, T. A.; Foudriat, E. C.; Will, R. W.

    1977-01-01

    Consideration is given to software development to support NASA flight research. The Multipurpose User-Oriented Software Technology (MUST) program, designed to integrate digital systems into flight research, is discussed. Particular attention is given to the program's special interactive user interface, subroutine library, assemblers, compiler, automatic documentation tools, and test and simulation subsystems.

  9. Preparation guide for class B software specification documents

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tausworthe, R. C.

    1979-01-01

    General conceptual requirements and specific application rules and procedures are provided for the production of software specification documents in conformance with deep space network software standards and class B standards. Class B documentation is identified as the appropriate level applicable to implementation, sustaining engineering, and operational uses by qualified personnel. Special characteristics of class B documents are defined.

  10. CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 19, Number 11

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-11-01

    8>. 7. Wallace, Delores R. Practical Soft- ware Reliability Modeling. Proc. of the 26th Annual NASA Goddard Software Engineering Workshop, Nov. 2001...STAR WARS TO STAR TREK To Request Back Issues on Topics Not Listed Above, Please Contact <stsc. customerservice@hill.af.mil>. About the Authors Kym

  11. Special Issue: 3D Printing for Biomedical Engineering

    PubMed Central

    Chua, Chee Kai; Yeong, Wai Yee; An, Jia

    2017-01-01

    Three-dimensional (3D) printing has a long history of applications in biomedical engineering. The development and expansion of traditional biomedical applications are being advanced and enriched by new printing technologies. New biomedical applications such as bioprinting are highly attractive and trendy. This Special Issue aims to provide readers with a glimpse of the recent profile of 3D printing in biomedical research. PMID:28772604

  12. Uncovering Student Values for Hiring in the Software Industry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chinn, Donald; Vandegrift, Tammy

    2008-01-01

    This article provides an analysis of student responses to an exercise used in a computer ethics and a software engineering course to raise awareness of issues related to hiring, including issues of professional responsibility and diversity. Students from two different universities were asked to evaluate four candidates for two positions in a…

  13. Feasibility of using a knowledge-based system concept for in-flight primary flight display research

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ricks, Wendell R.

    1991-01-01

    A study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using knowledge-based systems architectures for inflight research of primary flight display information management issues. The feasibility relied on the ability to integrate knowledge-based systems with existing onboard aircraft systems. And, given the hardware and software platforms available, the feasibility also depended on the ability to use interpreted LISP software with the real time operation of the primary flight display. In addition to evaluating these feasibility issues, the study determined whether the software engineering advantages of knowledge-based systems found for this application in the earlier workstation study extended to the inflight research environment. To study these issues, two integrated knowledge-based systems were designed to control the primary flight display according to pre-existing specifications of an ongoing primary flight display information management research effort. These two systems were implemented to assess the feasibility and software engineering issues listed. Flight test results were successful in showing the feasibility of using knowledge-based systems inflight with actual aircraft data.

  14. Second International Workshop on Software Engineering and Code Design in Parallel Meteorological and Oceanographic Applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    OKeefe, Matthew (Editor); Kerr, Christopher L. (Editor)

    1998-01-01

    This report contains the abstracts and technical papers from the Second International Workshop on Software Engineering and Code Design in Parallel Meteorological and Oceanographic Applications, held June 15-18, 1998, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The purpose of the workshop is to bring together software developers in meteorology and oceanography to discuss software engineering and code design issues for parallel architectures, including Massively Parallel Processors (MPP's), Parallel Vector Processors (PVP's), Symmetric Multi-Processors (SMP's), Distributed Shared Memory (DSM) multi-processors, and clusters. Issues to be discussed include: (1) code architectures for current parallel models, including basic data structures, storage allocation, variable naming conventions, coding rules and styles, i/o and pre/post-processing of data; (2) designing modular code; (3) load balancing and domain decomposition; (4) techniques that exploit parallelism efficiently yet hide the machine-related details from the programmer; (5) tools for making the programmer more productive; and (6) the proliferation of programming models (F--, OpenMP, MPI, and HPF).

  15. NASA Software Engineering Benchmarking Study

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rarick, Heather L.; Godfrey, Sara H.; Kelly, John C.; Crumbley, Robert T.; Wifl, Joel M.

    2013-01-01

    To identify best practices for the improvement of software engineering on projects, NASA's Offices of Chief Engineer (OCE) and Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) formed a team led by Heather Rarick and Sally Godfrey to conduct this benchmarking study. The primary goals of the study are to identify best practices that: Improve the management and technical development of software intensive systems; Have a track record of successful deployment by aerospace industries, universities [including research and development (R&D) laboratories], and defense services, as well as NASA's own component Centers; and Identify candidate solutions for NASA's software issues. Beginning in the late fall of 2010, focus topics were chosen and interview questions were developed, based on the NASA top software challenges. Between February 2011 and November 2011, the Benchmark Team interviewed a total of 18 organizations, consisting of five NASA Centers, five industry organizations, four defense services organizations, and four university or university R and D laboratory organizations. A software assurance representative also participated in each of the interviews to focus on assurance and software safety best practices. Interviewees provided a wealth of information on each topic area that included: software policy, software acquisition, software assurance, testing, training, maintaining rigor in small projects, metrics, and use of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) framework, as well as a number of special topics that came up in the discussions. NASA's software engineering practices compared favorably with the external organizations in most benchmark areas, but in every topic, there were ways in which NASA could improve its practices. Compared to defense services organizations and some of the industry organizations, one of NASA's notable weaknesses involved communication with contractors regarding its policies and requirements for acquired software. One of NASA's strengths was its software assurance practices, which seemed to rate well in comparison to the other organizational groups and also seemed to include a larger scope of activities. An unexpected benefit of the software benchmarking study was the identification of many opportunities for collaboration in areas including metrics, training, sharing of CMMI experiences and resources such as instructors and CMMI Lead Appraisers, and even sharing of assets such as documented processes. A further unexpected benefit of the study was the feedback on NASA practices that was received from some of the organizations interviewed. From that feedback, other potential areas where NASA could improve were highlighted, such as accuracy of software cost estimation and budgetary practices. The detailed report contains discussion of the practices noted in each of the topic areas, as well as a summary of observations and recommendations from each of the topic areas. The resulting 24 recommendations from the topic areas were then consolidated to eliminate duplication and culled into a set of 14 suggested actionable recommendations. This final set of actionable recommendations, listed below, are items that can be implemented to improve NASA's software engineering practices and to help address many of the items that were listed in the NASA top software engineering issues. 1. Develop and implement standard contract language for software procurements. 2. Advance accurate and trusted software cost estimates for both procured and in-house software and improve the capture of actual cost data to facilitate further improvements. 3. Establish a consistent set of objectives and expectations, specifically types of metrics at the Agency level, so key trends and models can be identified and used to continuously improve software processes and each software development effort. 4. Maintain the CMMI Maturity Level requirement for critical NASA projects and use CMMI to measure organizations developing software for NASA. 5.onsolidate, collect and, if needed, develop common processes principles and other assets across the Agency in order to provide more consistency in software development and acquisition practices and to reduce the overall cost of maintaining or increasing current NASA CMMI maturity levels. 6. Provide additional support for small projects that includes: (a) guidance for appropriate tailoring of requirements for small projects, (b) availability of suitable tools, including support tool set-up and training, and (c) training for small project personnel, assurance personnel and technical authorities on the acceptable options for tailoring requirements and performing assurance on small projects. 7. Develop software training classes for the more experienced software engineers using on-line training, videos, or small separate modules of training that can be accommodated as needed throughout a project. 8. Create guidelines to structure non-classroom training opportunities such as mentoring, peer reviews, lessons learned sessions, and on-the-job training. 9. Develop a set of predictive software defect data and a process for assessing software testing metric data against it. 10. Assess Agency-wide licenses for commonly used software tools. 11. Fill the knowledge gap in common software engineering practices for new hires and co-ops.12. Work through the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program with universities in strengthening education in the use of common software engineering practices and standards. 13. Follow up this benchmark study with a deeper look into what both internal and external organizations perceive as the scope of software assurance, the value they expect to obtain from it, and the shortcomings they experience in the current practice. 14. Continue interactions with external software engineering environment through collaborations, knowledge sharing, and benchmarking.

  16. Issues in Software Engineering of Relevance to Instructional Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Douglas, Ian

    2006-01-01

    Software engineering is popularly misconceived as being an upmarket term for programming. In a way, this is akin to characterizing instructional design as the process of creating PowerPoint slides. In both these areas, the construction of systems, whether they are learning or computer systems, is only one part of a systematic process. The most…

  17. Software Engineering for User Interfaces. Technical Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Draper, Stephen W.; Norman, Donald A.

    The discipline of software engineering can be extended in a natural way to deal with the issues raised by a systematic approach to the design of human-machine interfaces. The user should be treated as part of the system being designed and projects should be organized to take into account the current lack of a priori knowledge of user interface…

  18. Collaboration in Global Software Engineering Based on Process Description Integration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klein, Harald; Rausch, Andreas; Fischer, Edward

    Globalization is one of the big trends in software development. Development projects need a variety of different resources with appropriate expert knowledge to be successful. More and more of these resources are nowadays obtained from specialized organizations and countries all over the world, varying in development approaches, processes, and culture. As seen with early outsourcing attempts, collaboration may fail due to these differences. Hence, the major challenge in global software engineering is to streamline collaborating organizations towards a successful conjoint development. Based on typical collaboration scenarios, this paper presents a structured approach to integrate processes in a comprehensible way.

  19. A special issue on reviews in biomedical applications of nanomaterials, tissue engineering, stem cells, bioimaging, and toxicity.

    PubMed

    Nalwa, Hari Singh

    2014-10-01

    This second special issue of the Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology in a series contains another 30 state-of-the-art reviews focused on the biomedical applications of nanomaterials, biosensors, bone tissue engineering, MRI and bioimaging, single-cell detection, stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells, toxicity and biosafety of nanodrugs, nanoparticle-based new therapeutic approaches for cancer, hepatic and cardiovascular disease.

  20. 14 CFR 21.21 - Issue of type certificate: normal, utility, acrobatic, commuter, and transport category aircraft...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ...; aircraft engines; propellers. 21.21 Section 21.21 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION...; manned free balloons; special classes of aircraft; aircraft engines; propellers. An applicant is entitled... category, or for a manned free balloon, special class of aircraft, or an aircraft engine or propeller, if...

  1. 14 CFR 21.21 - Issue of type certificate: normal, utility, acrobatic, commuter, and transport category aircraft...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ...; aircraft engines; propellers. 21.21 Section 21.21 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION...; manned free balloons; special classes of aircraft; aircraft engines; propellers. Link to an amendment..., special class of aircraft, or an aircraft engine or propeller, if— (a) The product qualifies under § 21.27...

  2. 14 CFR 21.21 - Issue of type certificate: normal, utility, acrobatic, commuter, and transport category aircraft...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ...; aircraft engines; propellers. 21.21 Section 21.21 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION...; manned free balloons; special classes of aircraft; aircraft engines; propellers. An applicant is entitled... category, or for a manned free balloon, special class of aircraft, or an aircraft engine or propeller, if...

  3. 14 CFR 21.21 - Issue of type certificate: normal, utility, acrobatic, commuter, and transport category aircraft...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ...; aircraft engines; propellers. 21.21 Section 21.21 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION...; manned free balloons; special classes of aircraft; aircraft engines; propellers. An applicant is entitled... category, or for a manned free balloon, special class of aircraft, or an aircraft engine or propeller, if...

  4. Applying object-oriented software engineering at the BaBar collaboration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacobsen, Bob; BaBar Collaboration Reconstruction Software Group

    1997-02-01

    The BaBar experiment at SLAC will start taking data in 1999. We are attempting to build its reconstruction software using good software engineering practices, including the use of object-oriented technology. We summarize our experience to date with analysis and design activities, training, CASE and documentation tools, C++ programming practice and similar topics. The emphasis is on the practical issues of simultaneously introducing new techniques to a large collaboration while under a deadline for system delivery.

  5. Research on Impact Stress and Fatigue Simulation of a New Down-to-the-Hole Impactor Based on ANSYS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Tao; Wang, Wei; Yao, Aiguo; Li, Yongbo; He, Wangyong; Fei, Dongdong

    2018-06-01

    In the present work, a down-to-the-hole electric hammer driven by linear motor is reported for drilling engineering. It differs from the common hydraulic or pneumatic hammers in that it can be applied to some special occasions without circulating medium due to its independence of the drilling fluid. The impact stress caused by the reciprocating motion between stator and rotor and the fatigue damage in key components of linear motor are analyzed by the ANSYS Workbench software and 3D model. Based on simulation results, the hammer's structure is optimized by using special sliding bearing, increasing the wall thickness of key and multilayer buffer gasket. Fatigue life and coefficient issues of the new structure are dramatically improved. However buffer gasket reduces the impactor's energy, different bumper structure effect on life improving and energy loss have also been elaborated.

  6. Editorial: Special Issue on Experimental Vibration Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Serra, Roger

    2018-04-01

    The vibratory analyses are particularly present today in the various fields of industry, from aeronautics to manufacturing, from machining and maintenance to civil engineering, to mention a few areas, which have made this special issue a true need. The International Journal of Mechanics & Industry compiles a Special Issue on Experimental Vibration Analysis. More than thirty manuscripts were received by the international scientific committee on the 6th congress AVE2016 and only eight papers have been selected after completing a careful and rigorous peer-review process for the Special Issue, which are briefly summarized below.

  7. The making of the mechanical universe

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Blinn, James

    1989-01-01

    The Mechanical Universe project required the production of over 550 different animated scenes, totaling about 7 and 1/2 hours of screen time. The project required the use of a wide range of techniques and motivated the development of several different software packages. A documentation is presented of many aspects of the project, encompassing artistic design issues, scientific simulations, software engineering, and video engineering.

  8. 77 FR 2015 - Special Conditions: Pratt and Whitney Canada Model PW210S Turboshaft Engine

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-01-13

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 33 [Docket No. NE130; Special Conditions No. 33-008-SC] Special Conditions: Pratt and Whitney Canada Model PW210S Turboshaft Engine Correction In rule document 2011-14113 appearing on pages 33981-33982 in the issue of Friday, June...

  9. 40 CFR 86.1830-01 - Acceptance of vehicles for emission testing.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... good engineering judgment. (3) Test vehicles must have air conditioning installed and operational if... whole-vehicle cycle, all emission-related hardware and software must be installed and operational during.... Manufacturers shall use good engineering judgment in making such determinations. (c) Special provisions for...

  10. 40 CFR 86.1830-01 - Acceptance of vehicles for emission testing.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... good engineering judgment. (3) Test vehicles must have air conditioning installed and operational if... whole-vehicle cycle, all emission-related hardware and software must be installed and operational during.... Manufacturers shall use good engineering judgment in making such determinations. (c) Special provisions for...

  11. 40 CFR 86.1830-01 - Acceptance of vehicles for emission testing.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... good engineering judgment. (3) Test vehicles must have air conditioning installed and operational if... whole-vehicle cycle, all emission-related hardware and software must be installed and operational during.... Manufacturers shall use good engineering judgment in making such determinations. (c) Special provisions for...

  12. TriBITS lifecycle model. Version 1.0, a lean/agile software lifecycle model for research-based computational science and engineering and applied mathematical software.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Willenbring, James M.; Bartlett, Roscoe Ainsworth; Heroux, Michael Allen

    2012-01-01

    Software lifecycles are becoming an increasingly important issue for computational science and engineering (CSE) software. The process by which a piece of CSE software begins life as a set of research requirements and then matures into a trusted high-quality capability is both commonplace and extremely challenging. Although an implicit lifecycle is obviously being used in any effort, the challenges of this process - respecting the competing needs of research vs. production - cannot be overstated. Here we describe a proposal for a well-defined software lifecycle process based on modern Lean/Agile software engineering principles. What we propose is appropriate for manymore » CSE software projects that are initially heavily focused on research but also are expected to eventually produce usable high-quality capabilities. The model is related to TriBITS, a build, integration and testing system, which serves as a strong foundation for this lifecycle model, and aspects of this lifecycle model are ingrained in the TriBITS system. Here, we advocate three to four phases or maturity levels that address the appropriate handling of many issues associated with the transition from research to production software. The goals of this lifecycle model are to better communicate maturity levels with customers and to help to identify and promote Software Engineering (SE) practices that will help to improve productivity and produce better software. An important collection of software in this domain is Trilinos, which is used as the motivation and the initial target for this lifecycle model. However, many other related and similar CSE (and non-CSE) software projects can also make good use of this lifecycle model, especially those that use the TriBITS system. Indeed this lifecycle process, if followed, will enable large-scale sustainable integration of many complex CSE software efforts across several institutions.« less

  13. Securing mobile code.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Link, Hamilton E.; Schroeppel, Richard Crabtree; Neumann, William Douglas

    2004-10-01

    If software is designed so that the software can issue functions that will move that software from one computing platform to another, then the software is said to be 'mobile'. There are two general areas of security problems associated with mobile code. The 'secure host' problem involves protecting the host from malicious mobile code. The 'secure mobile code' problem, on the other hand, involves protecting the code from malicious hosts. This report focuses on the latter problem. We have found three distinct camps of opinions regarding how to secure mobile code. There are those who believe special distributed hardware ismore » necessary, those who believe special distributed software is necessary, and those who believe neither is necessary. We examine all three camps, with a focus on the third. In the distributed software camp we examine some commonly proposed techniques including Java, D'Agents and Flask. For the specialized hardware camp, we propose a cryptographic technique for 'tamper-proofing' code over a large portion of the software/hardware life cycle by careful modification of current architectures. This method culminates by decrypting/authenticating each instruction within a physically protected CPU, thereby protecting against subversion by malicious code. Our main focus is on the camp that believes that neither specialized software nor hardware is necessary. We concentrate on methods of code obfuscation to render an entire program or a data segment on which a program depends incomprehensible. The hope is to prevent or at least slow down reverse engineering efforts and to prevent goal-oriented attacks on the software and execution. The field of obfuscation is still in a state of development with the central problem being the lack of a basis for evaluating the protection schemes. We give a brief introduction to some of the main ideas in the field, followed by an in depth analysis of a technique called 'white-boxing'. We put forth some new attacks and improvements on this method as well as demonstrating its implementation for various algorithms. We also examine cryptographic techniques to achieve obfuscation including encrypted functions and offer a new application to digital signature algorithms. To better understand the lack of security proofs for obfuscation techniques, we examine in detail general theoretical models of obfuscation. We explain the need for formal models in order to obtain provable security and the progress made in this direction thus far. Finally we tackle the problem of verifying remote execution. We introduce some methods of verifying remote exponentiation computations and some insight into generic computation checking.« less

  14. NASA Tech Briefs, September 1998. Volume 22, No. 9

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1998-01-01

    Topics include: special coverage on data acquisition, also, electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, software, materials, mechanics, machinery/automation, physical sciences, information sciences, This issue contains a special sections of Electronics Tech Briefs and Motion Control Tech Briefs.

  15. Systems Engineering Processes at NASA/SR-71 Pratt and Whitney J58 Engine

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Donastorg, Cristina

    2010-01-01

    This summer I was given several opportunities at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC). The first opportunity was given to me by a Senior Propulsion Engineer, Kurtt Kloesel, to work in a specialized engineering discipline. My task was to research the Pratt & Whitney J58 engine that was used on the SR-71 Blackbird. I entered the data I collected into engine modeling software programs in order to receive certain outputs, such as net thrust. I also had to take a "crash course" in propulsion in order to better understand the research I was performing. To facilitate my understanding of propulsion principals and formulas, I worked many problems out of thermodynamics and propulsion textbooks and entered the given values of various situations into the modeling software.

  16. The TJO-OAdM robotic observatory: OpenROCS and dome control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Colomé, Josep; Francisco, Xavier; Ribas, Ignasi; Casteels, Kevin; Martín, Jonatan

    2010-07-01

    The Telescope Joan Oró at the Montsec Astronomical Observatory (TJO - OAdM) is a small-class observatory working in completely unattended control. There are key problems to solve when a robotic control is envisaged, both on hardware and software issues. We present the OpenROCS (ROCS stands for Robotic Observatory Control System), an open source platform developed for the robotic control of the TJO - OAdM and similar astronomical observatories. It is a complex software architecture, composed of several applications for hardware control, event handling, environment monitoring, target scheduling, image reduction pipeline, etc. The code is developed in Java, C++, Python and Perl. The software infrastructure used is based on the Internet Communications Engine (Ice), an object-oriented middleware that provides object-oriented remote procedure call, grid computing, and publish/subscribe functionality. We also describe the subsystem in charge of the dome control: several hardware and software elements developed to specially protect the system at this identified single point of failure. It integrates a redundant control and a rain detector signal for alarm triggering and it responds autonomously in case communication with any of the control elements is lost (watchdog functionality). The self-developed control software suite (OpenROCS) and dome control system have proven to be highly reliable.

  17. Architecture independent environment for developing engineering software on MIMD computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Valimohamed, Karim A.; Lopez, L. A.

    1990-01-01

    Engineers are constantly faced with solving problems of increasing complexity and detail. Multiple Instruction stream Multiple Data stream (MIMD) computers have been developed to overcome the performance limitations of serial computers. The hardware architectures of MIMD computers vary considerably and are much more sophisticated than serial computers. Developing large scale software for a variety of MIMD computers is difficult and expensive. There is a need to provide tools that facilitate programming these machines. First, the issues that must be considered to develop those tools are examined. The two main areas of concern were architecture independence and data management. Architecture independent software facilitates software portability and improves the longevity and utility of the software product. It provides some form of insurance for the investment of time and effort that goes into developing the software. The management of data is a crucial aspect of solving large engineering problems. It must be considered in light of the new hardware organizations that are available. Second, the functional design and implementation of a software environment that facilitates developing architecture independent software for large engineering applications are described. The topics of discussion include: a description of the model that supports the development of architecture independent software; identifying and exploiting concurrency within the application program; data coherence; engineering data base and memory management.

  18. Advances in Games Technology: Software, Models, and Intelligence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prakash, Edmond; Brindle, Geoff; Jones, Kevin; Zhou, Suiping; Chaudhari, Narendra S.; Wong, Kok-Wai

    2009-01-01

    Games technology has undergone tremendous development. In this article, the authors report the rapid advancement that has been observed in the way games software is being developed, as well as in the development of games content using game engines. One area that has gained special attention is modeling the game environment such as terrain and…

  19. Integrated testing and verification system for research flight software

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Taylor, R. N.

    1979-01-01

    The MUST (Multipurpose User-oriented Software Technology) program is being developed to cut the cost of producing research flight software through a system of software support tools. An integrated verification and testing capability was designed as part of MUST. Documentation, verification and test options are provided with special attention on real-time, multiprocessing issues. The needs of the entire software production cycle were considered, with effective management and reduced lifecycle costs as foremost goals.

  20. The Human Side of Information's Converging Technology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Berney

    1982-01-01

    Discusses current issues in the design of information systems, noting contributions from three professions--computer science, human factors engineering, and information science. The eclectic nature of human factors engineering and the difficulty of drawing together studies with human engineering or software psychological components from diverse…

  1. RICIS research

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mckay, Charles W.; Feagin, Terry; Bishop, Peter C.; Hallum, Cecil R.; Freedman, Glenn B.

    1987-01-01

    The principle focus of one of the RICIS (Research Institute for Computing and Information Systems) components is computer systems and software engineering in-the-large of the lifecycle of large, complex, distributed systems which: (1) evolve incrementally over a long time; (2) contain non-stop components; and (3) must simultaneously satisfy a prioritized balance of mission and safety critical requirements at run time. This focus is extremely important because of the contribution of the scaling direction problem to the current software crisis. The Computer Systems and Software Engineering (CSSE) component addresses the lifestyle issues of three environments: host, integration, and target.

  2. Repository-Based Software Engineering Program: Working Program Management Plan

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1993-01-01

    Repository-Based Software Engineering Program (RBSE) is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sponsored program dedicated to introducing and supporting common, effective approaches to software engineering practices. The process of conceiving, designing, building, and maintaining software systems by using existing software assets that are stored in a specialized operational reuse library or repository, accessible to system designers, is the foundation of the program. In addition to operating a software repository, RBSE promotes (1) software engineering technology transfer, (2) academic and instructional support of reuse programs, (3) the use of common software engineering standards and practices, (4) software reuse technology research, and (5) interoperability between reuse libraries. This Program Management Plan (PMP) is intended to communicate program goals and objectives, describe major work areas, and define a management report and control process. This process will assist the Program Manager, University of Houston at Clear Lake (UHCL) in tracking work progress and describing major program activities to NASA management. The goal of this PMP is to make managing the RBSE program a relatively easy process that improves the work of all team members. The PMP describes work areas addressed and work efforts being accomplished by the program; however, it is not intended as a complete description of the program. Its focus is on providing management tools and management processes for monitoring, evaluating, and administering the program; and it includes schedules for charting milestones and deliveries of program products. The PMP was developed by soliciting and obtaining guidance from appropriate program participants, analyzing program management guidance, and reviewing related program management documents.

  3. 48 CFR 50.201 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... requirements or such other requirements as defined and specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security: (1) Is... otherwise cause, for which a SAFETY Act designation has been issued. For purposes of defining a QATT..., engineering services, software development services, software integration services, threat assessments...

  4. 48 CFR 50.201 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... requirements or such other requirements as defined and specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security: (1) Is... otherwise cause, for which a SAFETY Act designation has been issued. For purposes of defining a QATT..., engineering services, software development services, software integration services, threat assessments...

  5. 48 CFR 50.201 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... requirements or such other requirements as defined and specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security: (1) Is... otherwise cause, for which a SAFETY Act designation has been issued. For purposes of defining a QATT..., engineering services, software development services, software integration services, threat assessments...

  6. 48 CFR 50.201 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... requirements or such other requirements as defined and specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security: (1) Is... otherwise cause, for which a SAFETY Act designation has been issued. For purposes of defining a QATT..., engineering services, software development services, software integration services, threat assessments...

  7. 48 CFR 50.201 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... requirements or such other requirements as defined and specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security: (1) Is... otherwise cause, for which a SAFETY Act designation has been issued. For purposes of defining a QATT..., engineering services, software development services, software integration services, threat assessments...

  8. Engineering visualization utilizing advanced animation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sabionski, Gunter R.; Robinson, Thomas L., Jr.

    1989-01-01

    Engineering visualization is the use of computer graphics to depict engineering analysis and simulation in visual form from project planning through documentation. Graphics displays let engineers see data represented dynamically which permits the quick evaluation of results. The current state of graphics hardware and software generally allows the creation of two types of 3D graphics. The use of animated video as an engineering visualization tool is presented. The engineering, animation, and videography aspects of animated video production are each discussed. Specific issues include the integration of staffing expertise, hardware, software, and the various production processes. A detailed explanation of the animation process reveals the capabilities of this unique engineering visualization method. Automation of animation and video production processes are covered and future directions are proposed.

  9. Special Issue: "Functional Dendrimers".

    PubMed

    Tomalia, Donald A

    2016-08-09

    This special issue entitled "Functional Dendrimers" focuses on the manipulation of at least six "critical nanoscale design parameters" (CNDPs) of dendrimers including: size, shape, surface chemistry, flexibility/rigidity, architecture and elemental composition. These CNDPs collectively define properties of all "functional dendrimers". This special issue contains many interesting examples describing the manipulation of certain dendrimer CNDPs to create new emerging properties and, in some cases, predictive nanoperiodic property patterns (i.e., dendritic effects). The systematic engineering of CNDPs provides a valuable strategy for optimizing functional dendrimer properties for use in specific applications.

  10. Introduction to the Special Issue on Gender and Geoethics in the Geosciences.

    PubMed

    Thornbush, Mary

    2016-04-01

    In this introduction to the Special Issue on Gender and Geoethics in the Geosciences is a focus on the participation of women in traditionally male-dominated professions, with geography as an exemplary academic subject. The Special Issue stems from the Commission of Gender and Geoethics as part of the International Association of Geoethics, and endeavors to bring together efforts at various spatial scales that examine the position of women in science and engineering in particular, as conveyed in engineering geology, disaster management sciences, and climate change adaptation studies. It has been discovered, for instance, that men are more active and personally prepared at the community level (in Atlantic Canada coastal communities), and more action is still required in developing countries especially to promote gender equality and empower women. Studies contained in this Special Issue also reveal that tutoring and mentoring by other women can promote further involvement in non-traditional professions, such as professional engineering geology, where women are preferring more traditional (less applied) approaches that may circumscribe their ability to find suitable employment after graduation. Moreover, the hiring policy needs to change in many countries, such as Canada, where there are fewer women at entry-level and senior ranks within geography, especially in physical geography as the scientific part of the discipline. The exclusion of women in traditionally male-dominated spheres needs to be addressed and rectified for the ascent of women to occur in scientific geography and in other geosciences as well as science and engineering at large.

  11. Type Safe Extensible Programming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chae, Wonseok

    2009-10-01

    Software products evolve over time. Sometimes they evolve by adding new features, and sometimes by either fixing bugs or replacing outdated implementations with new ones. When software engineers fail to anticipate such evolution during development, they will eventually be forced to re-architect or re-build from scratch. Therefore, it has been common practice to prepare for changes so that software products are extensible over their lifetimes. However, making software extensible is challenging because it is difficult to anticipate successive changes and to provide adequate abstraction mechanisms over potential changes. Such extensibility mechanisms, furthermore, should not compromise any existing functionality during extension. Software engineers would benefit from a tool that provides a way to add extensions in a reliable way. It is natural to expect programming languages to serve this role. Extensible programming is one effort to address these issues. In this thesis, we present type safe extensible programming using the MLPolyR language. MLPolyR is an ML-like functional language whose type system provides type-safe extensibility mechanisms at several levels. After presenting the language, we will show how these extensibility mechanisms can be put to good use in the context of product line engineering. Product line engineering is an emerging software engineering paradigm that aims to manage variations, which originate from successive changes in software.

  12. CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 24, Number 6. November/December 2011

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-11-01

    Software Development.” Software Quality Professional Journal, American Society for Quality (ASQ), (March 2010) 4-14. 3. Nair, Gopalakrishnan T.R...Inspection Performance Metric”. Software Quality Professional Journal, American Society for Quality (ASQ), Volume 13, Issue 2, (March 2011) 14-26...the discovery process and are marketed by compa- nies such as Black Duck Software, OpenLogic, Palamida, and Protecode, among others.7 A number of open

  13. 49 CFR 512.5 - How many copies should I submit?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... format, a copy of any special software required to review materials for which confidential treatment is... confidential treatment is claimed has been redacted. (c) Any person submitting blueprints or engineering...

  14. 49 CFR 512.5 - How many copies should I submit?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... format, a copy of any special software required to review materials for which confidential treatment is... confidential treatment is claimed has been redacted. (c) Any person submitting blueprints or engineering...

  15. 49 CFR 512.5 - How many copies should I submit?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... format, a copy of any special software required to review materials for which confidential treatment is... confidential treatment is claimed has been redacted. (c) Any person submitting blueprints or engineering...

  16. 49 CFR 512.5 - How many copies should I submit?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... format, a copy of any special software required to review materials for which confidential treatment is... confidential treatment is claimed has been redacted. (c) Any person submitting blueprints or engineering...

  17. NASA Tech Briefs, May 2002. Volume 26, No. 5

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2002-01-01

    Topics include: a technology focus on engineering materials, electronic components and circuits, software, mechanics, machinery/automation, manufacturing, physical sciences, information sciences, book and reports, and a special section of Photonics Tech Briefs.

  18. Lean and Efficient Software: Whole-Program Optimization of Executables

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-01-03

    staffing for the project  Implementing the necessary infrastructure ( testing, performance evaluation, needed support software, bug and issue...in the SOW The result of the planning discussions is shown in the milestone table (section 6). In addition, we selected appropriate engineering

  19. Educational and Institutional Flexibility of Australian Educational Software

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shurville, Simon; O'Grady, Thomas; Mayall, Peter

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: This paper aims to provide context for papers in this special issue on Australasian e-learning. The paper aims to examine the background to Australian flexible and transnational education and to evaluate the educational and intuitional flexibility of three typical products of the Australian educational software industry.…

  20. Interactive Analysis of General Beam Configurations using Finite Element Methods and JavaScript

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hernandez, Christopher

    Advancements in computer technology have contributed to the widespread practice of modelling and solving engineering problems through the use of specialized software. The wide use of engineering software comes with the disadvantage to the user of costs from the required purchase of software licenses. The creation of accurate, trusted, and freely available applications capable of conducting meaningful analysis of engineering problems is a way to mitigate to the costs associated with every-day engineering computations. Writing applications in the JavaScript programming language allows the applications to run within any computer browser, without the need to install specialized software, since all internet browsers are equipped with virtual machines (VM) that allow the browsers to execute JavaScript code. The objective of this work is the development of an application that performs the analysis of a completely general beam through use of the finite element method. The app is written in JavaScript and embedded in a web page so it can be downloaded and executed by a user with an internet connection. This application allows the user to analyze any uniform or non-uniform beam, with any combination of applied forces, moments, distributed loads, and boundary conditions. Outputs for this application include lists the beam deformations and slopes, as well as lateral and slope deformation graphs, bending stress distributions, and shear and a moment diagrams. To validate the methodology of the GBeam finite element app, its results are verified using the results from obtained from two other established finite element solvers for fifteen separate test cases.

  1. STGT program: Ada coding and architecture lessons learned

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Usavage, Paul; Nagurney, Don

    1992-01-01

    STGT (Second TDRSS Ground Terminal) is currently halfway through the System Integration Test phase (Level 4 Testing). To date, many software architecture and Ada language issues have been encountered and solved. This paper, which is the transcript of a presentation at the 3 Dec. meeting, attempts to define these lessons plus others learned regarding software project management and risk management issues, training, performance, reuse, and reliability. Observations are included regarding the use of particular Ada coding constructs, software architecture trade-offs during the prototyping, development and testing stages of the project, and dangers inherent in parallel or concurrent systems, software, hardware, and operations engineering.

  2. Engineering Background: Modern Formats and Challenges of Conceptual Engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khamidullina, A. F.; Kuzmina, M. A.; Khusnutdinova, E. M.; Konakhina, I. A.

    2017-09-01

    This paper describes the analysis of problems and development perspectives of engineering education in our and other countries. Special attention is given to modern formats of education that motivate creative efforts of engineers-to-be as well as issues of conceptual engineering taking the challenges of modernity into account.

  3. Theory and Practice Meets in Industrial Process Design -Educational Perspective-

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aramo-Immonen, Heli; Toikka, Tarja

    Software engineer should see himself as a business process designer in enterprise resource planning system (ERP) re-engineering project. Software engineers and managers should have design dialogue. The objective of this paper is to discuss the motives to study the design research in connection of management education in order to envision and understand the soft human issues in the management context. Second goal is to develop means of practicing social skills between designers and managers. This article explores the affective components of design thinking in industrial management domain. In the conceptual part of this paper are discussed concepts of network and project economy, creativity, communication, use of metaphors, and design thinking. Finally is introduced empirical research plan and first empirical results from design method experiments among the multi-disciplined groups of the master-level students of industrial engineering and management and software engineering.

  4. Software engineering processes for Class D missions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Killough, Ronnie; Rose, Debi

    2013-09-01

    Software engineering processes are often seen as anathemas; thoughts of CMMI key process areas and NPR 7150.2A compliance matrices can motivate a software developer to consider other career fields. However, with adequate definition, common-sense application, and an appropriate level of built-in flexibility, software engineering processes provide a critical framework in which to conduct a successful software development project. One problem is that current models seem to be built around an underlying assumption of "bigness," and assume that all elements of the process are applicable to all software projects regardless of size and tolerance for risk. This is best illustrated in NASA's NPR 7150.2A in which, aside from some special provisions for manned missions, the software processes are to be applied based solely on the criticality of the software to the mission, completely agnostic of the mission class itself. That is, the processes applicable to a Class A mission (high priority, very low risk tolerance, very high national significance) are precisely the same as those applicable to a Class D mission (low priority, high risk tolerance, low national significance). This paper will propose changes to NPR 7150.2A, taking mission class into consideration, and discuss how some of these changes are being piloted for a current Class D mission—the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS).

  5. Issues in NASA Program and Project Management: Focus on Project Planning and Scheduling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hoffman, Edward J. (Editor); Lawbaugh, William M. (Editor)

    1997-01-01

    Topics addressed include: Planning and scheduling training for working project teams at NASA, overview of project planning and scheduling workshops, project planning at NASA, new approaches to systems engineering, software reliability assessment, and software reuse in wind tunnel control systems.

  6. Programming support environment issues in the Byron programming environment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Larsen, Matthew J.

    1986-01-01

    Issues are discussed which programming support environments need to address in order to successfully support software engineering. These concerns are divided into two categories. The first category, issues of how software development is supported by an environment, includes support of the full life cycle, methodology flexibility, and support of software reusability. The second category contains issues of how environments should operate, such as tool reusability and integration, user friendliness, networking, and use of a central data base. This discussion is followed by an examination of Byron, an Ada based programming support environment developed at Intermetrics, focusing on the solutions Byron offers to these problems, including the support provided for software reusability and the test and maintenance phases of the life cycle. The use of Byron in project development is described briefly, and some suggestions for future Byron tools and user written tools are presented.

  7. NASA Tech Briefs, November 2002. Volume 26, No. 11

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2002-01-01

    Topics include: a technology focus on engineering materials, electronic components and systems, software, mechanics, machinery/automation, manufacturing, bio-medical, physical sciences, information sciences book and reports, and a special section of Photonics Tech Briefs.

  8. The Kamusi Project Edit Engine: A Tool for Collaborative Lexicography.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benjamin, Martin; Biersteker, Ann

    2001-01-01

    Discusses the design and implementation of the Kamusi Project Edit Engine, a Web-based software system uniquely suited to the needs of Swahili collaborative lexicography. Describes the edit engine, including organization of the lexicon and the mechanics by which participants use the system, discusses philosophical issues confronted in the design,…

  9. MUST - An integrated system of support tools for research flight software engineering. [Multipurpose User-oriented Software Technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Straeter, T. A.; Foudriat, E. C.; Will, R. W.

    1977-01-01

    The objectives of NASA's MUST (Multipurpose User-oriented Software Technology) program at Langley Research Center are to cut the cost of producing software which effectively utilizes digital systems for flight research. These objectives will be accomplished by providing an integrated system of support software tools for use throughout the research flight software development process. A description of the overall MUST program and its progress toward the release of a first MUST system will be presented. This release includes: a special interactive user interface, a library of subroutines, assemblers, a compiler, automatic documentation tools, and a test and simulation system.

  10. Enhancing requirements engineering for patient registry software systems with evidence-based components.

    PubMed

    Lindoerfer, Doris; Mansmann, Ulrich

    2017-07-01

    Patient registries are instrumental for medical research. Often their structures are complex and their implementations use composite software systems to meet the wide spectrum of challenges. Commercial and open-source systems are available for registry implementation, but many research groups develop their own systems. Methodological approaches in the selection of software as well as the construction of proprietary systems are needed. We propose an evidence-based checklist, summarizing essential items for patient registry software systems (CIPROS), to accelerate the requirements engineering process. Requirements engineering activities for software systems follow traditional software requirements elicitation methods, general software requirements specification (SRS) templates, and standards. We performed a multistep procedure to develop a specific evidence-based CIPROS checklist: (1) A systematic literature review to build a comprehensive collection of technical concepts, (2) a qualitative content analysis to define a catalogue of relevant criteria, and (3) a checklist to construct a minimal appraisal standard. CIPROS is based on 64 publications and covers twelve sections with a total of 72 items. CIPROS also defines software requirements. Comparing CIPROS with traditional software requirements elicitation methods, SRS templates and standards show a broad consensus but differences in issues regarding registry-specific aspects. Using an evidence-based approach to requirements engineering for registry software adds aspects to the traditional methods and accelerates the software engineering process for registry software. The method we used to construct CIPROS serves as a potential template for creating evidence-based checklists in other fields. The CIPROS list supports developers in assessing requirements for existing systems and formulating requirements for their own systems, while strengthening the reporting of patient registry software system descriptions. It may be a first step to create standards for patient registry software system assessments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. VALIDATION OF ANSYS FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS SOFTWARE

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    HAMM, E.R.

    2003-06-27

    This document provides a record of the verification and Validation of the ANSYS Version 7.0 software that is installed on selected CH2M HILL computers. The issues addressed include: Software verification, installation, validation, configuration management and error reporting. The ANSYS{reg_sign} computer program is a large scale multi-purpose finite element program which may be used for solving several classes of engineering analysis. The analysis capabilities of ANSYS Full Mechanical Version 7.0 installed on selected CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M HILL) Intel processor based computers include the ability to solve static and dynamic structural analyses, steady-state and transient heat transfer problems, mode-frequency andmore » buckling eigenvalue problems, static or time-varying magnetic analyses and various types of field and coupled-field applications. The program contains many special features which allow nonlinearities or secondary effects to be included in the solution, such as plasticity, large strain, hyperelasticity, creep, swelling, large deflections, contact, stress stiffening, temperature dependency, material anisotropy, and thermal radiation. The ANSYS program has been in commercial use since 1970, and has been used extensively in the aerospace, automotive, construction, electronic, energy services, manufacturing, nuclear, plastics, oil and steel industries.« less

  12. Open source libraries and frameworks for mass spectrometry based proteomics: A developer's perspective☆

    PubMed Central

    Perez-Riverol, Yasset; Wang, Rui; Hermjakob, Henning; Müller, Markus; Vesada, Vladimir; Vizcaíno, Juan Antonio

    2014-01-01

    Data processing, management and visualization are central and critical components of a state of the art high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics experiment, and are often some of the most time-consuming steps, especially for labs without much bioinformatics support. The growing interest in the field of proteomics has triggered an increase in the development of new software libraries, including freely available and open-source software. From database search analysis to post-processing of the identification results, even though the objectives of these libraries and packages can vary significantly, they usually share a number of features. Common use cases include the handling of protein and peptide sequences, the parsing of results from various proteomics search engines output files, and the visualization of MS-related information (including mass spectra and chromatograms). In this review, we provide an overview of the existing software libraries, open-source frameworks and also, we give information on some of the freely available applications which make use of them. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Computational Proteomics in the Post-Identification Era. Guest Editors: Martin Eisenacher and Christian Stephan. PMID:23467006

  13. Open source libraries and frameworks for mass spectrometry based proteomics: a developer's perspective.

    PubMed

    Perez-Riverol, Yasset; Wang, Rui; Hermjakob, Henning; Müller, Markus; Vesada, Vladimir; Vizcaíno, Juan Antonio

    2014-01-01

    Data processing, management and visualization are central and critical components of a state of the art high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics experiment, and are often some of the most time-consuming steps, especially for labs without much bioinformatics support. The growing interest in the field of proteomics has triggered an increase in the development of new software libraries, including freely available and open-source software. From database search analysis to post-processing of the identification results, even though the objectives of these libraries and packages can vary significantly, they usually share a number of features. Common use cases include the handling of protein and peptide sequences, the parsing of results from various proteomics search engines output files, and the visualization of MS-related information (including mass spectra and chromatograms). In this review, we provide an overview of the existing software libraries, open-source frameworks and also, we give information on some of the freely available applications which make use of them. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Computational Proteomics in the Post-Identification Era. Guest Editors: Martin Eisenacher and Christian Stephan. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. The Cloud-Based Integrated Data Viewer (IDV)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fisher, Ward

    2015-04-01

    Maintaining software compatibility across new computing environments and the associated underlying hardware is a common problem for software engineers and scientific programmers. While there are a suite of tools and methodologies used in traditional software engineering environments to mitigate this issue, they are typically ignored by developers lacking a background in software engineering. The result is a large body of software which is simultaneously critical and difficult to maintain. Visualization software is particularly vulnerable to this problem, given the inherent dependency on particular graphics hardware and software API's. The advent of cloud computing has provided a solution to this problem, which was not previously practical on a large scale; Application Streaming. This technology allows a program to run entirely on a remote virtual machine while still allowing for interactivity and dynamic visualizations, with little-to-no re-engineering required. Through application streaming we are able to bring the same visualization to a desktop, a netbook, a smartphone, and the next generation of hardware, whatever it may be. Unidata has been able to harness Application Streaming to provide a tablet-compatible version of our visualization software, the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV). This work will examine the challenges associated with adapting the IDV to an application streaming platform, and include a brief discussion of the underlying technologies involved. We will also discuss the differences between local software and software-as-a-service.

  15. Preface to the Special Issue: Strategic Opportunities for Fusion Energy

    DOE PAGES

    Mauel, M. E.; Greenwald, Martin; Ryutov, Dmitri D.; ...

    2016-01-23

    Here, the Journal of Fusion Energy provides a forum for discussion of broader policy and planning issues that play a crucial role in energy fusion programs. In keeping with this purpose and in response to several recent strategic planning efforts worldwide, this Special Issue on Strategic Opportunities was launched with the goal to invite fusion scientists and engineers to record viewpoints of the scientific opportunities and policy issues that can drive continued advancements in fusion energy research.

  16. Practical Application of Model-based Programming and State-based Architecture to Space Missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Horvath, Gregory A.; Ingham, Michel D.; Chung, Seung; Martin, Oliver; Williams, Brian

    2006-01-01

    Innovative systems and software engineering solutions are required to meet the increasingly challenging demands of deep-space robotic missions. While recent advances in the development of an integrated systems and software engineering approach have begun to address some of these issues, they are still at the core highly manual and, therefore, error-prone. This paper describes a task aimed at infusing MIT's model-based executive, Titan, into JPL's Mission Data System (MDS), a unified state-based architecture, systems engineering process, and supporting software framework. Results of the task are presented, including a discussion of the benefits and challenges associated with integrating mature model-based programming techniques and technologies into a rigorously-defined domain specific architecture.

  17. General purpose optimization software for engineering design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vanderplaats, G. N.

    1990-01-01

    The author has developed several general purpose optimization programs over the past twenty years. The earlier programs were developed as research codes and served that purpose reasonably well. However, in taking the formal step from research to industrial application programs, several important lessons have been learned. Among these are the importance of clear documentation, immediate user support, and consistent maintenance. Most important has been the issue of providing software that gives a good, or at least acceptable, design at minimum computational cost. Here, the basic issues developing optimization software for industrial applications are outlined and issues of convergence rate, reliability, and relative minima are discussed. Considerable feedback has been received from users, and new software is being developed to respond to identified needs. The basic capabilities of this software are outlined. A major motivation for the development of commercial grade software is ease of use and flexibility, and these issues are discussed with reference to general multidisciplinary applications. It is concluded that design productivity can be significantly enhanced by the more widespread use of optimization as an everyday design tool.

  18. The Elusive Cost of Library Software

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Breeding, Marshall

    2009-01-01

    Software pricing is not a straightforward issue, since each procurement involves a special business arrangement between a library and its chosen vendor. The author thinks that it is reasonable to scale the cost of a product to such factors as the size of the library, the complexity of the installation, the number of simultaneous users, or the…

  19. Software and System Warranty Issues and Generic Warranty Clause.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-06-01

    communications networks and other government-furnished equipment. Special attention . must also be paid to software packages, such as operating...34 :- ’.-’".,:., ",’., . .’.’ . ’ -.’ -. ., .- . 0;/ .’.. ,; .’ ’.’...’. • . .. . * Phose A - Devekpment Test and Evaluation conducted at a test facility. * Phaie - Devopment Test and

  20. Introduction to the Special Issue on Gender and Geoethics in the Geosciences

    PubMed Central

    Thornbush, Mary

    2016-01-01

    In this introduction to the Special Issue on Gender and Geoethics in the Geosciences is a focus on the participation of women in traditionally male-dominated professions, with geography as an exemplary academic subject. The Special Issue stems from the Commission of Gender and Geoethics as part of the International Association of Geoethics, and endeavors to bring together efforts at various spatial scales that examine the position of women in science and engineering in particular, as conveyed in engineering geology, disaster management sciences, and climate change adaptation studies. It has been discovered, for instance, that men are more active and personally prepared at the community level (in Atlantic Canada coastal communities), and more action is still required in developing countries especially to promote gender equality and empower women. Studies contained in this Special Issue also reveal that tutoring and mentoring by other women can promote further involvement in non-traditional professions, such as professional engineering geology, where women are preferring more traditional (less applied) approaches that may circumscribe their ability to find suitable employment after graduation. Moreover, the hiring policy needs to change in many countries, such as Canada, where there are fewer women at entry-level and senior ranks within geography, especially in physical geography as the scientific part of the discipline. The exclusion of women in traditionally male-dominated spheres needs to be addressed and rectified for the ascent of women to occur in scientific geography and in other geosciences as well as science and engineering at large. PMID:27043609

  1. Overview of the TriBITS Lifecycle Model: Lean/Agile Software Lifecycle Model for Research-based Computational Science and Engineering Software

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bartlett, Roscoe A; Heroux, Dr. Michael A; Willenbring, James

    2012-01-01

    Software lifecycles are becoming an increasingly important issue for computational science & engineering (CSE) software. The process by which a piece of CSE software begins life as a set of research requirements and then matures into a trusted high-quality capability is both commonplace and extremely challenging. Although an implicit lifecycle is obviously being used in any effort, the challenges of this process--respecting the competing needs of research vs. production--cannot be overstated. Here we describe a proposal for a well-defined software lifecycle process based on modern Lean/Agile software engineering principles. What we propose is appropriate for many CSE software projects thatmore » are initially heavily focused on research but also are expected to eventually produce usable high-quality capabilities. The model is related to TriBITS, a build, integration and testing system, which serves as a strong foundation for this lifecycle model, and aspects of this lifecycle model are ingrained in the TriBITS system. Indeed this lifecycle process, if followed, will enable large-scale sustainable integration of many complex CSE software efforts across several institutions.« less

  2. Sculpting in cyberspace: Parallel processing the development of new software

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fisher, Rob

    1993-01-01

    Stimulating creativity in problem solving, particularly where software development is involved, is applicable to many disciplines. Metaphorical thinking keeps the problem in focus but in a different light, jarring people out of their mental ruts and sparking fresh insights. It forces the mind to stretch to find patterns between dissimilar concepts, in the hope of discovering unusual ideas in odd associations (Technology Review January 1993, p. 37). With a background in Engineering and Visual Design from MIT, I have for the past 30 years pursued a career as a sculptor of interdisciplinary monumental artworks that bridge the fields of science, engineering and art. Since 1979, I have pioneered the application of computer simulation to solve the complex problems associated with these projects. A recent project for the roof of the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh made particular use of the metaphoric creativity technique described above. The problem-solving process led to the creation of hybrid software combining scientific, architectural and engineering visualization techniques. David Steich, a Doctoral Candidate in Electrical Engineering at Penn State, was commissioned to develop special software that enabled me to create innovative free-form sculpture. This paper explores the process of inventing the software through a detailed analysis of the interaction between an artist and a computer programmer.

  3. Ada education in a software life-cycle context

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clough, Anne J.

    1986-01-01

    Some of the experience gained from a comprehensive educational program undertaken at The Charles Stark Draper Lab. to introduce the Ada language and to transition modern software engineering technology into the development of Ada and non-Ada applications is described. Initially, a core group, which included manager, engineers and programmers, received training in Ada. An Ada Office was established to assume the major responsibility for training, evaluation, acquisition and benchmarking of tools, and consultation on Ada projects. As a first step in this process, and in-house educational program was undertaken to introduce Ada to the Laboratory. Later, a software engineering course was added to the educational program as the need to address issues spanning the entire software life cycle became evident. Educational efforts to date are summarized, with an emphasis on the educational approach adopted. Finally, lessons learned in administering this program are addressed.

  4. Software Engineering Tools for Scientific Models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Abrams, Marc; Saboo, Pallabi; Sonsini, Mike

    2013-01-01

    Software tools were constructed to address issues the NASA Fortran development community faces, and they were tested on real models currently in use at NASA. These proof-of-concept tools address the High-End Computing Program and the Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction Program. Two examples are the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5) atmospheric model in Cell Fortran on the Cell Broadband Engine, and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) coupled atmosphere- ocean model called ModelE, written in fixed format Fortran.

  5. Using a Low Cost Flight Simulation Environment for Interdisciplinary Education

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Khan, M. Javed; Rossi, Marcia; ALi, Syed F.

    2004-01-01

    A multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary education is increasingly being emphasized for engineering undergraduates. However, often the focus is on interaction between engineering disciplines. This paper discusses the experience at Tuskegee University in providing interdisciplinary research experiences for undergraduate students in both Aerospace Engineering and Psychology through the utilization of a low cost flight simulation environment. The environment, which is pc-based, runs a low-cost of-the-shelf software and is configured for multiple out-of-the-window views and a synthetic heads down display with joystick, rudder and throttle controls. While the environment is being utilized to investigate and evaluate various strategies for training novice pilots, students were involved to provide them with experience in conducting such interdisciplinary research. On the global inter-disciplinary level these experiences included developing experimental designs and research protocols, consideration of human participant ethical issues, and planning and executing the research studies. During the planning phase students were apprised of the limitations of the software in its basic form and the enhancements desired to investigate human factors issues. A number of enhancements to the flight environment were then undertaken, from creating Excel macros for determining the performance of the 'pilots', to interacting with the software to provide various audio/video cues based on the experimental protocol. These enhancements involved understanding the flight model and performance, stability & control issues. Throughout this process, discussions of data analysis included a focus from a human factors perspective as well as an engineering point of view.

  6. Program Model Checking as a New Trend

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Havelund, Klaus; Visser, Willem; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    This paper introduces a special section of STTT (International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer) containing a selection of papers that were presented at the 7th International SPIN workshop, Stanford, August 30 - September 1, 2000. The workshop was named SPIN Model Checking and Software Verification, with an emphasis on model checking of programs. The paper outlines the motivation for stressing software verification, rather than only design and model verification, by presenting the work done in the Automated Software Engineering group at NASA Ames Research Center within the last 5 years. This includes work in software model checking, testing like technologies and static analysis.

  7. The use of programmable logic controllers (PLC) for rocket engine component testing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nail, William; Scheuermann, Patrick; Witcher, Kern

    1991-01-01

    Application of PLCs to the rocket engine component testing at a new Stennis Space Center Component Test Facility is suggested as an alternative to dedicated specialized computers. The PLC systems are characterized by rugged design, intuitive software, fault tolerance, flexibility, multiple end device options, networking capability, and built-in diagnostics. A distributed PLC-based system is projected to be used for testing LH2/LOx turbopumps required for the ALS/NLS rocket engines.

  8. Integrating interface slicing into software engineering processes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Beck, Jon

    1993-01-01

    Interface slicing is a tool which was developed to facilitate software engineering. As previously presented, it was described in terms of its techniques and mechanisms. The integration of interface slicing into specific software engineering activities is considered by discussing a number of potential applications of interface slicing. The applications discussed specifically address the problems, issues, or concerns raised in a previous project. Because a complete interface slicer is still under development, these applications must be phrased in future tenses. Nonetheless, the interface slicing techniques which were presented can be implemented using current compiler and static analysis technology. Whether implemented as a standalone tool or as a module in an integrated development or reverse engineering environment, they require analysis no more complex than that required for current system development environments. By contrast, conventional slicing is a methodology which, while showing much promise and intuitive appeal, has yet to be fully implemented in a production language environment despite 12 years of development.

  9. Software engineering techniques and CASE tools in RD13

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Buono, S.; Gaponenko, I.; Jones, R.; Khodabandeh, A.; Mapelli, L.; Mornacchi, G.; Prigent, D.; Sanchez-Corral, E.; Skiadelli, M.; Toppers, A.; Duval, P. Y.; Ferrato, D.; Le Van Suu, A.; Qian, Z.; Rondot, C.; Ambrosini, G.; Fumagalli, G.; Polesello, G.; Aguer, M.; Huet, M.

    1994-12-01

    The RD13 project was approved in April 1991 for the development of a scalable data-taking system suitable for hosting various LHC studies. One of its goals is the exploitation of software engineering techniques, in order to indicate their overall suitability for data acquisition (DAQ), software design and implementation. This paper describes how such techniques have been applied to the development of components of the RD13 DAQ used in test-beam runs at CERN. We describe our experience with the Artifex CASE tool and its associated methodology. The issues raised when code generated by a CASE tool has to be integrated into an existing environment are also discussed.

  10. Streamlining Software Aspects of Certification: Report on the SSAC Survey

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hayhurst, Kelly J.; Dorsey, Cheryl A.; Knight, John C.; Leveson, Nancy G.; McCormick, G. Frank

    1999-01-01

    The aviation system now depends on information technology more than ever before to ensure safety and efficiency. To address concerns about the efficacy of software aspects of the certification process, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began the Streamlining Software Aspects of Certification (SSAC) program. The SSAC technical team was commissioned to gather data, analyze results, and propose recommendations to maximize efficiency and minimize cost and delay, without compromising safety. The technical team conducted two public workshops to identify and prioritize software approval issues, and conducted a survey to validate the most urgent of those issues. The SSAC survey, containing over two hundred questions about the FAA's software approval process, reached over four hundred industry software developers, aircraft manufacturers, and FAA designated engineering representatives. Three hundred people responded. This report presents the SSAC program rationale, survey process, preliminary findings, and recommendations.

  11. Modeling and analysis of visual digital impact model for a Chinese human thorax.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Jin; Wang, Kai-Ming; Li, Shu; Liu, Hai-Yan; Jing, Xiao; Li, Xiao-Fang; Liu, Yi-He

    2017-01-01

    To establish a three-dimensional finite element model of the human chest for engineering research on individual protection. Computed tomography (CT) scanning data were used for three-dimensional reconstruction with the medical image reconstruction software Mimics. The finite element method (FEM) preprocessing software ANSYS ICEM CFD was used for cell mesh generation, and the relevant material behavior parameters of all of the model's parts were specified. The finite element model was constructed with the FEM software, and the model availability was verified based on previous cadaver experimental data. A finite element model approximating the anatomical structure of the human chest was established, and the model's simulation results conformed to the results of the cadaver experiment overall. Segment data of the human body and specialized software can be utilized for FEM model reconstruction to satisfy the need for numerical analysis of shocks to the human chest in engineering research on body mechanics.

  12. The component-based architecture of the HELIOS medical software engineering environment.

    PubMed

    Degoulet, P; Jean, F C; Engelmann, U; Meinzer, H P; Baud, R; Sandblad, B; Wigertz, O; Le Meur, R; Jagermann, C

    1994-12-01

    The constitution of highly integrated health information networks and the growth of multimedia technologies raise new challenges for the development of medical applications. We describe in this paper the general architecture of the HELIOS medical software engineering environment devoted to the development and maintenance of multimedia distributed medical applications. HELIOS is made of a set of software components, federated by a communication channel called the HELIOS Unification Bus. The HELIOS kernel includes three main components, the Analysis-Design and Environment, the Object Information System and the Interface Manager. HELIOS services consist in a collection of toolkits providing the necessary facilities to medical application developers. They include Image Related services, a Natural Language Processor, a Decision Support System and Connection services. The project gives special attention to both object-oriented approaches and software re-usability that are considered crucial steps towards the development of more reliable, coherent and integrated applications.

  13. Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) Scenarios

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-05-01

    Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) Scenarios The WEA Project Team May 2012 SPECIAL REPORT CMU/SEI-2012-SR-020 CERT® Division, Software ...Homeland Security under Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineering Institute, a federally...DISTRIBUTES IT “AS IS.” References herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trade mark, manufacturer, or otherwise

  14. SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Berg, Jonathan Charles

    This document describes the software development practice areas and processes which contribute to the ability of SWiFT software developers to provide quality software. These processes are designed to satisfy the requirements set forth by the Sandia Software Quality Assurance Program (SSQAP). APPROVALS SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan (SAND2016-0765) approved by: Department Manager SWiFT Site Lead Dave Minster (6121) Date Jonathan White (6121) Date SWiFT Controls Engineer Jonathan Berg (6121) Date CHANGE HISTORY Issue Date Originator(s) Description A 2016/01/27 Jon Berg (06121) Initial release of the SWiFT Software Quality Assurance Plan

  15. The Strategic Partners Network's Extraction: The XStrat.Net Project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taifi, Nouha; Passiante, Giuseppina

    The firms in the business environment have to choose adequate partners in order to sustain their competitive advantage and their economic performance. Plus, the creation of special communities consisting of these partners is essential for the life-long development of these latter and the firms creating them. The research project XStrat.Net aims at the identification of factors and indicators about the organizations for the modelling of intelligent agents -XStrat intelligent agents- and the engineering of a software -XStrat- to process these backbones intelligent agents. Through the use of the software, the firms will be able to select the needed partners for the creation of special communities for the purpose of learning, interest or innovation. The XStrat.Net project also intends to provide guidelines for the creation of the special communities.

  16. Why Is Marketing Education a Must for Engineers? A Manager's Viewpoint.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rammant, J-P.

    1988-01-01

    Discusses the application of marketing principles to a software house specializing in products for the construction industry. Concludes that service management and marketing insights are important factors for the successful growth of a company or service department. (YP)

  17. 48 CFR 235.017-1 - Sponsoring agreements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ..., DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTING 235.017-1... Institute of Technology, and Software Engineering Institute operated by Carnegie Mellon) may respond to solicitations and announcements for programs which promote research, development, demonstration, or transfer of...

  18. 48 CFR 235.017-1 - Sponsoring agreements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ..., DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTING 235.017-1... Institute of Technology, and Software Engineering Institute operated by Carnegie Mellon) may respond to solicitations and announcements for programs which promote research, development, demonstration, or transfer of...

  19. Modeling, Analysis, and Optimization Issues for Large Space Structures.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-02-01

    There are numerous opportunities - provided by new advances in computer hardware, firmware, software , CAD/CAM systems, computational algorithms and...Institute Department of Mechanical Engineering Dept. of Civil Engineering & Mechanics Troy, NY 12181 Drexel University Philadelphia, PA 19104 Dr...Mechanical Engineering Hampton, VA 23665 Washington, DC 20059 Dr. K. T. Alfriend Mr. Siva S. Banda Department of the Navy Flight Dynamics LaboratoryNaval

  20. Fostering Soft Skills in Project-Oriented Learning within an Agile Atmosphere

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chassidim, Hadas; Almog, Dani; Mark, Shlomo

    2018-01-01

    The project-oriented and Agile approaches have motivated a new generation of software engineers. Within the academic curriculum, the issue of whether students are being sufficiently prepared for the future has been raised. The objective of this work is to present the project-oriented environment as an influential factor that software engineering…

  1. Software development to support sensor control of robot arc welding

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Silas, F. R., Jr.

    1986-01-01

    The development of software for a Digital Equipment Corporation MINC-23 Laboratory Computer to provide functions of a workcell host computer for Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) robotic welding is documented. Routines were written to transfer robot programs between the MINC and an Advanced Robotic Cyro 750 welding robot. Other routines provide advanced program editing features while additional software allows communicatin with a remote computer aided design system. Access to special robot functions were provided to allow advanced control of weld seam tracking and process control for future development programs.

  2. IEEE/AIAA/NASA Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 9th, Virginia Beach, VA, Oct. 15-18, 1990, Proceedings

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1990-01-01

    The present conference on digital avionics discusses vehicle-management systems, spacecraft avionics, special vehicle avionics, communication/navigation/identification systems, software qualification and quality assurance, launch-vehicle avionics, Ada applications, sensor and signal processing, general aviation avionics, automated software development, design-for-testability techniques, and avionics-software engineering. Also discussed are optical technology and systems, modular avionics, fault-tolerant avionics, commercial avionics, space systems, data buses, crew-station technology, embedded processors and operating systems, AI and expert systems, data links, and pilot/vehicle interfaces.

  3. An Interdisciplinary Approach Between Medical Informatics and Social Sciences to Transdisciplinary Requirements Engineering for an Integrated Care Setting.

    PubMed

    Vielhauer, Jan; Böckmann, Britta

    2017-01-01

    Requirements engineering of software products for elderly people faces some special challenges to ensure a maximum of user acceptance. Within the scope of a research project, a web-based platform and a mobile app are approached to enable people to live in their own home as long as possible. This paper is about a developed method of interdisciplinary requirements engineering by a team of social scientists in cooperation with computer scientists.

  4. Integrating MPI and deduplication engines: a software architecture roadmap.

    PubMed

    Baksi, Dibyendu

    2009-03-01

    The objective of this paper is to clarify the major concepts related to architecture and design of patient identity management software systems so that an implementor looking to solve a specific integration problem in the context of a Master Patient Index (MPI) and a deduplication engine can address the relevant issues. The ideas presented are illustrated in the context of a reference use case from Integrating the Health Enterprise Patient Identifier Cross-referencing (IHE PIX) profile. Sound software engineering principles using the latest design paradigm of model driven architecture (MDA) are applied to define different views of the architecture. The main contribution of the paper is a clear software architecture roadmap for implementors of patient identity management systems. Conceptual design in terms of static and dynamic views of the interfaces is provided as an example of platform independent model. This makes the roadmap applicable to any specific solutions of MPI, deduplication library or software platform. Stakeholders in need of integration of MPIs and deduplication engines can evaluate vendor specific solutions and software platform technologies in terms of fundamental concepts and can make informed decisions that preserve investment. This also allows freedom from vendor lock-in and the ability to kick-start integration efforts based on a solid architecture.

  5. Weaves as an Interconnection Fabric for ASIM's and Nanosatellites

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gorlick, Michael M.

    1995-01-01

    Many of the micromachines under consideration require computer support, indeed, one of the appeals of this technology is the ability to intermix mechanical, optical, analog, and digital devices on the same substrate. The amount of computer power is rarely an issue, the sticking point is the complexity of the software required to make effective use of these devices. Micromachines are the nano-technologist's equivalent of 'golden screws'. In other words, they will be piece parts in larger assemblages. For example, a nano-satellite may be composed of stacked silicon wafers where each wafer contains hundreds to thousands of micromachines, digital controllers, general purpose computers, memories, and high-speed bus interconnects. Comparatively few of these devices will be custom designed, most will be stock parts selected from libraries and catalogs. The novelty will lie in the interconnections. For example, a digital accelerometer may be a component part in an adaptive suspension, a monitoring element embedded in the wrapper of a package, or a portion of the smart skin of a launch vehicle. In each case, this device must inter-operate with other devices and probes for the purposes of command, control, and communication. We propose a software technology called 'weaves' that will permit large collections of micromachines and their attendant computers to freely intercommunicate while preserving modularity, transparency, and flexibility. Weaves are composed of networks of communicating software components. The network, and the components comprising it, may be changed even while the software, and the devices it controls, are executing. This unusual degree of software plasticity permits micromachines to dynamically adapt the software to changing conditions and allows system engineers to rapidly and inexpensively develop special purpose software by assembling stock software components in custom configurations.

  6. A curriculum for real-time computer and control systems engineering

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Halang, Wolfgang A.

    1990-01-01

    An outline of a syllabus for the education of real-time-systems engineers is given. This comprises the treatment of basic concepts, real-time software engineering, and programming in high-level real-time languages, real-time operating systems with special emphasis on such topics as task scheduling, hardware architectures, and especially distributed automation structures, process interfacing, system reliability and fault-tolerance, and integrated project development support systems. Accompanying course material and laboratory work are outlined, and suggestions for establishing a laboratory with advanced, but low-cost, hardware and software are provided. How the curriculum can be extended into a second semester is discussed, and areas for possible graduate research are listed. The suitable selection of a high-level real-time language and supporting operating system for teaching purposes is considered.

  7. Evolution of Ada technology in the flight dynamics area: Design phase analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Quimby, Kelvin L.; Esker, Linda

    1988-01-01

    The software engineering issues related to the use of the Ada programming language during the design phase of an Ada project are analyzed. Discussion shows how an evolving understanding of these issues is reflected in the design processes of three generations of Ada projects.

  8. An approach to integrating and creating flexible software environments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bellman, Kirstie L.

    1992-01-01

    Engineers and scientists are attempting to represent, analyze, and reason about increasingly complex systems. Many researchers have been developing new ways of creating increasingly open environments. In this research on VEHICLES, a conceptual design environment for space systems, an approach was developed, called 'wrapping', to flexibility and integration based on the collection and then processing of explicit qualitative descriptions of all the software resources in the environment. Currently, a simulation is available, VSIM, used to study both the types of wrapping descriptions and the processes necessary to use the metaknowledge to combine, select, adapt, and explain some of the software resources used in VEHICLES. What was learned about the types of knowledge necessary for the wrapping approach is described along with the implications of wrapping for several key software engineering issues.

  9. A knowledge based software engineering environment testbed

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gill, C.; Reedy, A.; Baker, L.

    1985-01-01

    The Carnegie Group Incorporated and Boeing Computer Services Company are developing a testbed which will provide a framework for integrating conventional software engineering tools with Artifical Intelligence (AI) tools to promote automation and productivity. The emphasis is on the transfer of AI technology to the software development process. Experiments relate to AI issues such as scaling up, inference, and knowledge representation. In its first year, the project has created a model of software development by representing software activities; developed a module representation formalism to specify the behavior and structure of software objects; integrated the model with the formalism to identify shared representation and inheritance mechanisms; demonstrated object programming by writing procedures and applying them to software objects; used data-directed and goal-directed reasoning to, respectively, infer the cause of bugs and evaluate the appropriateness of a configuration; and demonstrated knowledge-based graphics. Future plans include introduction of knowledge-based systems for rapid prototyping or rescheduling; natural language interfaces; blackboard architecture; and distributed processing

  10. Clinical software development for the Web: lessons learned from the BOADICEA project

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background In the past 20 years, society has witnessed the following landmark scientific advances: (i) the sequencing of the human genome, (ii) the distribution of software by the open source movement, and (iii) the invention of the World Wide Web. Together, these advances have provided a new impetus for clinical software development: developers now translate the products of human genomic research into clinical software tools; they use open-source programs to build them; and they use the Web to deliver them. Whilst this open-source component-based approach has undoubtedly made clinical software development easier, clinical software projects are still hampered by problems that traditionally accompany the software process. This study describes the development of the BOADICEA Web Application, a computer program used by clinical geneticists to assess risks to patients with a family history of breast and ovarian cancer. The key challenge of the BOADICEA Web Application project was to deliver a program that was safe, secure and easy for healthcare professionals to use. We focus on the software process, problems faced, and lessons learned. Our key objectives are: (i) to highlight key clinical software development issues; (ii) to demonstrate how software engineering tools and techniques can facilitate clinical software development for the benefit of individuals who lack software engineering expertise; and (iii) to provide a clinical software development case report that can be used as a basis for discussion at the start of future projects. Results We developed the BOADICEA Web Application using an evolutionary software process. Our approach to Web implementation was conservative and we used conventional software engineering tools and techniques. The principal software development activities were: requirements, design, implementation, testing, documentation and maintenance. The BOADICEA Web Application has now been widely adopted by clinical geneticists and researchers. BOADICEA Web Application version 1 was released for general use in November 2007. By May 2010, we had > 1200 registered users based in the UK, USA, Canada, South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Conclusions We found that an evolutionary software process was effective when we developed the BOADICEA Web Application. The key clinical software development issues identified during the BOADICEA Web Application project were: software reliability, Web security, clinical data protection and user feedback. PMID:22490389

  11. Clinical software development for the Web: lessons learned from the BOADICEA project.

    PubMed

    Cunningham, Alex P; Antoniou, Antonis C; Easton, Douglas F

    2012-04-10

    In the past 20 years, society has witnessed the following landmark scientific advances: (i) the sequencing of the human genome, (ii) the distribution of software by the open source movement, and (iii) the invention of the World Wide Web. Together, these advances have provided a new impetus for clinical software development: developers now translate the products of human genomic research into clinical software tools; they use open-source programs to build them; and they use the Web to deliver them. Whilst this open-source component-based approach has undoubtedly made clinical software development easier, clinical software projects are still hampered by problems that traditionally accompany the software process. This study describes the development of the BOADICEA Web Application, a computer program used by clinical geneticists to assess risks to patients with a family history of breast and ovarian cancer. The key challenge of the BOADICEA Web Application project was to deliver a program that was safe, secure and easy for healthcare professionals to use. We focus on the software process, problems faced, and lessons learned. Our key objectives are: (i) to highlight key clinical software development issues; (ii) to demonstrate how software engineering tools and techniques can facilitate clinical software development for the benefit of individuals who lack software engineering expertise; and (iii) to provide a clinical software development case report that can be used as a basis for discussion at the start of future projects. We developed the BOADICEA Web Application using an evolutionary software process. Our approach to Web implementation was conservative and we used conventional software engineering tools and techniques. The principal software development activities were: requirements, design, implementation, testing, documentation and maintenance. The BOADICEA Web Application has now been widely adopted by clinical geneticists and researchers. BOADICEA Web Application version 1 was released for general use in November 2007. By May 2010, we had > 1200 registered users based in the UK, USA, Canada, South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand. We found that an evolutionary software process was effective when we developed the BOADICEA Web Application. The key clinical software development issues identified during the BOADICEA Web Application project were: software reliability, Web security, clinical data protection and user feedback.

  12. To Tinker or Not to Tinker?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chippindall, Jon

    2017-01-01

    Every week, thousands of "makers" worldwide indulge their passion for creating, inventing, and meddling as they visit "Tinkering studios," "Tinkerlabs," and "Tinkergarden." Such "makers" are inherently engineers; exhibiting many of the Engineering Habits of Minds described in this Special Issue as…

  13. A Software Safety Risk Taxonomy for Use in Retrospective Safety Cases

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hill, Janice L.

    2007-01-01

    Safety standards contain technical and process-oriented safely requirements. The best time to include these requirements is early in the development lifecycle of the system. When software safety requirements are levied on a legacy system after the fact, a retrospective safety case will need to be constructed for the software in the system. This can be a difficult task because there may be few to no art facts available to show compliance to the software safely requirements. The risks associated with not meeting safely requirements in a legacy safely-critical computer system must be addressed to give confidence for reuse. This paper introduces a proposal for a software safely risk taxonomy for legacy safely-critical computer systems, by specializing the Software Engineering Institute's 'Software Development Risk Taxonomy' with safely elements and attributes.

  14. Computer sciences

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smith, Paul H.

    1988-01-01

    The Computer Science Program provides advanced concepts, techniques, system architectures, algorithms, and software for both space and aeronautics information sciences and computer systems. The overall goal is to provide the technical foundation within NASA for the advancement of computing technology in aerospace applications. The research program is improving the state of knowledge of fundamental aerospace computing principles and advancing computing technology in space applications such as software engineering and information extraction from data collected by scientific instruments in space. The program includes the development of special algorithms and techniques to exploit the computing power provided by high performance parallel processors and special purpose architectures. Research is being conducted in the fundamentals of data base logic and improvement techniques for producing reliable computing systems.

  15. State Analysis: A Control Architecture View of Systems Engineering

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rasmussen, Robert D.

    2005-01-01

    A viewgraph presentation on the state analysis process is shown. The topics include: 1) Issues with growing complexity; 2) Limits of common practice; 3) Exploiting a control point of view; 4) A glimpse at the State Analysis process; 5) Synergy with model-based systems engineering; and 6) Bridging the systems to software gap.

  16. 77 FR 49702 - Airworthiness Directives; Embraer S.A. Airplanes

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-08-17

    ... replacing the AMS controller processor module with one containing new software, and a new AFM revision. This... protection system. We are issuing this AD to prevent the possibility of a right-hand (RH) engine compressor... down. Also there is the possibility of right hand (RH) engine compressor to stall after the Auxiliary...

  17. Special Issue: Big data and predictive computational modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koutsourelakis, P. S.; Zabaras, N.; Girolami, M.

    2016-09-01

    The motivation for this special issue stems from the symposium on "Big Data and Predictive Computational Modeling" that took place at the Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich, during May 18-21, 2015. With a mindset firmly grounded in computational discovery, but a polychromatic set of viewpoints, several leading scientists, from physics and chemistry, biology, engineering, applied mathematics, scientific computing, neuroscience, statistics and machine learning, engaged in discussions and exchanged ideas for four days. This special issue contains a subset of the presentations. Video and slides of all the presentations are available on the TUM-IAS website http://www.tum-ias.de/bigdata2015/.

  18. Engine structures modeling software system: Computer code. User's manual

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1992-01-01

    ESMOSS is a specialized software system for the construction of geometric descriptive and discrete analytical models of engine parts, components and substructures which can be transferred to finite element analysis programs such as NASTRAN. The software architecture of ESMOSS is designed in modular form with a central executive module through which the user controls and directs the development of the analytical model. Modules consist of a geometric shape generator, a library of discretization procedures, interfacing modules to join both geometric and discrete models, a deck generator to produce input for NASTRAN and a 'recipe' processor which generates geometric models from parametric definitions. ESMOSS can be executed both in interactive and batch modes. Interactive mode is considered to be the default mode and that mode will be assumed in the discussion in this document unless stated otherwise.

  19. Autonomy Software: V&V Challenges and Characteristics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schumann, Johann; Visser, Willem

    2006-01-01

    The successful operation of unmanned air vehicles requires software with a high degree of autonomy. Only if high level functions can be carried out without human control and intervention, complex missions in a changing and potentially unknown environment can be carried out successfully. Autonomy software is highly mission and safety critical: failures, caused by flaws in the software cannot only jeopardize the mission, but could also endanger human life (e.g., a crash of an UAV in a densely populated area). Due to its large size, high complexity, and use of specialized algorithms (planner, constraint-solver, etc.), autonomy software poses specific challenges for its verification, validation, and certification. -- - we have carried out a survey among researchers aid scientists at NASA to study these issues. In this paper, we will present major results of this study, discussing the broad spectrum. of notions and characteristics of autonomy software and its challenges for design and development. A main focus of this survey was to evaluate verification and validation (V&V) issues and challenges, compared to the development of "traditional" safety-critical software. We will discuss important issues in V&V of autonomous software and advanced V&V tools which can help to mitigate software risks. Results of this survey will help to identify and understand safety concerns in autonomy software and will lead to improved strategies for mitigation of these risks.

  20. Prospectus 2000

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Holmes, Jon L.; Gettys, Nancy S.

    2000-01-01

    We begin 2000 with a message about our plans for JCE Software and what you will be seeing in this column as the year progresses. Floppy Disk --> CD-ROM Most software today is distributed on CD-ROM or by downloading from the Internet. Several new computers no longer include a floppy disk drive as "standard equipment". Today's software no longer fits on one or two floppies (the installation software alone can require two disks) and the cost of reproducing and distributing several disks is prohibitive. In short, distribution of software on floppy disks is no longer practical. Therefore, JCE Software will distribute all new software publications on CD-ROM rather than on disks. Regular Issues --> Collections Distribution of all our software on CD-ROM allows us to extend our concept of software collections that we started with the General Chemistry Collection. Such collections will contain all the previously published software that is still "in print" (i.e., is compatible with current operating systems and hardware) and any new programs that fall under the topic of the collection. Proposed topics in addition to General Chemistry currently include Advanced Chemistry, Instrument and Laboratory Simulations, and Spectroscopy. Eventually, all regular issues will be replaced by these collections, which will be updated annually or semiannually with new programs and updates to existing programs. Abstracts for all new programs will continue to appear in this column when a collection or its update is ready for publication. We will continue to offer special issues of single larger programs (e.g. Periodic Table Live!, Chemistry Comes Alive! volumes) on CD-ROM and video on videotape. Connect with Your Students outside Class JCE Software has always offered network licenses to allow instructors to make our software available to students in computer labs, but that model no longer fits the way many instructors and students work with computers. Many students (or their families) own a personal computer allowing them much more flexibility than a campus computer lab. Many instructors utilize the World Wide Web, creating HTML pages for students to use. JCE Software has options available to take advantage of both of these developments. Software Adoption To provide students who own computers access to JCE Software programs, consider adopting one or more of our CD-ROMs as you would a textbook. The General Chemistry Collection has been adopted by several general chemistry courses. We can arrange to bundle CDs with laboratory manuals or to be sold separately to students through the campus bookstore. The cost per CD can be quite low (as little as $5) when large numbers are ordered, making this a cost-effective method of allowing students access to the software they need whenever and wherever they desire. Web-Ready Publications Several JCE Software programs use HTML to present the material. Viewed with the ubiquitous Internet Browser, HTML is compatible with both Mac OS and Windows (as well most other current operating systems) and provides a flexible hypermedia interface that is familiar to an increasing number of instructors and students. HTML-based publications are also ready for use on local intranets, with appropriate licensing, and can be readily incorporated into other HTML-based materials. Already published in this format are: Chemistry Comes Alive!, Volumes 1 and 2 (Special Issues 18 and 21), Flying over Atoms (Special Issue 19), and Periodic Table Live! Second Edition (Special Issue 17). Solid State Resources Second Edition (Special Issue 12) and Chemistry Comes Alive!, Volume 3 (Special Issue 23) will be available soon. Other submissions being developed in HTML format include ChemPages Laboratory and Multimedia General Chemistry Problems. Contact the JCE Software office to learn about licensing alternatives that take advantage of the World Wide Web. Periodic Table Live! 2nd ed. is one of JCE Software's "Web-ready" publications. Publication Plans for 2000 We have several exciting new issues planned for publication in the coming year. Chemistry Comes Alive! The Chemistry Comes Alive! (CCA!) series continues with additional CD-ROMs for Mac OS and Windows. Each volume in this series contains video and animations of chemical reactions that can be easily incorporated into your own computer-based presentations. Our digital video now uses state-of-the-art compression that yields higher quality video with smaller file sizes and data rates more suited for WWW delivery. Video for Periodic Table Live! 2nd edition, Chemistry Comes Alive! Volumes 3, ChemPages Laboratory, and Multimedia General Chemistry Problems use this new format. We will be releasing updates of CCA! Volumes 1 and 2 to take advantage of this new technology. We are very pleased with the results and think you will be also. The reaction of aluminum with chlorine is included in Chemistry Comes Alive! Volume 3. ChemPages Laboratory ChemPages Laboratory, developed by the New Traditions Curriculum Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is an HTML-based CD-ROM for Mac OS and Windows that contains lessons and tutorials to prepare introductory chemistry students to work in the laboratory. It includes text, photographs, computer graphics, animations, digital video, and voice narration to introduce students to the laboratory equipment and procedures. ChemPages Laboratory teaches introductory chemistry students about laboratory instruments, equipment, and procedures. Versatile Video Video demonstrating the "drinking bird" is included in the Chemistry Comes Alive! video collection. Video from this collection can be incorporated into many other projects. As an example, David Whisnant has used the drinking bird in his Multimedia General Chemistry Problems, where students view the video and are asked to explain why the bird bobs up and down. JCE Software anticipates publication of Multimedia General Chemistry Problems on CD-ROM for Mac OS and Windows in 2000. It will be "Web-ready". General Chemistry Collection, 4th Edition The General Chemistry Collection will be revised early in the summer and CDs will be shipped in time for fall adoptions. The 4th edition will include JCE Software publications for general chemistry published in 1999, as well as any programs for general chemistry accepted in 2000. Regular Issues We have had many recent submissions and submissions of work in progress. In 2000 we will work with the authors and our peer-reviewers to complete and publish these submissions individually or as part of a software collection on CD-ROM. An Invitation In collaboration with JCE Online we plan to make available in 2000 more support files for JCE Software. These will include not only troubleshooting tips and technical support notes, but also supporting information submitted by users such as lessons, specific assignments, and activities using JCE Software publications. All JCE Software users are invited to contribute to this area. Get in touch with JCE Software and let us know how you are using our materials so that we can share your ideas with others! Although the word software is in our name, many of our publications are not traditional software. We also publish video on videotape, videodisc, and CD-ROM and electronic documents (Mathcad and Mathematica, spreadsheet files and macros, HTML documents, and PowerPoint presentations). Most chemistry instructors who use a computer in their teaching have created or considered creating one or more of these for their classes. If you have an original computer presentation, electronic document, animation, video, or any other item that is not printed text it is probably an appropriate submission for JCE Software. By publishing your work in any branch of the Journal of Chemical Education, you will share your efforts with chemistry instructors and students all over the world and get professional recognition for your achievements. All JCE Software publications are Y2K compliant.

  1. Myths and realities: Defining re-engineering for a large organization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yin, Sandra; Mccreary, Julia

    1992-01-01

    This paper describes the background and results of three studies concerning software reverse engineering, re-engineering, and reuse (R3) hosted by the Internal Revenue Service in 1991 and 1992. The situation at the Internal Revenue--aging, piecemeal computer systems and outdated technology maintained by a large staff--is familiar to many institutions, especially among management information systems. The IRS is distinctive for the sheer magnitude and diversity of its problems; the country's tax records are processed using assembly language and COBOL and spread across tape and network DBMS files. How do we proceed with replacing legacy systems? The three software re-engineering studies looked at methods, CASE tool support, and performed a prototype project using re-engineering methods and tools. During the course of these projects, we discovered critical issues broader than the mechanical definitions of methods and tool technology.

  2. Computational Studies of Pyrolysis and Upgrading of Bio-oils: Virtual Special Issue

    DOE PAGES

    Xiong, Qingang; Robichaud, David J.

    2017-03-23

    As research activities continue, our understanding of biomass pyrolysis has been significantly elevated and we sought to arrange this Virtual Special Issue (VSI) in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering to report recent progress on computational and experimental studies of biomass pyrolysis. Beyond highlighting the five national laboratories' advancements, prestigious researchers in the field of biomass pyrolysis have been invited to report their most recent activities.

  3. P-12 Engineering Education Research and Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moore, Tamara; Richards, Larry G.

    2012-01-01

    This special issue of "Advances in Engineering Education" explores recent developments in P-12 Engineering Education. It includes papers devoted to research and practice, and reports some of the most exciting work in the field today. In our Call of Papers, we solicited two types of papers: Research papers and Practice papers. The former…

  4. A cumulative index to the 1972 issues of aeronautical engineering: A special bibliography

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1973-01-01

    A cumulative index to the abstracts contained in NASA SP-7037 (15) through NASA SP-7037 (26) of Aeronautical Engineering: A Special Bibliography. NASA SP-7037 and its supplements has been complied through the cooperative efforts of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This cumulative index includes subject, personal author, corporate source, contract, and report number indexes.

  5. A cumulative index to the 1973 issues of Aeronautical engineering: A special bibliography

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1974-01-01

    This publication is a cumulative index to the abstracts contained in NASA SP-7037 (28) through NASA SP-7037 (39) of Aeronautical Engineering: A Special Bibliography. NASA SP-7037 and its supplements have been compiled through the cooperative efforts of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This cumulative index includes subject, personal author, corporate source, contract, and report number indexes.

  6. Volpe Journal - 30th anniversary : a special edition

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-01-01

    This special issue of the Volpe Journal is part of our celebration of 30 years of service to : our nation and to the transportation community. : The Volpe Center is a hub of transportation research, analysis, and engineering. The articles in this iss...

  7. Wikis in Collaborative Educational Scenarios: Integrated in LMS or Standalone Wikis?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Forment, Marc Alier; De Pedro, Xavier; Casan, Maria Jose; Piguillem, Jordi; Galanis, Nikolas

    2012-01-01

    This article outlines a set of features that wiki engines require to successfully host collaborative educational scenarios. The authors explore multiple issues that deal with the use wikis with learning activities. One of the first issues to solve is software support for assessment methodologies. The second is choosing between using an integrated…

  8. Systems Engineering Building Advances Power Grid Research

    ScienceCinema

    Virden, Jud; Huang, Henry; Skare, Paul; Dagle, Jeff; Imhoff, Carl; Stoustrup, Jakob; Melton, Ron; Stiles, Dennis; Pratt, Rob

    2018-01-16

    Researchers and industry are now better equipped to tackle the nation’s most pressing energy challenges through PNNL’s new Systems Engineering Building – including challenges in grid modernization, buildings efficiency and renewable energy integration. This lab links real-time grid data, software platforms, specialized laboratories and advanced computing resources for the design and demonstration of new tools to modernize the grid and increase buildings energy efficiency.

  9. Home | Simulation Research

    Science.gov Websites

    Group specializes in the research, development and deployment of software that support the design and controls design, the Spawn of EnergyPlus next-generation simulation engine, for building and control energy systems tools for OpenBuildingControl to support control design, deployment and verification of building

  10. The Utility of Handheld Programmable Calculators in Aircraft Life Cycle Cost Estimation.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1982-09-01

    are available for extended mem - ory, hardcopy printout, video interface, and special application software. Any calculator of comparable memory could...condi- tioning system. OG Total number of engine, air turbine motor (ATM) and auxiliary power unit (APU) driven generator/alternators. OHP Total number

  11. Engineering designer transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) by REAL or REAL-Fast assembly.

    PubMed

    Reyon, Deepak; Khayter, Cyd; Regan, Maureen R; Joung, J Keith; Sander, Jeffry D

    2012-10-01

    Engineered transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are broadly useful tools for performing targeted genome editing in a wide variety of organisms and cell types including plants, zebrafish, C. elegans, rat, human somatic cells, and human pluripotent stem cells. Here we describe detailed protocols for the serial, hierarchical assembly of TALENs that require neither PCR nor specialized multi-fragment ligations and that can be implemented by any laboratory. These restriction enzyme and ligation (REAL)-based protocols can be practiced using plasmid libraries and user-friendly, Web-based software that both identifies target sites in sequences of interest and generates printable graphical guides that facilitate assembly of TALENs. With the described platform of reagents, protocols, and software, researchers can easily engineer multiple TALENs within 2 weeks using standard cloning techniques. 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  12. Software engineering with application-specific languages

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Campbell, David J.; Barker, Linda; Mitchell, Deborah; Pollack, Robert H.

    1993-01-01

    Application-Specific Languages (ASL's) are small, special-purpose languages that are targeted to solve a specific class of problems. Using ASL's on software development projects can provide considerable cost savings, reduce risk, and enhance quality and reliability. ASL's provide a platform for reuse within a project or across many projects and enable less-experienced programmers to tap into the expertise of application-area experts. ASL's have been used on several software development projects for the Space Shuttle Program. On these projects, the use of ASL's resulted in considerable cost savings over conventional development techniques. Two of these projects are described.

  13. System software for the finite element machine

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Crockett, T. W.; Knott, J. D.

    1985-01-01

    The Finite Element Machine is an experimental parallel computer developed at Langley Research Center to investigate the application of concurrent processing to structural engineering analysis. This report describes system-level software which has been developed to facilitate use of the machine by applications researchers. The overall software design is outlined, and several important parallel processing issues are discussed in detail, including processor management, communication, synchronization, and input/output. Based on experience using the system, the hardware architecture and software design are critiqued, and areas for further work are suggested.

  14. MATLAB Software Versions and Licenses for the Peregrine System |

    Science.gov Websites

    : Feature usage info: Users of MATLAB: (Total of 6 licenses issued; Total of ... licenses in use) Users of Compiler: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of ... licenses in use) Users of Distrib_Computing_Toolbox : (Total of 4 licenses issued; Total of ... licenses in use) Users of MATLAB_Distrib_Comp_Engine: (Total of

  15. Guide to Special Information in Scientific and Engineering Journals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harris, Mary Elizabeth

    This update of a 1983 annotated bibliography lists 298 special features or special issues of science and technology periodicals with emphasis on compilations of information that appear in periodicals on a regular basis. In addition to the 203 entries listed in the original edition, 95 new entries are included. Subjects covered in the guide include…

  16. Interactive Finite Elements for General Engine Dynamics Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Adams, M. L.; Padovan, J.; Fertis, D. G.

    1984-01-01

    General nonlinear finite element codes were adapted for the purpose of analyzing the dynamics of gas turbine engines. In particular, this adaptation required the development of a squeeze-film damper element software package and its implantation into a representative current generation code. The ADINA code was selected because of prior use of it and familiarity with its internal structure and logic. This objective was met and the results indicate that such use of general purpose codes is viable alternative to specialized codes for general dynamics analysis of engines.

  17. Space Shuttle Program Primary Avionics Software System (PASS) Success Legacy -Major Accomplishments and Lessons Learned

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Orr, James K.

    2010-01-01

    This presentation has shown the accomplishments of the PASS project over three decades and highlighted the lessons learned. Over the entire time, our goal has been to continuously improve our process, implement automation for both quality and increased productivity, and identify and remove all defects due to prior execution of a flawed process in addition to improving our processes following identification of significant process escapes. Morale and workforce instability have been issues, most significantly during 1993 to 1998 (period of consolidation in aerospace industry). The PASS project has also consulted with others, including the Software Engineering Institute, so as to be an early evaluator, adopter, and adapter of state-of-the-art software engineering innovations.

  18. Re-Engineering JPL's Mission Planning Ground System Architecture for Cost Efficient Operations in the 21st Century

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fordyce, Jess

    1996-01-01

    Work carried out to re-engineer the mission analysis segment of JPL's mission planning ground system architecture is reported on. The aim is to transform the existing software tools, originally developed for specific missions on different support environments, into an integrated, general purpose, multi-mission tool set. The issues considered are: the development of a partnership between software developers and users; the definition of key mission analysis functions; the development of a consensus based architecture; the move towards evolutionary change instead of revolutionary replacement; software reusability, and the minimization of future maintenance costs. The current status and aims of new developments are discussed and specific examples of cost savings and improved productivity are presented.

  19. On Some Interesting Trends in Research of Steel and Composite Structures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marcinowski, Jakub

    2017-06-01

    This paper is a kind of introduction to the special issue of CEER devoted to metal and composite structures. Papers collected in this issue were ordered from Authors who took part in International Conference on Metal Structures which was held in Zielona Góra in 2016. Selection of Authors and theme of ordered papers were done in cooperation with Metal Structures Section of the Civil Engineering Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Selected papers included in this special issue of CEER were shortly presented in this editorial.

  20. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Miller, M.; Kempner, L. Jr.; Mueller, W. III

    The concept of an Expert System is not new. It has been around since the days of the early computers when scientists had dreams of robot automation to do everything from washing windows to automobile design. This paper discusses an application of an expert system and addresses software development issues and various levels of expert system development form a structural engineering viewpoint. An expert system designed to aid the structural engineer in first order inelastic analysis of latticed steel transmission powers is presented. The utilization of expert systems with large numerical analysis programs is discussed along with the software developmentmore » of such a system.« less

  1. Numerical calculation on infrared characteristics of the special vehicle exhaust system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, Yun-song; Li, Xiao-xia; Jin, Wei

    2017-10-01

    For mastery of infrared radiation characteristics and flow field of the special vehicle exhaust system, first, a physical model of the special vehicle exhaust system is established with the Gambit, and the mathematical model of flow field is determined. Secondly, software Fluent6.3 is used to simulated the 3-D exterior flow field of the special vehicle exhaust system, and the datum of flow field, such as temperature, pressure and density, are obtained. Thirdly, based on the plume temperature, the special vehicle exhaust space is divided. The exhaust is equivalent to a gray-body. A calculating model of the vehicle exhaust infrared radiation is established, and the exhaust infrared radiation characteristics are calculated by the software MATLAB, then the spatial distribution curves are drawn. Finally, the numerical results are analyzing, and the basic laws of the special vehicle exhaust infrared radiation are explored. The results show that with the increase of the engine speed, the temperature of the exhaust pipe wall of the special vehicle increases, and the temperature and pressure of the exhaust gas flow field increase, which leads to the enhancement of the infrared radiation intensity

  2. Database Search Engines: Paradigms, Challenges and Solutions.

    PubMed

    Verheggen, Kenneth; Martens, Lennart; Berven, Frode S; Barsnes, Harald; Vaudel, Marc

    2016-01-01

    The first step in identifying proteins from mass spectrometry based shotgun proteomics data is to infer peptides from tandem mass spectra, a task generally achieved using database search engines. In this chapter, the basic principles of database search engines are introduced with a focus on open source software, and the use of database search engines is demonstrated using the freely available SearchGUI interface. This chapter also discusses how to tackle general issues related to sequence database searching and shows how to minimize their impact.

  3. Catalog of Resources for Education in Ada (Trade Name) and Software Engineering (CREASE). Version 4.0.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-05-01

    offering the course is a company. Name and Address of offeror: Tachyon Corporation 2725 Congress Street Suite 2H San Diego, CA 92110 Offeror’s...Background: Tachyon Corporation specializes in Ada software quality assurance, computer hosted instruction and information retrieval systems, authoring tools...easy to use (on-line help) and can look up or search for terms. Tachyon Corporation 20 CDURSE OFFERINGS 2.2. Lecture/Seminar Courses 2.2.1. Company

  4. Programs for Testing an SSME-Monitoring System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lang, Andre; Cecil, Jimmie; Heusinger, Ralph; Freestone, Kathleen; Blue, Lisa; Wilkerson, DeLisa; McMahon, Leigh Anne; Hall, Richard B.; Varnavas, Kosta; Smith, Keary; hide

    2007-01-01

    A suite of computer programs has been developed for special test equipment (STE) that is used in verification testing of the Health Management Computer Integrated Rack Assembly (HMCIRA), a ground-based system of analog and digital electronic hardware and software for "flight-like" testing for development of components of an advanced health-management system for the space shuttle main engine (SSME). The STE software enables the STE to simulate the analog input and the data flow of an SSME test firing from start to finish.

  5. Software Technology for Adaptable, Reliable Systems (STARS): UUS40 - Risk-Reduction Reasoning-Based Development Paradigm Tailored to Navy C2 Systems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-07-30

    4 Management reviews, engineering and WBS -Spiral 0 -5 *Risk Management Planning -Spiral 0-5 ,41.- Unrelsi ugt .Proper initial planning -Spiral 0.1...Reusability issues for trusted systems are associated closely with maintenance issues. Reuse theory and practice for highly trusted systems will require

  6. Non-Algorithmic Issues in Automated Computational Mechanics

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-04-30

    Tworzydlo, Senior Research Engineer and Manager of Advanced Projects Group I. Professor I J. T. Oden, President and Senior Scientist of COMCO, was project...practical applications of the systems reported so far is due to the extremely arduous and complex development and management of a realistic knowledge base...software, designed to effectively implement deep, algorithmic knowledge, * and 0 "intelligent" software, designed to manage shallow, heuristic

  7. Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) for preventive management of COPD patients.

    PubMed

    Velickovski, Filip; Ceccaroni, Luigi; Roca, Josep; Burgos, Felip; Galdiz, Juan B; Marina, Nuria; Lluch-Ariet, Magí

    2014-11-28

    The use of information and communication technologies to manage chronic diseases allows the application of integrated care pathways, and the optimization and standardization of care processes. Decision support tools can assist in the adherence to best-practice medicine in critical decision points during the execution of a care pathway. The objectives are to design, develop, and assess a clinical decision support system (CDSS) offering a suite of services for the early detection and assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which can be easily integrated into a healthcare providers' work-flow. The software architecture model for the CDSS, interoperable clinical-knowledge representation, and inference engine were designed and implemented to form a base CDSS framework. The CDSS functionalities were iteratively developed through requirement-adjustment/development/validation cycles using enterprise-grade software-engineering methodologies and technologies. Within each cycle, clinical-knowledge acquisition was performed by a health-informatics engineer and a clinical-expert team. A suite of decision-support web services for (i) COPD early detection and diagnosis, (ii) spirometry quality-control support, (iii) patient stratification, was deployed in a secured environment on-line. The CDSS diagnostic performance was assessed using a validation set of 323 cases with 90% specificity, and 96% sensitivity. Web services were integrated in existing health information system platforms. Specialized decision support can be offered as a complementary service to existing policies of integrated care for chronic-disease management. The CDSS was able to issue recommendations that have a high degree of accuracy to support COPD case-finding. Integration into healthcare providers' work-flow can be achieved seamlessly through the use of a modular design and service-oriented architecture that connect to existing health information systems.

  8. Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) for preventive management of COPD patients

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background The use of information and communication technologies to manage chronic diseases allows the application of integrated care pathways, and the optimization and standardization of care processes. Decision support tools can assist in the adherence to best-practice medicine in critical decision points during the execution of a care pathway. Objectives The objectives are to design, develop, and assess a clinical decision support system (CDSS) offering a suite of services for the early detection and assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which can be easily integrated into a healthcare providers' work-flow. Methods The software architecture model for the CDSS, interoperable clinical-knowledge representation, and inference engine were designed and implemented to form a base CDSS framework. The CDSS functionalities were iteratively developed through requirement-adjustment/development/validation cycles using enterprise-grade software-engineering methodologies and technologies. Within each cycle, clinical-knowledge acquisition was performed by a health-informatics engineer and a clinical-expert team. Results A suite of decision-support web services for (i) COPD early detection and diagnosis, (ii) spirometry quality-control support, (iii) patient stratification, was deployed in a secured environment on-line. The CDSS diagnostic performance was assessed using a validation set of 323 cases with 90% specificity, and 96% sensitivity. Web services were integrated in existing health information system platforms. Conclusions Specialized decision support can be offered as a complementary service to existing policies of integrated care for chronic-disease management. The CDSS was able to issue recommendations that have a high degree of accuracy to support COPD case-finding. Integration into healthcare providers' work-flow can be achieved seamlessly through the use of a modular design and service-oriented architecture that connect to existing health information systems. PMID:25471545

  9. Knowledge-based approach for generating target system specifications from a domain model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gomaa, Hassan; Kerschberg, Larry; Sugumaran, Vijayan

    1992-01-01

    Several institutions in industry and academia are pursuing research efforts in domain modeling to address unresolved issues in software reuse. To demonstrate the concepts of domain modeling and software reuse, a prototype software engineering environment is being developed at George Mason University to support the creation of domain models and the generation of target system specifications. This prototype environment, which is application domain independent, consists of an integrated set of commercial off-the-shelf software tools and custom-developed software tools. This paper describes the knowledge-based tool that was developed as part of the environment to generate target system specifications from a domain model.

  10. Gender Differences in the Careers of Academic Scientists and Engineers: A Literature Review. Special Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bentley, Jerome T.; Adamson, Rebecca

    The literature on women in science and engineering is extensive and addresses such issues as early education, decision to study and pursue careers in science, and how women fair in their jobs. This review used the literature on the careers of women scientists and engineers employed in academia to examine how women in these disciplines fare…

  11. Fostering soft skills in project-oriented learning within an agile atmosphere

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chassidim, Hadas; Almog, Dani; Mark, Shlomo

    2018-07-01

    The project-oriented and Agile approaches have motivated a new generation of software engineers. Within the academic curriculum, the issue of whether students are being sufficiently prepared for the future has been raised. The objective of this work is to present the project-oriented environment as an influential factor that software engineering profession requires, using the second year course 'Software Development and Management in Agile Approach' as a case-study. This course combines academic topics, self-learned and soft skills implementation, the call for creativity, and the recognition of updated technologies and dynamic circumstances. The results of a survey that evaluated the perceived value of the course showed that the highest contribution of our environment was in the effectiveness of the team-work and the overall development process of the project.

  12. Effects of Interdisciplinary Education on Technology-Driven Application Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tafa, Z.; Rakocevic, G.; Mihailovic, D.; Milutinovic, V.

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes the structure and the underlying rationale of a new course dedicated to capability maturity model integration (CMMI)-directed design of wireless sensor networks (WSNs)-based biomedical applications that stresses: 1) engineering-, medico-engineering-, and informatics-related issues; 2) design for general- and special-purpose…

  13. George Scott | NREL

    Science.gov Websites

    George Scott George Scott Researcher IV-Software Engineering George.Scott@nrel.gov | 303-384-6903 Orcid ID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7983-3050 George joined NREL (then SERI) in 1985. He specializes in turbines and wind plants. Before joining NREL, George was a research geophysicist with Superior Oil in

  14. A Programmer’s Assistant for a Special-Purpose Dataflow Language.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-12-01

    valueclasscheck ’strict)) load-qda-kbs Loads the 6DA knowledge bases (defun Ioad-qda-kbs 0) Idolist (kb foda -kbst) (kbload (strino-append ’host-dir...DeMarco, T., "Structured Analysis and System Specification," GUIDE 47 Proceedings, 1978. Reprinted in Classics in Software Engineering, edited by Edward

  15. An Embedded Systems Course for Engineering Students Using Open-Source Platforms in Wireless Scenarios

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rodriguez-Sanchez, M. C.; Torrado-Carvajal, Angel; Vaquero, Joaquin; Borromeo, Susana; Hernandez-Tamames, Juan A.

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a case study analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of using project-based learning (PBL) combined with collaborative learning (CL) and industry best practices, integrated with information communication technologies, open-source software, and open-source hardware tools, in a specialized microcontroller and embedded systems…

  16. An Educational Multimedia Presentation on the Introduction to Spacecraft Charging

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lin, E.; dePayrebrune, M.

    2004-01-01

    Over the last few decades, significant knowledge has been gained in how to protect spacecraft from charging; however, the continuing technical advancement in the design and build of satellites requires on-going effort in the study of spacecraft charging. A situation that we have encountered is that not all satellite designers and builders are familiar with the problem of spacecraft charging. The design of a satellite involves many talented people with diverse backgrounds, ranging from manufacturing and assembly to engineering and program management. The complex design and build of a satellite system requires people with highly specialized skills such that cross-specialization is often not achievable. As a result, designers and builders of satellites are not usually familiar with the problems outside their specialization. This is also true for spacecraft charging. Not everyone is familiar with the definition of spacecraft charging and the damage that spacecraft charging can cause. Understanding the problem is an important first step in getting everyone involved in addressing the appropriate spacecraft charging issues during the satellite design and build phases. To address this important first step, an educational multimedia presentation has been created to inform the general engineering community about the basics of spacecraft charging. The content of this educational presentation is based on relevant published technical papers. The presentation was developed using Macromedia Flash. This software produces a more dynamic learning environment than a typical slide show , resulting in a more effective learning experience. The end result is that the viewer will have learned about the basics of spacecraft charging. This presentation is available to the public through our website, www.dplscience.com, free of charge. Viewers are encouraged to pass this presentation to colleagues within their own work environment. This paper describes the content of the multimedia presentation.

  17. Preface: Challenges for Catalytic Exhaust Aftertreatment

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nova, Isabella; Epling, Bill; Peden, Charles HF

    2014-03-31

    This special issue of Catalysis Today continues the tradition established since the 18th NAM in Cancun, 2003, of publishing the highlights coming from these catalytic after-treatment technologies sessions, where this volume contains 18 papers based on oral and poster presentations of the 23rd NAM, 2013. The guest editors would like to thank all of the catalyst scientists and engineers who presented in the "Emission control" sessions, and especially the authors who contributed to this special issue of Catalysis Today.

  18. CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 22, Number 6, September/October 2009

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-10-01

    software to improve the reliability, sustainability, and responsiveness of our warfighting capability. Subscriptions: Send correspondence concerning...endorsed by, the U.S. government, the DoD, the co-sponsors, or the STSC.All product names referenced in this issue are trademarks of their companies...Authors will use this section to share evidence of a demonstrative return on investment, process improvement , quality improvement , reductions to schedule

  19. Artificial intelligence and the space station software support environment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Marlowe, Gilbert

    1986-01-01

    In a software system the size of the Space Station Software Support Environment (SSE), no one software development or implementation methodology is presently powerful enough to provide safe, reliable, maintainable, cost effective real time or near real time software. In an environment that must survive one of the most harsh and long life times, software must be produced that will perform as predicted, from the first time it is executed to the last. Many of the software challenges that will be faced will require strategies borrowed from Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is the only development area mentioned as an example of a legitimate reason for a waiver from the overall requirement to use the Ada programming language for software development. The limits are defined of the applicability of the Ada language Ada Programming Support Environment (of which the SSE is a special case), and software engineering to AI solutions by describing a scenario that involves many facets of AI methodologies.

  20. Advances in Irrigation: Select Works from 2010 Decennial Irrigation Symposium

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    This paper is an introduction to the Advances in Irrigation Special Collection in this issue of Transactions ASABE and the next issue of Applied Engineering in Agriculture of 14 papers selected from 88 papers and presentations at the ASABE 5th Decennial National Irrigation Symposium, December 2010, ...

  1. NASA Tech Briefs, March 1995

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1995-01-01

    This issue contains articles with a special focus on Computer-Aided design and engineering amd a research report on the Ames Research Center. Other subjects in this issue are: Electronic Components and Circuits, Electronic Systems, Physical Sciences, Materials, Computer Programs, Mechanics, Machinery, Manufacturing/Fabrication, Mathematics and Information Sciences and Life Sciences

  2. Software for Engineering Simulations of a Spacecraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shireman, Kirk; McSwain, Gene; McCormick, Bernell; Fardelos, Panayiotis

    2005-01-01

    Spacecraft Engineering Simulation II (SES II) is a C-language computer program for simulating diverse aspects of operation of a spacecraft characterized by either three or six degrees of freedom. A functional model in SES can include a trajectory flight plan; a submodel of a flight computer running navigational and flight-control software; and submodels of the environment, the dynamics of the spacecraft, and sensor inputs and outputs. SES II features a modular, object-oriented programming style. SES II supports event-based simulations, which, in turn, create an easily adaptable simulation environment in which many different types of trajectories can be simulated by use of the same software. The simulation output consists largely of flight data. SES II can be used to perform optimization and Monte Carlo dispersion simulations. It can also be used to perform simulations for multiple spacecraft. In addition to its generic simulation capabilities, SES offers special capabilities for space-shuttle simulations: for this purpose, it incorporates submodels of the space-shuttle dynamics and a C-language version of the guidance, navigation, and control components of the space-shuttle flight software.

  3. An Exploration of Cyberspace Security R&D Investment Strategies for DARPA: "The Day After. . . in Cyberspace II",

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1996-01-01

    Automated Teller Machine networks malfunction in Georgia 2000 May 20 CNN off air for 12 minutes; issues special report 2000 May 20 worm...password combinations, social security and credit card numbers, account information, health status, and innumerable other sensitive information...as follows: TW/AA Issues Recommended Technical Response Possible Implementation Obstacles 1. (re Tactical Warning) • Place automated software

  4. Demonstration of a Safety Analysis on a Complex System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Leveson, Nancy; Alfaro, Liliana; Alvarado, Christine; Brown, Molly; Hunt, Earl B.; Jaffe, Matt; Joslyn, Susan; Pinnell, Denise; Reese, Jon; Samarziya, Jeffrey; hide

    1997-01-01

    For the past 17 years, Professor Leveson and her graduate students have been developing a theoretical foundation for safety in complex systems and building a methodology upon that foundation. The methodology includes special management structures and procedures, system hazard analyses, software hazard analysis, requirements modeling and analysis for completeness and safety, special software design techniques including the design of human-machine interaction, verification, operational feedback, and change analysis. The Safeware methodology is based on system safety techniques that are extended to deal with software and human error. Automation is used to enhance our ability to cope with complex systems. Identification, classification, and evaluation of hazards is done using modeling and analysis. To be effective, the models and analysis tools must consider the hardware, software, and human components in these systems. They also need to include a variety of analysis techniques and orthogonal approaches: There exists no single safety analysis or evaluation technique that can handle all aspects of complex systems. Applying only one or two may make us feel satisfied, but will produce limited results. We report here on a demonstration, performed as part of a contract with NASA Langley Research Center, of the Safeware methodology on the Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS) portion of the air traffic control (ATC) system and procedures currently employed at the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach CONtrol). CTAS is an automated system to assist controllers in handling arrival traffic in the DFW area. Safety is a system property, not a component property, so our safety analysis considers the entire system and not simply the automated components. Because safety analysis of a complex system is an interdisciplinary effort, our team included system engineers, software engineers, human factors experts, and cognitive psychologists.

  5. An overview of 3D software visualization.

    PubMed

    Teyseyre, Alfredo R; Campo, Marcelo R

    2009-01-01

    Software visualization studies techniques and methods for graphically representing different aspects of software. Its main goal is to enhance, simplify and clarify the mental representation a software engineer has of a computer system. During many years, visualization in 2D space has been actively studied, but in the last decade, researchers have begun to explore new 3D representations for visualizing software. In this article, we present an overview of current research in the area, describing several major aspects like: visual representations, interaction issues, evaluation methods and development tools. We also perform a survey of some representative tools to support different tasks, i.e., software maintenance and comprehension, requirements validation and algorithm animation for educational purposes, among others. Finally, we conclude identifying future research directions.

  6. The Future of Software Engineering for High Performance Computing

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pope, G

    DOE ASCR requested that from May through mid-July 2015 a study group identify issues and recommend solutions from a software engineering perspective transitioning into the next generation of High Performance Computing. The approach used was to ask some of the DOE complex experts who will be responsible for doing this work to contribute to the study group. The technique used was to solicit elevator speeches: a short and concise write up done as if the author was a speaker with only a few minutes to convince a decision maker of their top issues. Pages 2-18 contain the original texts ofmore » the contributed elevator speeches and end notes identifying the 20 contributors. The study group also ranked the importance of each topic, and those scores are displayed with each topic heading. A perfect score (and highest priority) is three, two is medium priority, and one is lowest priority. The highest scoring topic areas were software engineering and testing resources; the lowest scoring area was compliance to DOE standards. The following two paragraphs are an elevator speech summarizing the contributed elevator speeches. Each sentence or phrase in the summary is hyperlinked to its source via a numeral embedded in the text. A risk one liner has also been added to each topic to allow future risk tracking and mitigation.« less

  7. Improving Software Engineering Through Holistic Project Coaching

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-06-01

    learning opportunities. Capacity Flexible schedule of performance to match peak capacity. Selection. Supportive devices (e.g. prosthesis , text...communicate with people and get them to feel comfortable in speaking and exploring issues and link them with another team member who possesses

  8. 14 CFR 21.21 - Issue of type certificate: normal, utility, acrobatic, commuter, and transport category aircraft...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ...; aircraft engines; propellers. 21.21 Section 21.21 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION...; manned free balloons; special classes of aircraft; aircraft engines; propellers. Link to an amendment... propeller, if— (a) The product qualifies under § 21.27; or (b) The applicant submits the type design, test...

  9. Extended Editorial: Research and Education in Reliability, Maintenance, Quality Control, Risk and Safety.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramalhoto, M. F.

    1999-01-01

    Introduces a special theme journal issue on research and education in quality control, maintenance, reliability, risk analysis, and safety. Discusses each of these theme concepts and their applications to naval architecture, marine engineering, and industrial engineering. Considers the effects of the rapid transfer of research results through…

  10. 14 CFR 21.339 - Special export airworthiness approval for aircraft.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... export airworthiness approval for an aircraft engine, propeller, or article is issued. (c) If the FAA... difference between the aircraft to be exported and its type design. § 21.331 Issuance of export airworthiness approvals for aircraft engines, propellers, and articles. (a) A person may obtain from the FAA an export...

  11. Perceptions of the software skills of graduates by employers in the financial services industry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kyng, Tim; Tickle, Leonie; Wood, Leigh N.

    2013-12-01

    Software, particularly spreadsheet software, is ubiquitous in the financial services workplace. Yet little is known about the extent to which universities should, and do, prepare graduates for this aspect of the modern workplace. We have investigated this issue through a survey of financial services employers of graduates, the results of which are reported in this paper, as well as surveys of university graduates and academics, reported previously. Financial services employers rate software skills as important, would like their employees to be more highly skilled in the use of such software, and tend to prefer 'on-the-job' training rather than university training for statistical, database and specialized actuarial/financial software. There is a perception among graduates that employers do not provide adequate formal workplace training in the use of technical software.

  12. EDITORIAL: Special issue on near surface geophysics for the study and the management of historical resources Special issue on near surface geophysics for the study and the management of historical resources

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eppelbaum, L. V.; Masini, N.; Soldovieri, F.

    2010-06-01

    This special issue of the Journal of Geophysics and Engineering hosts a selection of the papers that were presented at the session entitled `Near surface geophysics for the study and the management of historical resources: past, present and future', organized within the framework of the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (Vienna, Austria, 19-24 April 2009). As the conveners, we invited the active participants of this session to prepare papers reflecting their presentations and submit them for publication in the Journal of Geophysics and Engineering. This special issue presents the papers which have passed through the prolonged and stringent reviewing process. The papers presented in this issue illustrate the application of novel instrumentation, surface and airborne remote sensing techniques, as well as data processing oriented both to new archaeological targets characterization and cultural heritage conservation. In this field, increasing interest has been observed in recent years in non-destructive and non-invasive geophysical test methods. They allow one to overcome the subjectivity and ambiguity arising from the number and locations of the sites chosen to perform the destructive examination. In addition, very recently, much attention has been given to the integration of the classical geophysical techniques (GPR, magnetic, ERT, IP) with new emerging surface and subsurface sensing techniques (optical sensors, lidar, microwave tomography, MASW) for a combined monitoring of archaeological constructions and artefacts. We hope that the presented research papers will be interesting for readers in the different branches of environmental and cultural heritage sciences and will attract new potential contributors to the important topics of archaeological targets recognition, cultural heritage monitoring and diagnostics. Statistically, every day several tens of significant archaeological objects are destroyed and damaged throughout the Earth, and we hope that our investigation will help to decrease these losses. We wish to thank all the authors for their presentations and fruitful discussions at the session and for preparing these articles. We are grateful to all the reviewers whose accurate and hard work has made the successful publication of this special issue possible. We also thank the editors and managers of the Journal of Geophysics and Engineering (particularly Sarah Quin) for their skilled and pleasant collaboration.

  13. The CGE-PLATO Electronic Laboratory Instructional Programs. (August 1, 1972 Through June 30, 1975).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Neal, J. P.

    Twelve PLATO lessons are reproduced in this document to show the status of computer guided experimentation (CGE) instructional programs. The lesson topics include a description of the CGE-PLATO instructional laboratory, an introduction to CGE-PLATO tests and special software routines, router lesson for two electrical engineering courses, and an…

  14. Data systems and computer science programs: Overview

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smith, Paul H.; Hunter, Paul

    1991-01-01

    An external review of the Integrated Technology Plan for the Civil Space Program is presented. The topics are presented in viewgraph form and include the following: onboard memory and storage technology; advanced flight computers; special purpose flight processors; onboard networking and testbeds; information archive, access, and retrieval; visualization; neural networks; software engineering; and flight control and operations.

  15. Special Features of the Advanced Loans Module of the ABCD Integrated Library System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    de Smet, Egbert

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: The "advanced loans" module of the relatively new library software, ABCD, is an addition to the normal loans module and it offers a "generic transaction decision-making engine" functionality. The module requires extra installation effort and parameterisation, so this article aims to explain to the many potentially interested libraries,…

  16. Object-oriented approach for gas turbine engine simulation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Curlett, Brian P.; Felder, James L.

    1995-01-01

    An object-oriented gas turbine engine simulation program was developed. This program is a prototype for a more complete, commercial grade engine performance program now being proposed as part of the Numerical Propulsion System Simulator (NPSS). This report discusses architectural issues of this complex software system and the lessons learned from developing the prototype code. The prototype code is a fully functional, general purpose engine simulation program, however, only the component models necessary to model a transient compressor test rig have been written. The production system will be capable of steady state and transient modeling of almost any turbine engine configuration. Chief among the architectural considerations for this code was the framework in which the various software modules will interact. These modules include the equation solver, simulation code, data model, event handler, and user interface. Also documented in this report is the component based design of the simulation module and the inter-component communication paradigm. Object class hierarchies for some of the code modules are given.

  17. Interactive Technologies and the Social Studies. Emerging Issues and Applications.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martorella, Peter H., Ed.

    This book includes contributions from seven authors with diverse backgrounds, whose specializations include the area of social studies education, software development, computer science, and visual design. The chapters are: (1) "Online Learning Communities: Implications for the Social Studies" (Lynn A. Fontana); (2) "Bringing Preservice Teachers…

  18. Individualized Healthcare Plans for the School Nurse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    American School Health Association (NJ3), 2005

    2005-01-01

    This resource sets the standard for school nurses concerning the formulation of individualized healthcare plans designed to fit the unique health needs of students. Eighteen chapters focus on special issues and school nursing concepts. Computer software, which accompanies the manual, assists in the development and creation of individualized…

  19. Contract Management Process Maturity: Analysis of Recent Organizational Assessments

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-04-22

    Airman: The book. (Special Issue, Vol. LI). Washington, DC: Air Force News Agency, Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs. Yueng , A.K...competence ( Yueng , Ulrich, Nason, & von Glinow, 1999) • Capability maturity models have been successfully used in assessing software management and

  20. Intelligent Systems and Advanced User Interfaces for Design, Operation, and Maintenance of Command Management Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mitchell, Christine M.

    1998-01-01

    Historically Command Management Systems (CMS) have been large, expensive, spacecraft-specific software systems that were costly to build, operate, and maintain. Current and emerging hardware, software, and user interface technologies may offer an opportunity to facilitate the initial formulation and design of a spacecraft-specific CMS as well as a to develop a more generic or a set of core components for CMS systems. Current MOC (mission operations center) hardware and software include Unix workstations, the C/C++ and Java programming languages, and X and Java window interfaces representations. This configuration provides the power and flexibility to support sophisticated systems and intelligent user interfaces that exploit state-of-the-art technologies in human-machine systems engineering, decision making, artificial intelligence, and software engineering. One of the goals of this research is to explore the extent to which technologies developed in the research laboratory can be productively applied in a complex system such as spacecraft command management. Initial examination of some of the issues in CMS design and operation suggests that application of technologies such as intelligent planning, case-based reasoning, design and analysis tools from a human-machine systems engineering point of view (e.g., operator and designer models) and human-computer interaction tools, (e.g., graphics, visualization, and animation), may provide significant savings in the design, operation, and maintenance of a spacecraft-specific CMS as well as continuity for CMS design and development across spacecraft with varying needs. The savings in this case is in software reuse at all stages of the software engineering process.

  1. Management software for a universal device communication controller: application to monitoring and computerized infusions.

    PubMed

    Coussaert, E J; Cantraine, F R

    1996-11-01

    We designed a virtual device for a local area network observing, operating and connecting devices to a personal computer. To keep the widest field of application, we proceeded by using abstraction and specification rules of software engineering in the design and implementation of the hardware and software for the Infusion Monitor. We specially built a box of hardware to interface multiple medical instruments with different communication protocols to a PC via a single serial port. We called that box the Universal Device Communication Controller (UDCC). The use of the virtual device driver is illustrated by the Infusion Monitor implemented for the anaesthesia and intensive care workstation.

  2. The theory of interface slicing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Beck, Jon

    1993-01-01

    Interface slicing is a new tool which was developed to facilitate reuse-based software engineering, by addressing the following problems, needs, and issues: (1) size of systems incorporating reused modules; (2) knowledge requirements for program modification; (3) program understanding for reverse engineering; (4) module granularity and domain management; and (5) time and space complexity of conventional slicing. The definition of a form of static program analysis called interface slicing is addressed.

  3. Promising More Information

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2003-01-01

    When NASA needed a real-time, online database system capable of tracking documentation changes in its propulsion test facilities, engineers at Stennis Space Center joined with ECT International, of Brookfield, Wisconsin, to create a solution. Through NASA's Dual-Use Program, ECT developed Exdata, a software program that works within the company's existing Promise software. Exdata not only satisfied NASA s requirements, but also expanded ECT s commercial product line. Promise, ECT s primary product, is an intelligent software program with specialized functions for designing and documenting electrical control systems. An addon to AutoCAD software, Promis e generates control system schematics, panel layouts, bills of material, wire lists, and terminal plans. The drawing functions include symbol libraries, macros, and automatic line breaking. Primary Promise customers include manufacturing companies, utilities, and other organizations with complex processes to control.

  4. Information System Engineering Supporting Observation, Orientation, Decision, and Compliant Action

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Georgakopoulos, Dimitrios

    The majority of today's software systems and organizational/business structures have been built on the foundation of solving problems via long-term data collection, analysis, and solution design. This traditional approach of solving problems and building corresponding software systems and business processes, falls short in providing the necessary solutions needed to deal with many problems that require agility as the main ingredient of their solution. For example, such agility is needed in responding to an emergency, in military command control, physical security, price-based competition in business, investing in the stock market, video gaming, network monitoring and self-healing, diagnosis in emergency health care, and many other areas that are too numerous to list here. The concept of Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (OODA) loops is a guiding principal that captures the fundamental issues and approach for engineering information systems that deal with many of these problem areas. However, there are currently few software systems that are capable of supporting OODA. In this talk, we provide a tour of the research issues and state of the art solutions for supporting OODA. In addition, we provide specific examples of OODA solutions we have developed for the video surveillance and emergency response domains.

  5. International Space Station (ISS) Expedite the Process of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Racks Software Support

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2003-01-01

    bd Systems personnel accomplished the technical responsibilities for this reporting period, as planned. A close working relationship was maintained with personnel of the MSFC Avionics Department Software Group (ED 14), the MSFC EXPRESS Project Office (FD3 l), and the Huntsville Boeing Company. Work accomplishments included the support of SRB activities, ATB activities, ESCP activities, participating in technical meetings, coordinating issues between the Boeing Company and the MSFC Project Office, and performing special tasks as requested.

  6. WarpEngine, a Flexible Platform for Distributed Computing Implemented in the VEGA Program and Specially Targeted for Virtual Screening Studies.

    PubMed

    Pedretti, Alessandro; Mazzolari, Angelica; Vistoli, Giulio

    2018-05-21

    The manuscript describes WarpEngine, a novel platform implemented within the VEGA ZZ suite of software for performing distributed simulations both in local and wide area networks. Despite being tailored for structure-based virtual screening campaigns, WarpEngine possesses the required flexibility to carry out distributed calculations utilizing various pieces of software, which can be easily encapsulated within this platform without changing their source codes. WarpEngine takes advantages of all cheminformatics features implemented in the VEGA ZZ program as well as of its largely customizable scripting architecture thus allowing an efficient distribution of various time-demanding simulations. To offer an example of the WarpEngine potentials, the manuscript includes a set of virtual screening campaigns based on the ACE data set of the DUD-E collections using PLANTS as the docking application. Benchmarking analyses revealed a satisfactory linearity of the WarpEngine performances, the speed-up values being roughly equal to the number of utilized cores. Again, the computed scalability values emphasized that a vast majority (i.e., >90%) of the performed simulations benefit from the distributed platform presented here. WarpEngine can be freely downloaded along with the VEGA ZZ program at www.vegazz.net .

  7. Team Expo: A State-of-the-Art JSC Advanced Design Team

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tripathi, Abhishek

    2001-01-01

    In concert with the NASA-wide Intelligent Synthesis Environment Program, the Exploration Office at the Johnson Space Center has assembled an Advanced Design Team. The purpose of this team is two-fold. The first is to identify, use, and develop software applications, tools, and design processes that streamline and enhance a collaborative engineering environment. The second is to use this collaborative engineering environment to produce conceptual, system-level-of-detail designs in a relatively short turnaround time, using a standing team of systems and integration experts. This includes running rapid trade studies on varying mission architectures, as well as producing vehicle and/or subsystem designs. The standing core team is made up of experts from all of the relevant engineering divisions (e.g. Power, Thermal, Structures, etc.) as well as representatives from Risk and Safety, Mission Operations, and Crew Life Sciences among others. The Team works together during 2- hour sessions in the same specially enhanced room to ensure real-time integration/identification of cross-disciplinary issues and solutions. All subsystem designs are collectively reviewed and approved during these same sessions. In addition there is an Information sub-team that captures and formats all data and makes it accessible for use by the following day. The result is Team Expo: an Advanced Design Team that is leading the change from a philosophy of "over the fence" design to one of collaborative engineering that pushes the envelope to achieve the next-generation analysis and design environment.

  8. Evaluation of an expert system for fault detection, isolation, and recovery in the manned maneuvering unit

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rushby, John; Crow, Judith

    1990-01-01

    The authors explore issues in the specification, verification, and validation of artificial intelligence (AI) based software, using a prototype fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) system for the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). They use this system as a vehicle for exploring issues in the semantics of C-Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS)-style rule-based languages, the verification of properties relating to safety and reliability, and the static and dynamic analysis of knowledge based systems. This analysis reveals errors and shortcomings in the MMU FDIR system and raises a number of issues concerning software engineering in CLIPs. The authors came to realize that the MMU FDIR system does not conform to conventional definitions of AI software, despite the fact that it was intended and indeed presented as an AI system. The authors discuss this apparent disparity and related questions such as the role of AI techniques in space and aircraft operations and the suitability of CLIPS for critical applications.

  9. Special Considerations for Networking Multimedia CD-ROM Titles.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wolfe, Janet L.

    1994-01-01

    Discusses issues to be considered when networking multimedia CD-ROMs. Topics addressed include CD-ROM networking software; license concerns; configurations for CD-ROM servers; data caching; SCSI devices; CD-ROM drives; workstation configurations, including minimum requirements for five popular CD-ROM titles; and system setup troubleshooting tips.…

  10. Low-Tech High-Tech.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hart, Tom

    1997-01-01

    Outlines how Compact Disc-interactive (CD-i)--software that looks like a CD-ROM but operates independently using a television set--can be used in elementary, secondary, and vocational education. Discusses the cost effectiveness of CD-i and compares costs and operational issues with CD-ROM. Describes special features of one CD-i program,…

  11. Strategic Choices for Data Communications Systems.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arns, Robert G.; Urban, Patricia A.

    Issues and strategies for developing a campus data communications system are discussed. It is suggested that individual microcomputer (MC) workstations will occasionally have a need for (1) access, via a data communications network, to a more powerful processor; (2) specialized software; (3) sophisticated output devices; (4) central data sets; or…

  12. Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) cleanroom process model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Green, Scott; Basili, Victor; Godfrey, Sally; Mcgarry, Frank; Pajerski, Rose; Waligora, Sharon

    1991-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) cleanroom process model is described. The term 'cleanroom' originates in the integrated circuit (IC) production process, where IC's are assembled in dust free 'clean rooms' to prevent the destructive effects of dust. When applying the clean room methodology to the development of software systems, the primary focus is on software defect prevention rather than defect removal. The model is based on data and analysis from previous cleanroom efforts within the SEL and is tailored to serve as a guideline in applying the methodology to future production software efforts. The phases that are part of the process model life cycle from the delivery of requirements to the start of acceptance testing are described. For each defined phase, a set of specific activities is discussed, and the appropriate data flow is described. Pertinent managerial issues, key similarities and differences between the SEL's cleanroom process model and the standard development approach used on SEL projects, and significant lessons learned from prior cleanroom projects are presented. It is intended that the process model described here will be further tailored as additional SEL cleanroom projects are analyzed.

  13. Materials, Chemistry, and Simulation for Future Energy Technology.

    PubMed

    Aguey-Zinsou, Kondo-Francois; Wang, Da-Wei; Su, Dang-Sheng

    2015-09-07

    Special Issue: The Future of Energy. The science and engineering of clean energy now is becoming a multidisciplinary area, typically when new materials, chemistry, or mechanisms are met. "Trial and error" is the past. Exploration of new concepts for future clean energy can be accomplished through computer-aided materials design and reaction simulation, thanks to innovations in information technologies. This special issue, a fruit of the Energy Future Conference organized by UNSW Australia, has compiled some excellent examples of such approaches. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  14. Editorial: from plant biotechnology to bio-based products.

    PubMed

    Stöger, Eva

    2013-10-01

    From plant biotechnology to bio-based products - this Special Issue of Biotechnology Journal is dedicated to plant biotechnology and is edited by Prof. Eva Stöger (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria). The Special Issue covers a wide range of topics in plant biotechnology, including metabolic engineering of biosynthesis pathways in plants; taking advantage of the scalability of the plant system for the production of innovative materials; as well as the regulatory challenges and society acceptance of plant biotechnology. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  15. Computational simulation for concurrent engineering of aerospace propulsion systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chamis, C. C.; Singhal, S. N.

    1993-01-01

    Results are summarized for an investigation to assess the infrastructure available and the technology readiness in order to develop computational simulation methods/software for concurrent engineering. These results demonstrate that development of computational simulation methods for concurrent engineering is timely. Extensive infrastructure, in terms of multi-discipline simulation, component-specific simulation, system simulators, fabrication process simulation, and simulation of uncertainties--fundamental to develop such methods, is available. An approach is recommended which can be used to develop computational simulation methods for concurrent engineering of propulsion systems and systems in general. Benefits and issues needing early attention in the development are outlined.

  16. Computational simulation for concurrent engineering of aerospace propulsion systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chamis, C. C.; Singhal, S. N.

    1993-02-01

    Results are summarized for an investigation to assess the infrastructure available and the technology readiness in order to develop computational simulation methods/software for concurrent engineering. These results demonstrate that development of computational simulation methods for concurrent engineering is timely. Extensive infrastructure, in terms of multi-discipline simulation, component-specific simulation, system simulators, fabrication process simulation, and simulation of uncertainties--fundamental to develop such methods, is available. An approach is recommended which can be used to develop computational simulation methods for concurrent engineering of propulsion systems and systems in general. Benefits and issues needing early attention in the development are outlined.

  17. Development and Engineering Design in Support of "Rover Ranch": A K-12 Outreach Software Project

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pascali, Raresh

    2003-01-01

    A continuation of the initial development started in the summer of 1999, the body of work performed in support of 'ROVer Ranch' Project during the present fellowship dealt with the concrete concept implementation and resolution of the related issues. The original work performed last summer focused on the initial examination and articulation of the concept treatment strategy, audience and market analysis for the learning technologies software. The presented work focused on finalizing the set of parts to be made available for building an AERCam Sprint type robot and on defining, testing and implementing process necessary to convert the design engineering files to VRML files. Through reverse engineering, an initial set of mission critical systems was designed for beta testing in schools. The files were created in ProEngineer, exported to VRML 1.0 and converted to VRML 97 (VRML 2.0) for final integration in the software. Attributes for each part were assigned using an in-house developed JAVA based program. The final set of attributes for each system, their mutual interaction and the identification of the relevant ones to be tracked, still remain to be decided.

  18. An introduction to the special issue on Geoscience Papers of the Future

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    David, Cédric H.; Gil, Yolanda; Duffy, Christopher J.; Peckham, Scott D.; Venayagamoorthy, S. Karan

    2016-10-01

    Advocates of enhanced quality for published scientific results are increasingly voicing the need for further transparency of data and software for scientific reproducibility. However, such advanced digital scholarship can appear perplexing to geoscientists that are seduced by the concept of open science yet wonder about the exact mechanics and implications of the associated efforts. This special issue of Earth and Space Science entitled "Geoscience Papers of the Future" includes a review of existing best practices for digital scholarship and bundles a set of example articles that share their digital research products and reflect on the process of opening their scientific approach in a common quest for reproducible science.

  19. Review of Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Tools for Verifying Command and Control Software

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Aguilar, Michael L.; Bonanne, Kevin H.; Favretto, Jeffrey A.; Jackson, Maddalena M.; Jones, Stephanie L.; Mackey, Ryan M.; Sarrel, Marc A.; Simpson, Kimberly A.

    2014-01-01

    The Exploration Systems Development (ESD) Standing Review Board (SRB) requested the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) conduct an independent review of the plan developed by Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) for identifying models and emulators to create a tool(s) to verify their command and control software. The NESC was requested to identify any issues or weaknesses in the GSDO plan. This document contains the outcome of the NESC review.

  20. Integrated testing and verification system for research flight software design document

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Taylor, R. N.; Merilatt, R. L.; Osterweil, L. J.

    1979-01-01

    The NASA Langley Research Center is developing the MUST (Multipurpose User-oriented Software Technology) program to cut the cost of producing research flight software through a system of software support tools. The HAL/S language is the primary subject of the design. Boeing Computer Services Company (BCS) has designed an integrated verification and testing capability as part of MUST. Documentation, verification and test options are provided with special attention on real time, multiprocessing issues. The needs of the entire software production cycle have been considered, with effective management and reduced lifecycle costs as foremost goals. Capabilities have been included in the design for static detection of data flow anomalies involving communicating concurrent processes. Some types of ill formed process synchronization and deadlock also are detected statically.

  1. Capability Delivery With Fog of Emergence

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-09-01

    revisiting earlier steps ( Pressman , 2010). It is best used when the requirements for a problem are well understood in a context that is stable, therefore...management issues. Pressman , R. S. (2010). Software engineering: A practitioner’s approach. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Pyster, A., & Olwell

  2. C style guide

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Doland, Jerry; Valett, Jon

    1994-01-01

    This document discusses recommended practices and style for programmers using the C language in the Flight Dynamics Division environment. Guidelines are based on generally recommended software engineering techniques, industry resources, and local convention. The Guide offers preferred solutions to common C programming issues and illustrates through examples of C Code.

  3. Instrument control software requirement specification for Extremely Large Telescopes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Young, Peter J.; Kiekebusch, Mario J.; Chiozzi, Gianluca

    2010-07-01

    Engineers in several observatories are now designing the next generation of optical telescopes, the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT). These are very complex machines that will host sophisticated astronomical instruments to be used for a wide range of scientific studies. In order to carry out scientific observations, a software infrastructure is required to orchestrate the control of the multiple subsystems and functions. This paper will focus on describing the considerations, strategies and main issues related to the definition and analysis of the software requirements for the ELT's Instrument Control System using modern development processes and modelling tools like SysML.

  4. Integrated design optimization research and development in an industrial environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, V.; German, Marjorie D.; Lee, S.-J.

    1989-04-01

    An overview is given of a design optimization project that is in progress at the GE Research and Development Center for the past few years. The objective of this project is to develop a methodology and a software system for design automation and optimization of structural/mechanical components and systems. The effort focuses on research and development issues and also on optimization applications that can be related to real-life industrial design problems. The overall technical approach is based on integration of numerical optimization techniques, finite element methods, CAE and software engineering, and artificial intelligence/expert systems (AI/ES) concepts. The role of each of these engineering technologies in the development of a unified design methodology is illustrated. A software system DESIGN-OPT has been developed for both size and shape optimization of structural components subjected to static as well as dynamic loadings. By integrating this software with an automatic mesh generator, a geometric modeler and an attribute specification computer code, a software module SHAPE-OPT has been developed for shape optimization. Details of these software packages together with their applications to some 2- and 3-dimensional design problems are described.

  5. Integrated design optimization research and development in an industrial environment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kumar, V.; German, Marjorie D.; Lee, S.-J.

    1989-01-01

    An overview is given of a design optimization project that is in progress at the GE Research and Development Center for the past few years. The objective of this project is to develop a methodology and a software system for design automation and optimization of structural/mechanical components and systems. The effort focuses on research and development issues and also on optimization applications that can be related to real-life industrial design problems. The overall technical approach is based on integration of numerical optimization techniques, finite element methods, CAE and software engineering, and artificial intelligence/expert systems (AI/ES) concepts. The role of each of these engineering technologies in the development of a unified design methodology is illustrated. A software system DESIGN-OPT has been developed for both size and shape optimization of structural components subjected to static as well as dynamic loadings. By integrating this software with an automatic mesh generator, a geometric modeler and an attribute specification computer code, a software module SHAPE-OPT has been developed for shape optimization. Details of these software packages together with their applications to some 2- and 3-dimensional design problems are described.

  6. ANSYS UIDL-Based CAE Development of Axial Support System for Optical Mirror

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, De-Hua; Shao, Liang

    2008-09-01

    The Whiffle-tree type axial support mechanism is widely adopted by most relatively large optical mirrors. Based on the secondary developing tools offered by the commonly used Finite Element Anylysis (FEA) software ANSYS, ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) is used for creating the mirror FEA model driven by parameters, and ANSYS User Interface Design Language (UIDL) for generating custom menu of interactive manner, whereby, the relatively independent dedicated Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) module is embedded in ANSYS for calculation and optimization of axial Whiffle-tree support of optical mirrors. An example is also described to illustrate the intuitive and effective usage of the dedicated module by boosting work efficiency and releasing related engineering knowledge of user. The philosophy of secondary-developed special module with commonly used software also suggests itself for product development in other industries.

  7. Specially Made for Science: Researchers Develop Online Tools For Collaborations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guterman, Lila

    2008-01-01

    Blogs, wikis, and social-networking sites such as Facebook may get media buzz these days, but for scientists, engineers, and doctors, they are not even on the radar. The most effective tools of the Internet for such people tend to be efforts more narrowly aimed at their needs, such as software that helps geneticists replicate one another's…

  8. European Science Notes Information Bulletin Reports on Current European and Middle Eastern Science

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-01-01

    evclopment in the Abbey-Polymer Processing and Properties ................... 524 J, Magill Corrosion and Protection Centre at the University of...34* Software Engineering and microprocessors and communication chips. The Information Processing Systems recently announced T9000 microprocessor will...computational fluid dynamics, struc- In addition to general and special-purpose tural mechanics, partial differential equations, processing , Europe has a

  9. Rule groupings: A software engineering approach towards verification of expert systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mehrotra, Mala

    1991-01-01

    Currently, most expert system shells do not address software engineering issues for developing or maintaining expert systems. As a result, large expert systems tend to be incomprehensible, difficult to debug or modify and almost impossible to verify or validate. Partitioning rule based systems into rule groups which reflect the underlying subdomains of the problem should enhance the comprehensibility, maintainability, and reliability of expert system software. Attempts were made to semiautomatically structure a CLIPS rule base into groups of related rules that carry the same type of information. Different distance metrics that capture relevant information from the rules for grouping are discussed. Two clustering algorithms that partition the rule base into groups of related rules are given. Two independent evaluation criteria are developed to measure the effectiveness of the grouping strategies. Results of the experiment with three sample rule bases are presented.

  10. Systems Engineering and Integration (SE and I)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chevers, ED; Haley, Sam

    1990-01-01

    The issue of technology advancement and future space transportation vehicles is addressed. The challenge is to develop systems which can be evolved and improved in small incremental steps where each increment reduces present cost, improves, reliability, or does neither but sets the stage for a second incremental upgrade that does. Future requirements are interface standards for commercial off the shelf products to aid in the development of integrated facilities; enhanced automated code generation system slightly coupled to specification and design documentation; modeling tools that support data flow analysis; and shared project data bases consisting of technical characteristics cast information, measurement parameters, and reusable software programs. Topics addressed include: advanced avionics development strategy; risk analysis and management; tool quality management; low cost avionics; cost estimation and benefits; computer aided software engineering; computer systems and software safety; system testability; and advanced avionics laboratories - and rapid prototyping. This presentation is represented by viewgraphs only.

  11. A Survey of Usability Practices in Free/Libre/Open Source Software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paul, Celeste Lyn

    A review of case studies about usability in eight Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects showed that an important issue regarding a usability initiative in the project was the lack of user research. User research is a key component in the user-centered design (UCD) process and a necessary step for creating usable products. Reasons why FLOSS projects suffered from a lack of user research included poor or unclear project leadership, cultural differences between developer and designers, and a lack of usability engineers. By identifying these critical issues, the FLOSS usability community can begin addressing problems in the efficacy of usability activities and work towards creating more usable FLOSS products.

  12. Digitized Educational Technology: A Learning Tool Using Remotely Sensed Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Love, Gloria Carter

    1999-01-01

    Digitized Educational software for different levels of instruction were developed and placed on the web (geocities). Students attending the Pre-Engineering Summer 1998 Camp at Dillard University explored the use of the software which included presentations, applications, and special exercises. Student comments were received and considered for adjustments. The second outreach program included students from Colton Junior High School and Natural Science Majors at Dillard University. The Natural Majors completed a second survey concerning reasons why students selected majors in the Sciences and Mathematics. Two student research assistants (DU) and faculty members/parents of Colton Junior High assisted.

  13. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mauel, M. E.; Greenwald, Martin; Ryutov, Dmitri D.

    Here, the Journal of Fusion Energy provides a forum for discussion of broader policy and planning issues that play a crucial role in energy fusion programs. In keeping with this purpose and in response to several recent strategic planning efforts worldwide, this Special Issue on Strategic Opportunities was launched with the goal to invite fusion scientists and engineers to record viewpoints of the scientific opportunities and policy issues that can drive continued advancements in fusion energy research.

  14. Active Learning in Engineering Education: a (re)introduction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lima, Rui M.; Andersson, Pernille Hammar; Saalman, Elisabeth

    2017-01-01

    The informal network 'Active Learning in Engineering Education' (ALE) has been promoting Active Learning since 2001. ALE creates opportunity for practitioners and researchers of engineering education to collaboratively learn how to foster learning of engineering students. The activities in ALE are centred on the vision that learners construct their knowledge based on meaningful activities and knowledge. In 2014, the steering committee of the ALE network reinforced the need to discuss the meaning of Active Learning and that was the base for this proposal for a special issue. More than 40 submissions were reviewed by the European Journal of Engineering Education community and this theme issue ended up with eight contributions, which are different both in their research and Active Learning approaches. These different Active Learning approaches are aligned with the different approaches that can be increasingly found in indexed journals.

  15. Building a Narrative Based Requirements Engineering Mediation Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Nan; Hall, Tracy; Barker, Trevor

    This paper presents a narrative-based Requirements Engineering (RE) mediation model to help RE practitioners to effectively identify, define, and resolve conflicts of interest, goals, and requirements. Within the SPI community, there is a common belief that social, human, and organizational issues significantly impact on the effectiveness of software process improvement in general and the requirements engineering process in particularl. Conflicts among different stakeholders are an important human and social issue that need more research attention in the SPI and RE community. By drawing on the conflict resolution literature and IS literature, we argue that conflict resolution in RE is a mediated process, in which a requirements engineer can act as a mediator among different stakeholders. To address socio-psychological aspects of conflict in RE and SPI, Winslade and Monk (2000)'s narrative mediation model is introduced, justified, and translated into the context of RE.

  16. Software Engineering Guidebook

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Connell, John; Wenneson, Greg

    1993-01-01

    The Software Engineering Guidebook describes SEPG (Software Engineering Process Group) supported processes and techniques for engineering quality software in NASA environments. Three process models are supported: structured, object-oriented, and evolutionary rapid-prototyping. The guidebook covers software life-cycles, engineering, assurance, and configuration management. The guidebook is written for managers and engineers who manage, develop, enhance, and/or maintain software under the Computer Software Services Contract.

  17. Promoting Entrepreneurship among Informatics Engineering Students: Insights from a Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fernandes, João M.; Afonso, Paulo; Fonte, Victor; Alves, Victor; Ribeiro, António Nestor

    2017-01-01

    Universities seek to promote entrepreneurship through effective education approaches, which need to be in permanent evolution. Nevertheless, the literature in entrepreneurship education lacks empirical evidence. This article discusses relevant issues related to promoting entrepreneurship in the software field, based on the experience of a…

  18. Visual Communications and Image Processing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hsing, T. Russell

    1987-07-01

    This special issue of Optical Engineering is concerned with visual communications and image processing. The increase in communication of visual information over the past several decades has resulted in many new image processing and visual communication systems being put into service. The growth of this field has been rapid in both commercial and military applications. The objective of this special issue is to intermix advent technology in visual communications and image processing with ideas generated from industry, universities, and users through both invited and contributed papers. The 15 papers of this issue are organized into four different categories: image compression and transmission, image enhancement, image analysis and pattern recognition, and image processing in medical applications.

  19. Improving Measurements of Self-Regulated Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winne, Philip H.

    2010-01-01

    Articles in this special issue present recent advances in using state-of-the-art software systems that gather data with which to examine and measure features of learning and particularly self-regulated learning (SRL). Despite important advances, there remain challenges. I examine key features of SRL and how they are measured using common tools. I…

  20. Comment on Technology-Based Intervention Research for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCleery, Joseph P.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this letter to the editor is to comment on several review papers recently published in the current "Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Special Issue on Technology: Software, Robotics, and Translational Science." These reviews address a variety of aspects relating to technology-aided intervention and instruction…

  1. Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1992-01-01

    Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Software Engineering Workshop are presented. The software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of applications software. Topics covered include: the Software Engineering Laboratory; process measurement; software reuse; software quality; lessons learned; and is Ada dying.

  2. Time-Reversal Based Range Extension Technique for Ultra-wideband (UWB) Sensors and Applications in Tactical Communications and Networking

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-04-16

    Zhen (Edward) Hu Peng (Peter) Zhang Yu Song Amanpreet Singh Saini Corey Cooke April 16, 2006 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Center...and RF frequency agility is the most challenging issue for spectrum sensing. The radio under development is an ultra-wideband software -defined radio...PC USB programming cable and accom- panying PC software as well as download test vectors to the waveform memory module, as shown in Figure 3.25,3I

  3. Software Past, Present, and Future: Views from Government, Industry and Academia

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Holcomb, Lee; Page, Jerry; Evangelist, Michael

    2000-01-01

    Views from the NASA CIO NASA Software Engineering Workshop on software development from the past, present, and future are presented. The topics include: 1) Software Past; 2) Software Present; 3) NASA's Largest Software Challenges; 4) 8330 Software Projects in Industry Standish Groups 1994 Report; 5) Software Future; 6) Capability Maturity Model (CMM): Software Engineering Institute (SEI) levels; 7) System Engineering Quality Also Part of the Problem; 8) University Environment Trends Will Increase the Problem in Software Engineering; and 9) NASA Software Engineering Goals.

  4. solveTruss v1.0: Static, global buckling and frequency analysis of 2D and 3D trusses with Mathematica

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ozbasaran, Hakan

    Trusses have an important place amongst engineering structures due to many advantages such as high structural efficiency, fast assembly and easy maintenance. Iterative truss design procedures, which require analysis of a large number of candidate structural systems such as size, shape and topology optimization with stochastic methods, mostly lead the engineer to establish a link between the development platform and external structural analysis software. By increasing number of structural analyses, this (probably slow-response) link may climb to the top of the list of performance issues. This paper introduces a software for static, global member buckling and frequency analysis of 2D and 3D trusses to overcome this problem for Mathematica users.

  5. Software Engineering for Scientific Computer Simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Post, Douglass E.; Henderson, Dale B.; Kendall, Richard P.; Whitney, Earl M.

    2004-11-01

    Computer simulation is becoming a very powerful tool for analyzing and predicting the performance of fusion experiments. Simulation efforts are evolving from including only a few effects to many effects, from small teams with a few people to large teams, and from workstations and small processor count parallel computers to massively parallel platforms. Successfully making this transition requires attention to software engineering issues. We report on the conclusions drawn from a number of case studies of large scale scientific computing projects within DOE, academia and the DoD. The major lessons learned include attention to sound project management including setting reasonable and achievable requirements, building a good code team, enforcing customer focus, carrying out verification and validation and selecting the optimum computational mathematics approaches.

  6. Computer-aided dental prostheses construction using reverse engineering.

    PubMed

    Solaberrieta, E; Minguez, R; Barrenetxea, L; Sierra, E; Etxaniz, O

    2014-01-01

    The implementation of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems with virtual articulators, which take into account the kinematics, constitutes a breakthrough in the construction of customised dental prostheses. This paper presents a multidisciplinary protocol involving CAM techniques to produce dental prostheses. This protocol includes a step-by-step procedure using innovative reverse engineering technologies to transform completely virtual design processes into customised prostheses. A special emphasis is placed on a novel method that permits a virtual location of the models. The complete workflow includes the optical scanning of the patient, the use of reverse engineering software and, if necessary, the use of rapid prototyping to produce CAD temporary prostheses.

  7. CrossTalk. The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 25, Number 1, Jan/Feb 2012

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-01-01

    Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification – RTCA/DO-178B,” Washington, D.C., 1992. 5. Ishikawa , Kaoru (Translator: J. H...significant, repeated issue, a formal root cause analysis process is performed. This method uses fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams [5], where possible

  8. Development Research of a Teachers' Educational Performance Support System: The Practices of Design, Development, and Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hung, Wei-Chen; Smith, Thomas J.; Harris, Marian S.; Lockard, James

    2010-01-01

    This study adopted design and development research methodology (Richey & Klein, "Design and development research: Methods, strategies, and issues," 2007) to systematically investigate the process of applying instructional design principles, human-computer interaction, and software engineering to a performance support system (PSS) for behavior…

  9. Hydrodynamic analysis of floating platform for special purposes under complex water environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Guang-ying; Yao, Yun-long

    2018-03-01

    This article studied a new floating offshore platform for special purposes, which was assembled by standard floating modules. By using ANSYS AQWA software, the hydrodynamic model of the platform was established. The time history responses of the platform motions and the cable tension forces were calculate under complex water environments, such as wind, wave, current and mooring. The results showed that the tension of the four cables are far less than the breaking tension of the cable, so that the cable will not break. This study can be referenced by the relevant researchers and engineers.

  10. Preface to the Special Issue on Thunderstorm Effects in the Atmosphere-Ionosphere System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gordillo-Vázquez, F. J.; Luque, A.

    2013-11-01

    The first summer school of the "Thunderstorm Effects in the Atmosphere-Ionosphere System" (TEA-IS) funded by the European Science Foundation through its Research Network Programme took place in Torremolinos (Spain) on June 17-22, 2012. The meeting gathered almost 100 scientists with different backgrounds (plasma physics, electrical and signal engineering, geophysics, space physics and computational science) coming from 20 countries, both from inside and outside TEA-IS member countries. We very briefly comment here on the five review papers included in this Special Issue of Surveys in Geophysics devoted to the 2012 TEA-IS summer school.

  11. EPA Science Matters Newsletter: Volume 3, Number 3

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The Agency's Safe and Sustainable Water Research program—the focus of this special issue of EPA's Science Matters—is designed to provide the innovative science and engineering solutions needed for protecting the nation's water resources today.

  12. Section 508 Electronic Information Accessibility Requirements for Software Development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ellis, Rebecca

    2014-01-01

    Section 508 Subpart B 1194.21 outlines requirements for operating system and software development in order to create a product that is accessible to users with various disabilities. This portion of Section 508 contains a variety of standards to enable those using assistive technology and with visual, hearing, cognitive and motor difficulties to access all information provided in software. The focus on requirements was limited to the Microsoft Windows® operating system as it is the predominant operating system used at this center. Compliance with this portion of the requirements can be obtained by integrating the requirements into the software development cycle early and by remediating issues in legacy software if possible. There are certain circumstances with software that may arise necessitating an exemption from these requirements, such as design or engineering software using dynamically changing graphics or numbers to convey information. These exceptions can be discussed with the Section 508 Coordinator and another method of accommodation used.

  13. Environmental Assessment (EA): Proposed Software Facilities, Hill Air Force Base, Utah

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-04-19

    retention facilities ; • connections to adjacent buried utilities consisting of water, electricity, natural gas, telephone/ data , sanitary sewer, and storm...engineering, development, and testing workloads for F-22 and F-35 aircraft. Military construction (MILCON) project data explain existing facilities ...Existing Facilities MILCON project data state there are no facilities on Hill AFB with adequate security to house the specialized laboratory space or

  14. An introduction to the interim digital SAR processor and the characteristics of the associated Seasat SAR imagery

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wu, C.; Barkan, B.; Huneycutt, B.; Leang, C.; Pang, S.

    1981-01-01

    Basic engineering data regarding the Interim Digital SAR Processor (IDP) and the digitally correlated Seasat synthetic aperature radar (SAR) imagery are presented. The correlation function and IDP hardware/software configuration are described, and a preliminary performance assessment presented. The geometric and radiometric characteristics, with special emphasis on those peculiar to the IDP produced imagery, are described.

  15. Software engineering as an engineering discipline

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gibbs, Norman

    1988-01-01

    The goals of the Software Engineering Institute's Education Program are as follows: to increase the number of highly qualified software engineers--new software engineers and existing practitioners; and to be the leading center of expertise for software engineering education and training. A discussion of these goals is presented in vugraph form.

  16. Software engineering as an engineering discipline

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Berard, Edward V.

    1988-01-01

    The following topics are discussed in the context of software engineering: early use of the term; the 1968 NATO conference; Barry Boehm's definition; four requirements fo software engineering; and additional criteria for software engineering. Additionally, the four major requirements for software engineering--computer science, mathematics, engineering disciplines, and excellent communication skills--are discussed. The presentation is given in vugraph form.

  17. ObsPy: A Python toolbox for seismology - Current state, applications, and ecosystem around it

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lecocq, Thomas; Megies, Tobias; Krischer, Lion; Sales de Andrade, Elliott; Barsch, Robert; Beyreuther, Moritz

    2016-04-01

    ObsPy (http://www.obspy.org) is a community-driven, open-source project offering a bridge for seismology into the scientific Python ecosystem. It provides * read and write support for essentially all commonly used waveform, station, and event metadata formats with a unified interface, * a comprehensive signal processing toolbox tuned to the needs of seismologists, * integrated access to all large data centers, web services and databases, and * convenient wrappers to third party codes like libmseed and evalresp. Python, in contrast to many other languages and tools, is simple enough to enable an exploratory and interactive coding style desired by many scientists. At the same time it is a full-fledged programming language usable by software engineers to build complex and large programs. This combination makes it very suitable for use in seismology where research code often has to be translated to stable and production ready environments. It furthermore offers many freely available high quality scientific modules covering most needs in developing scientific software. ObsPy has been in constant development for more than 5 years and nowadays enjoys a large rate of adoption in the community with thousands of users. Successful applications include time-dependent and rotational seismology, big data processing, event relocations, and synthetic studies about attenuation kernels and full-waveform inversions to name a few examples. Additionally it sparked the development of several more specialized packages slowly building a modern seismological ecosystem around it. This contribution will give a short introduction and overview of ObsPy and highlight a number of use cases and software built around it. We will furthermore discuss the issue of sustainability of scientific software.

  18. ObsPy: A Python toolbox for seismology - Current state, applications, and ecosystem around it

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krischer, L.; Megies, T.; Sales de Andrade, E.; Barsch, R.; Beyreuther, M.

    2015-12-01

    ObsPy (http://www.obspy.org) is a community-driven, open-source project offering a bridge for seismology into the scientific Python ecosystem. It provides read and write support for essentially all commonly used waveform, station, and event metadata formats with a unified interface, a comprehensive signal processing toolbox tuned to the needs of seismologists, integrated access to all large data centers, web services and databases, and convenient wrappers to third party codes like libmseed and evalresp. Python, in contrast to many other languages and tools, is simple enough to enable an exploratory and interactive coding style desired by many scientists. At the same time it is a full-fledged programming language usable by software engineers to build complex and large programs. This combination makes it very suitable for use in seismology where research code often has to be translated to stable and production ready environments. It furthermore offers many freely available high quality scientific modules covering most needs in developing scientific software.ObsPy has been in constant development for more than 5 years and nowadays enjoys a large rate of adoption in the community with thousands of users. Successful applications include time-dependent and rotational seismology, big data processing, event relocations, and synthetic studies about attenuation kernels and full-waveform inversions to name a few examples. Additionally it sparked the development of several more specialized packages slowly building a modern seismological ecosystem around it.This contribution will give a short introduction and overview of ObsPy and highlight a number of us cases and software built around it. We will furthermore discuss the issue of sustainability of scientific software.

  19. A top-down approach in control engineering third-level teaching: The case of hydrogen-generation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Setiawan, Eko; Habibi, M. Afnan; Fall, Cheikh; Hodaka, Ichijo

    2017-09-01

    This paper presents a top-down approach in control engineering third-level teaching. The paper shows the control engineering solution for the issue of practical implementation in order to motivate students. The proposed strategy only focuses on one technique of control engineering to lead student correctly. The proposed teaching steps are 1) defining the problem, 2) listing of acquired knowledge or required skill, 3) selecting of one control engineering technique, 4) arrangement the order of teaching: problem introduction, implementation of control engineering technique, explanation of system block diagram, model derivation, controller design, and 5) enrichment knowledge by the other control techniques. The approach presented highlights hardware implementation and the use of software simulation as a self-learning tool for students.

  20. Nipype: a flexible, lightweight and extensible neuroimaging data processing framework in python.

    PubMed

    Gorgolewski, Krzysztof; Burns, Christopher D; Madison, Cindee; Clark, Dav; Halchenko, Yaroslav O; Waskom, Michael L; Ghosh, Satrajit S

    2011-01-01

    Current neuroimaging software offer users an incredible opportunity to analyze their data in different ways, with different underlying assumptions. Several sophisticated software packages (e.g., AFNI, BrainVoyager, FSL, FreeSurfer, Nipy, R, SPM) are used to process and analyze large and often diverse (highly multi-dimensional) data. However, this heterogeneous collection of specialized applications creates several issues that hinder replicable, efficient, and optimal use of neuroimaging analysis approaches: (1) No uniform access to neuroimaging analysis software and usage information; (2) No framework for comparative algorithm development and dissemination; (3) Personnel turnover in laboratories often limits methodological continuity and training new personnel takes time; (4) Neuroimaging software packages do not address computational efficiency; and (5) Methods sections in journal articles are inadequate for reproducing results. To address these issues, we present Nipype (Neuroimaging in Python: Pipelines and Interfaces; http://nipy.org/nipype), an open-source, community-developed, software package, and scriptable library. Nipype solves the issues by providing Interfaces to existing neuroimaging software with uniform usage semantics and by facilitating interaction between these packages using Workflows. Nipype provides an environment that encourages interactive exploration of algorithms, eases the design of Workflows within and between packages, allows rapid comparative development of algorithms and reduces the learning curve necessary to use different packages. Nipype supports both local and remote execution on multi-core machines and clusters, without additional scripting. Nipype is Berkeley Software Distribution licensed, allowing anyone unrestricted usage. An open, community-driven development philosophy allows the software to quickly adapt and address the varied needs of the evolving neuroimaging community, especially in the context of increasing demand for reproducible research.

  1. Nipype: A Flexible, Lightweight and Extensible Neuroimaging Data Processing Framework in Python

    PubMed Central

    Gorgolewski, Krzysztof; Burns, Christopher D.; Madison, Cindee; Clark, Dav; Halchenko, Yaroslav O.; Waskom, Michael L.; Ghosh, Satrajit S.

    2011-01-01

    Current neuroimaging software offer users an incredible opportunity to analyze their data in different ways, with different underlying assumptions. Several sophisticated software packages (e.g., AFNI, BrainVoyager, FSL, FreeSurfer, Nipy, R, SPM) are used to process and analyze large and often diverse (highly multi-dimensional) data. However, this heterogeneous collection of specialized applications creates several issues that hinder replicable, efficient, and optimal use of neuroimaging analysis approaches: (1) No uniform access to neuroimaging analysis software and usage information; (2) No framework for comparative algorithm development and dissemination; (3) Personnel turnover in laboratories often limits methodological continuity and training new personnel takes time; (4) Neuroimaging software packages do not address computational efficiency; and (5) Methods sections in journal articles are inadequate for reproducing results. To address these issues, we present Nipype (Neuroimaging in Python: Pipelines and Interfaces; http://nipy.org/nipype), an open-source, community-developed, software package, and scriptable library. Nipype solves the issues by providing Interfaces to existing neuroimaging software with uniform usage semantics and by facilitating interaction between these packages using Workflows. Nipype provides an environment that encourages interactive exploration of algorithms, eases the design of Workflows within and between packages, allows rapid comparative development of algorithms and reduces the learning curve necessary to use different packages. Nipype supports both local and remote execution on multi-core machines and clusters, without additional scripting. Nipype is Berkeley Software Distribution licensed, allowing anyone unrestricted usage. An open, community-driven development philosophy allows the software to quickly adapt and address the varied needs of the evolving neuroimaging community, especially in the context of increasing demand for reproducible research. PMID:21897815

  2. Means of storage and automated monitoring of versions of text technical documentation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Leonovets, S. A.; Shukalov, A. V.; Zharinov, I. O.

    2018-03-01

    The paper presents automation of the process of preparation, storage and monitoring of version control of a text designer, and program documentation by means of the specialized software is considered. Automation of preparation of documentation is based on processing of the engineering data which are contained in the specifications and technical documentation or in the specification. Data handling assumes existence of strictly structured electronic documents prepared in widespread formats according to templates on the basis of industry standards and generation by an automated method of the program or designer text document. Further life cycle of the document and engineering data entering it are controlled. At each stage of life cycle, archive data storage is carried out. Studies of high-speed performance of use of different widespread document formats in case of automated monitoring and storage are given. The new developed software and the work benches available to the developer of the instrumental equipment are described.

  3. PREFACE: 32nd UIT (Italian Union of Thermo-fluid-dynamics) Heat Transfer Conference

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2014-11-01

    The annual Conference of the ''Unione Italiana di Termofluidodinamica'' (UIT) aims to promote cooperation in the field of heat transfer and thermal sciences by bringing together scientists and engineers working in related areas. The 32nd UIT Conference was held in Pisa, from the 23rd to the 25th of June, 2014 in the buildings of the School of Engineering, just a few months after the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first Institution of the School of Engineering at the University of Pisa. The response was very good, with more than 100 participants and 80 high-quality contributions from 208 authors on seven different heat transfer related topics: Heat transfer and efficiency in energy systems, environmental technologies, and buildings (25 papers); Micro and nano scale thermo-fluid dynamics (9 papers); Multi-phase fluid dynamics, heat transfer and interface phenomena (14 papers); Computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer (10 papers); Heat transfer in nuclear plants (8 papers); Natural, forced and mixed convection (10 papers) and Conduction and radiation (4 papers). To encourage the debate, the Conference Program scheduled 16 oral sessions (44 papers), three ample poster sessions (36 papers) and four invited lectures given by experts in the various fields both from Industry and from University. Keynote Lectures were given by Dr. Roberto Parri (ENEL, Italy), Prof. Peter Stephan (TU Darmstadt, Germany), Prof. Bruno Panella (Politecnico di Torino), and Prof. Sara Rainieri (Universit;aacute; di Parma). This special volume collects a selection of the scientific contributions discussed during this conference. A total of 46 contributions, two keynote lectures and 44 papers both from oral and poster sessions, have been selected for publication in this special issue, after a second accurate revision process. These works give a good overview of the state of the art of Italian research in the field of Heat Transfer related topics at the date. The editors of the volume would like to sincerely thank the authors for presenting their works at the conference and in this special issue. Special thanks are also due to the Scientific Committee, to all the reviewers, and to all the authors for their accurate revision process of each paper for this special issue. Special thanks go to the Organizing Committee, chaired by Prof. Paolo Di Marco. Walter Grassi (Chairman of the Scientific Committee), Alessandro Franco, Nicola Forgione, Daniele Testi - Editors of the Special Issue

  4. Environmental concept for engineering software on MIMD computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lopez, L. A.; Valimohamed, K.

    1989-01-01

    The issues related to developing an environment in which engineering systems can be implemented on MIMD machines are discussed. The problem is presented in terms of implementing the finite element method under such an environment. However, neither the concepts nor the prototype implementation environment are limited to this application. The topics discussed include: the ability to schedule and synchronize tasks efficiently; granularity of tasks; load balancing; and the use of a high level language to specify parallel constructs, manage data, and achieve portability. The objective of developing a virtual machine concept which incorporates solutions to the above issues leads to a design that can be mapped onto loosely coupled, tightly coupled, and hybrid systems.

  5. Verification and Validation of Autonomy Software at NASA

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pecheur, Charles

    2000-01-01

    Autonomous software holds the promise of new operation possibilities, easier design and development and lower operating costs. However, as those system close control loops and arbitrate resources on board with specialized reasoning, the range of possible situations becomes very large and uncontrollable from the outside, making conventional scenario-based testing very inefficient. Analytic verification and validation (V&V) techniques, and model checking in particular, can provide significant help for designing autonomous systems in a more efficient and reliable manner, by providing a better coverage and allowing early error detection. This article discusses the general issue of V&V of autonomy software, with an emphasis towards model-based autonomy, model-checking techniques and concrete experiments at NASA.

  6. Verification and Validation of Autonomy Software at NASA

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pecheur, Charles

    2000-01-01

    Autonomous software holds the promise of new operation possibilities, easier design and development, and lower operating costs. However, as those system close control loops and arbitrate resources on-board with specialized reasoning, the range of possible situations becomes very large and uncontrollable from the outside, making conventional scenario-based testing very inefficient. Analytic verification and validation (V&V) techniques, and model checking in particular, can provide significant help for designing autonomous systems in a more efficient and reliable manner, by providing a better coverage and allowing early error detection. This article discusses the general issue of V&V of autonomy software, with an emphasis towards model-based autonomy, model-checking techniques, and concrete experiments at NASA.

  7. Annotated bibliography of Software Engineering Laboratory literature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Morusiewicz, Linda; Valett, Jon D.

    1991-01-01

    An annotated bibliography of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory is given. More than 100 publications are summarized. These publications cover many areas of software engineering and range from research reports to software documentation. All materials have been grouped into eight general subject areas for easy reference: The Software Engineering Laboratory; The Software Engineering Laboratory: Software Development Documents; Software Tools; Software Models; Software Measurement; Technology Evaluations; Ada Technology; and Data Collection. Subject and author indexes further classify these documents by specific topic and individual author.

  8. Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1995-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of application software. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that includes this document.

  9. Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Collected Software Engineering Papers. Volume 15

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1997-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of application software. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that includes this document.

  10. Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Collected Software Engineering Papers. Volume 14

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1996-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of application software. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that includes this document.

  11. Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Collected Software Engineering Papers. Volume 13

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1995-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of application software. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that includes this document.

  12. Special Issue on Earth Science: The View From '76

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geotimes, 1976

    1976-01-01

    Presents the latest developments concerning the following topics: astrogeology, coal, deep sea drilling project, engineering geology; environmental geology, exploration geophysics, geochemistry, geodynamics project, hydrology, industrial minerals, international geology, mapping, mathematical geology, metals, mineralogy, oil and gas, invertebrate…

  13. The Top 10 Challenges in Extreme-Scale Visual Analytics

    PubMed Central

    Wong, Pak Chung; Shen, Han-Wei; Johnson, Christopher R.; Chen, Chaomei; Ross, Robert B.

    2013-01-01

    In this issue of CG&A, researchers share their R&D findings and results on applying visual analytics (VA) to extreme-scale data. Having surveyed these articles and other R&D in this field, we’ve identified what we consider the top challenges of extreme-scale VA. To cater to the magazine’s diverse readership, our discussion evaluates challenges in all areas of the field, including algorithms, hardware, software, engineering, and social issues. PMID:24489426

  14. Commodifying animals: ethical issues in genetic engineering of animals.

    PubMed

    Almond, B

    2000-03-01

    The genetic modification of living beings raises special ethical concerns which go beyond general discussion of animal rights or welfare. Although the goals may be similar, biotechnology has accelerated the process of modification of types traditionally carried out by cross-breeding. These changes are discussed in relation to two areas: biomedicine, and animal husbandry. Alternative ethical approaches are reviewed, and it is argued that the teleological thesis underlying virtue ethics has special relevance here. The case for and the case against genetic engineering and patenting of life-forms are examined, and conclusions are drawn which favour regulation, caution and respect for animals and animal species.

  15. Special issue on the "Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors Research and Development Progress"

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Turinsky, Paul J.; Martin, William R.

    2017-04-01

    In this special issue of the Journal of Computational Physics, the research and development completed at the time of manuscript submission by the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) is presented. CASL is the first of several Energy Innovation Hubs that have been created by the Department of Energy. The Hubs are modeled after the strong scientific management characteristics of the Manhattan Project and AT&T Bell Laboratories, and function as integrated research centers that combine basic and applied research with engineering to accelerate scientific discovery that addresses critical energy issues. Lifetime of a Hub is expected to be five or ten years depending upon performance, with CASL being granted a ten year lifetime.

  16. AMPHION: Specification-based programming for scientific subroutine libraries

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lowry, Michael; Philpot, Andrew; Pressburger, Thomas; Underwood, Ian; Waldinger, Richard; Stickel, Mark

    1994-01-01

    AMPHION is a knowledge-based software engineering (KBSE) system that guides a user in developing a diagram representing a formal problem specification. It then automatically implements a solution to this specification as a program consisting of calls to subroutines from a library. The diagram provides an intuitive domain oriented notation for creating a specification that also facilitates reuse and modification. AMPHION'S architecture is domain independent. AMPHION is specialized to an application domain by developing a declarative domain theory. Creating a domain theory is an iterative process that currently requires the joint expertise of domain experts and experts in automated formal methods for software development.

  17. Computer-Aided Software Engineering - An approach to real-time software development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Walker, Carrie K.; Turkovich, John J.

    1989-01-01

    A new software engineering discipline is Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE), a technology aimed at automating the software development process. This paper explores the development of CASE technology, particularly in the area of real-time/scientific/engineering software, and a history of CASE is given. The proposed software development environment for the Advanced Launch System (ALS CASE) is described as an example of an advanced software development system for real-time/scientific/engineering (RT/SE) software. The Automated Programming Subsystem of ALS CASE automatically generates executable code and corresponding documentation from a suitably formatted specification of the software requirements. Software requirements are interactively specified in the form of engineering block diagrams. Several demonstrations of the Automated Programming Subsystem are discussed.

  18. Software engineering laboratory series: Annotated bibliography of software engineering laboratory literature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Morusiewicz, Linda; Valett, Jon

    1992-01-01

    This document is an annotated bibliography of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory. More than 100 publications are summarized. These publications cover many areas of software engineering and range from research reports to software documentation. This document has been updated and reorganized substantially since the original version (SEL-82-006, November 1982). All materials have been grouped into eight general subject areas for easy reference: (1) the Software Engineering Laboratory; (2) the Software Engineering Laboratory: Software Development Documents; (3) Software Tools; (4) Software Models; (5) Software Measurement; (6) Technology Evaluations; (7) Ada Technology; and (8) Data Collection. This document contains an index of these publications classified by individual author.

  19. General Aviation Pilot Advisory and Training System (GAPATS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Painter, John; Ward, Donald T.; Kelly, Wallace; Crump, John W.; Phillips, Ron; Trang, Jeff; Lee, Kris; Branham, Paul A.; Krishnamurthy, Karthik; Alcorn, William P., Jr.; hide

    1997-01-01

    The goal of this project is to achieve a validated General Aviation Pilot Advisor and Training System (GAPATS) engineering prototype, implemented according to commercial software standards and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues of certification. Phase 2 builds on progress during Phase 1, which exceeded proposed objectives. The basic technology has been transferred from previous NASA research (1989 to 1994). We anticipate a commercially licensable prototype, validated by pilots in a flight simulator and in a light twin-engine research aircraft for FAA certification, by January 1998.

  20. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Manpower Information System: An Integrated Approach to Manpower Management

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1994-04-01

    engineering and con- struction management services for both military and civil works programs. In FY93, the cost of those programs exceeded $10 billion and...A related issue was to explore the USACE costs , benefits, and barriers to implementing a single Class VI system software package for both the military...provide information in useful ways, track utilization information, I A Class HI system is defined in AR 25-3. It is a system whose total program costs are

  1. Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) Environment Issues.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-06-01

    tasks tend to be error prone and slowv when done by humans . Ti-.c,. are e’.el nt anidates for automation using a computer. (MacLennan. 10S1. p. 51 2...CASE r,’sourCcs; * human resources. Lonsisting of the people who use and facilitate utilization in !:1e case of manual resource, of the environment...engineering process in a given er,%irent rnizthe nature of rnanua! and human resources. CA.SU_ -esources should provide the softwvare enizincerin2 team

  2. Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1996-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of application software. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that includes this document.

  3. Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1997-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of application software. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that includes this document.

  4. Software and knowledge engineering aspects of smart homes applied to health.

    PubMed

    Augusto, Juan Carlos; Nugent, Chris; Martin, Suzanne; Olphert, Colin

    2005-01-01

    Smart Home technology offers a viable solution to the increasing needs of the elderly, special needs and home based-healthcare populations. The research to date has largely focused on the development of communication technologies, sensor technologies and intelligent user interfaces. We claim that this technological evolution has not been matched with a step of a similar size on the software counterpart. We particularly focus on the software that emphasizes the intelligent aspects of a Smart Home and the difficulties that arise from the computational analysis of the information collected from a Smart Home. The process of translating information into accurate diagnosis when using non-invasive technology is full of challenges, some of which have been considered in the literature to some extent but as yet without clear landmarks.

  5. Software engineering and the role of Ada: Executive seminar

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Freedman, Glenn B.

    1987-01-01

    The objective was to introduce the basic terminology and concepts of software engineering and Ada. The life cycle model is reviewed. The application of the goals and principles of software engineering is applied. An introductory understanding of the features of the Ada language is gained. Topics addressed include: the software crises; the mandate of the Space Station Program; software life cycle model; software engineering; and Ada under the software engineering umbrella.

  6. 75 FR 26320 - Fourteenth Plenary Meeting, RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG 71: Software Considerations in...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-05-11

    ... Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG 71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG 71: Software... meeting of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG 71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems...

  7. 75 FR 2924 - Thirteenth Plenary Meeting, RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG 71: Software Considerations in...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-19

    ... Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG 71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG 71: Software... meeting of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG 71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems...

  8. CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 21, Number 6

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-06-01

    disclosure agreements prevent the identification of most companies. However some companies such as IBM and ITT have provided data on defect...Well, I am sure that this issue contains great articles about quality (since I’m writing in the future, I don’t even know the article lineup yet!). In my

  9. Software Requirements Engineering Methodology

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1976-09-01

    common speech, so that the specification can be read by managers, systems enginetrs, and others who are not specially trained in the language. To...of the system and its DPS. They are usually implicit in the wording of the originating specifications, although the new SREM user must train ...to the name of the ENTITYjCLASS, the operation is applicable only to a single instance. This concentration of the requirements for creation and

  10. A Study of Emotions in Requirements Engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Colomo-Palacios, Ricardo; Hernández-López, Adrián; García-Crespo, Ángel; Soto-Acosta, Pedro

    Requirements engineering (RE) is a crucial activity in software development projects. This phase in the software development cycle is knowledge intensive, and thus, human capital intensive. From the human point of view, emotions play an important role in behavior and can even act as behavioral motivators. Thus, if we consider that RE represents a set of knowledge-intensive tasks, which include acceptance and negotiation activities, then the emotional factor represents a key element in these issues. However, the emotional factor in RE has not received the attention it deserves. This paper aims to integrate the stakeholder's emotions into the requirement process, proposing to catalogue them like any other factor in the process such as clarity or stability. Results show that high arousal and low pleasure levels are predictors of high versioning requirements.

  11. Emerging technologies for sustainable irrigation – a tribute to the career of Terry Howell, Sr. Selected papers from the 2015 ASABE and IA irrigation symposium

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    This article is an introduction to the “Emerging Technologies in Sustainable Irrigation – A Tribute to the Career of Terry Howell, Sr.” Special Collection in this issue of Transactions ASABE and the next issue of Applied Engineering in Agriculture, consisting of 15 articles selected from 62 papers a...

  12. Disease resistance: Molecular mechanisms and biotechnological applications

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    This special issue “Disease resistance: molecular mechanisms and biotechnological applications” contains 11 review articles and four original research papers. Research in the area of engineering for disease resistance continues to progress although only 10% of the transgenic plants registered for ...

  13. Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 3: Abstract of Special Issue 23 on CD-ROM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacobsen, Jerrold J.; Moore, John W.

    1999-09-01

    Literature Cited

    1. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W. Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 1 [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1998, SP 18.

    2. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W. Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 2 [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1998, SP 21.

    3. Moore, J. W.; Jacobsen, J. J.; Hunsberger, L. R.; Gammon, S. D.; Jetzer, K. H.; Zimmerman, J. ChemDemos Videodisc; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1994, SP 8.

    4. Moore, J. W.; Jacobsen, J. J.; Jetzer, K. H.; Gilbert, G.; Mattes, F.; Phillips, D.; Lisensky, G.; Zweerink, G. ChemDemos II; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1996, SP 14.

    5. Jacobsen, J. J.; Jetzer, K. H.; Patani, N.; Zimmerman, J. Titration Techniques Videodisc; J. Chem. Educ. Software 1995, SP9.

  14. Exploratory research for the development of a computer aided software design environment with the software technology program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hardwick, Charles

    1991-01-01

    Field studies were conducted by MCC to determine areas of research of mutual interest to MCC and JSC. NASA personnel from the Information Systems Directorate and research faculty from UHCL/RICIS visited MCC in Austin, Texas to examine tools and applications under development in the MCC Software Technology Program. MCC personnel presented workshops in hypermedia, design knowledge capture, and design recovery on site at JSC for ISD personnel. The following programs were installed on workstations in the Software Technology Lab, NASA/JSC: (1) GERM (Graphic Entity Relations Modeler); (2) gIBIS (Graphic Issues Based Information System); and (3) DESIRE (Design Recovery tool). These applications were made available to NASA for inspection and evaluation. Programs developed in the MCC Software Technology Program run on the SUN workstation. The programs do not require special configuration, but they will require larger than usual amounts of disk space and RAM to operate properly.

  15. Building information models for astronomy projects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ariño, Javier; Murga, Gaizka; Campo, Ramón; Eletxigerra, Iñigo; Ampuero, Pedro

    2012-09-01

    A Building Information Model is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a building. BIMs represent the geometrical characteristics of the Building, but also properties like bills of quantities, definition of COTS components, status of material in the different stages of the project, project economic data, etc. The BIM methodology, which is well established in the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) domain for conventional buildings, has been brought one step forward in its application for Astronomical/Scientific facilities. In these facilities steel/concrete structures have high dynamic and seismic requirements, M&E installations are complex and there is a large amount of special equipment and mechanisms involved as a fundamental part of the facility. The detail design definition is typically implemented by different design teams in specialized design software packages. In order to allow the coordinated work of different engineering teams, the overall model, and its associated engineering database, is progressively integrated using a coordination and roaming software which can be used before starting construction phase for checking interferences, planning the construction sequence, studying maintenance operation, reporting to the project office, etc. This integrated design & construction approach will allow to efficiently plan construction sequence (4D). This is a powerful tool to study and analyze in detail alternative construction sequences and ideally coordinate the work of different construction teams. In addition engineering, construction and operational database can be linked to the virtual model (6D), what gives to the end users a invaluable tool for the lifecycle management, as all the facility information can be easily accessed, added or replaced. This paper presents the BIM methodology as implemented by IDOM with the E-ELT and ATST Enclosures as application examples.

  16. Software engineering risk factors in the implementation of a small electronic medical record system: the problem of scalability.

    PubMed

    Chiang, Michael F; Starren, Justin B

    2002-01-01

    The successful implementation of clinical information systems is difficult. In examining the reasons and potential solutions for this problem, the medical informatics community may benefit from the lessons of a rich body of software engineering and management literature about the failure of software projects. Based on previous studies, we present a conceptual framework for understanding the risk factors associated with large-scale projects. However, the vast majority of existing literature is based on large, enterprise-wide systems, and it unclear whether those results may be scaled down and applied to smaller projects such as departmental medical information systems. To examine this issue, we discuss the case study of a delayed electronic medical record implementation project in a small specialty practice at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. While the factors contributing to the delay of this small project share some attributes with those found in larger organizations, there are important differences. The significance of these differences for groups implementing small medical information systems is discussed.

  17. Distributed and Collaborative Software Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghezzi, Giacomo; Gall, Harald C.

    Throughout the years software engineers have come up with a myriad of specialized tools and techniques that focus on a certain type of software analysissoftware analysis such as source code analysis, co-change analysis or bug prediction. However, easy and straight forward synergies between these analyses and tools rarely exist because of their stand-alone nature, their platform dependence, their different input and output formats and the variety of data to analyze. As a consequence, distributed and collaborative software analysiscollaborative software analysis scenarios and in particular interoperability are severely limited. We describe a distributed and collaborative software analysis platform that allows for a seamless interoperability of software analysis tools across platform, geographical and organizational boundaries. We realize software analysis tools as services that can be accessed and composed over the Internet. These distributed analysis services shall be widely accessible in our incrementally augmented Software Analysis Broker software analysis broker where organizations and tool providers can register and share their tools. To allow (semi-) automatic use and composition of these tools, they are classified and mapped into a software analysis taxonomy and adhere to specific meta-models and ontologiesontologies for their category of analysis.

  18. Annotated bibliography of software engineering laboratory literature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Groves, Paula; Valett, Jon

    1990-01-01

    An annotated bibliography of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory is given. More than 100 publications are summarized. These publications cover many areas of software engineering and range from research reports to software documentation. This document has been updated and reorganized substantially since the original version (SEL-82-006, November 1982). All materials have been grouped into eight general subject areas for easy reference: the Software Engineering Laboratory; the Software Engineering Laboratory-software development documents; software tools; software models; software measurement; technology evaluations; Ada technology; and data collection. Subject and author indexes further classify these documents by specific topic and individual author.

  19. Annotated bibliography of Software Engineering Laboratory literature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Morusiewicz, Linda; Valett, Jon

    1993-01-01

    This document is an annotated bibliography of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory. Nearly 200 publications are summarized. These publications cover many areas of software engineering and range from research reports to software documentation. This document has been updated and reorganized substantially since the original version (SEL-82-006, November 1982). All materials have been grouped into eight general subject areas for easy reference: the Software Engineering Laboratory; the Software Engineering Laboratory: software development documents; software tools; software models; software measurement; technology evaluations; Ada technology; and data collection. This document contains an index of these publications classified by individual author.

  20. Instrument Systems Analysis and Verification Facility (ISAVF) users guide

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davis, J. F.; Thomason, J. O.; Wolfgang, J. L.

    1985-01-01

    The ISAVF facility is primarily an interconnected system of computers, special purpose real time hardware, and associated generalized software systems, which will permit the Instrument System Analysts, Design Engineers and Instrument Scientists, to perform trade off studies, specification development, instrument modeling, and verification of the instrument, hardware performance. It is not the intent of the ISAVF to duplicate or replace existing special purpose facilities such as the Code 710 Optical Laboratories or the Code 750 Test and Evaluation facilities. The ISAVF will provide data acquisition and control services for these facilities, as needed, using remote computer stations attached to the main ISAVF computers via dedicated communication lines.

  1. Spacecraft Software Maintenance: An Effective Approach to Reducing Costs and Increasing Science Return

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shell, Elaine M.; Lue, Yvonne; Chu, Martha I.

    1999-01-01

    Flight software is a mission critical element of spacecraft functionality and performance. When ground operations personnel interface to a spacecraft, they are typically dealing almost entirely with the capabilities of onboard software. This software, even more than critical ground/flight communications systems, is expected to perform perfectly during all phases of spacecraft life. Due to the fact that it can be reprogrammed on-orbit to accommodate degradations or failures in flight hardware, new insights into spacecraft characteristics, new control options which permit enhanced science options, etc., the on- orbit flight software maintenance team is usually significantly responsible for the long term success of a science mission. Failure of flight software to perform as needed can result in very expensive operations work-around costs and lost science opportunities. There are three basic approaches to maintaining spacecraft software--namely using the original developers, using the mission operations personnel, or assembling a center of excellence for multi-spacecraft software maintenance. Not planning properly for flight software maintenance can lead to unnecessarily high on-orbit costs and/or unacceptably long delays, or errors, in patch installations. A common approach for flight software maintenance is to access the original development staff. The argument for utilizing the development staff is that the people who developed the software will be the best people to modify the software on-orbit. However, it can quickly becomes a challenge to obtain the services of these key people. They may no longer be available to the organization. They may have a more urgent job to perform, quite likely on another project under different project management. If they havn't worked on the software for a long time, they may need precious time for refamiliarization to the software, testbeds and tools. Further, a lack of insight into issues related to flight software in its on-orbit environment, may find the developer unprepared for the challenges. The second approach is to train a member of the flight operations team to maintain the spacecraft software. This can prove to be a costly and inflexible solution. The person assigned to this duty may not have enough work to do during a problem free period and may have too much to do when a problem arises. If the person is a talented software engineer, he/she may not enjoy the limited software opportunities available in this position; and may eventually leave for newer technology computer science opportunities. Training replacement flight software personnel can be a difficult and lengthy process. The third approach is to assemble a center of excellence for on-orbit spacecraft software maintenance. Personnel in this specialty center can be managed to support flight software of multiple missions at once. The variety of challenges among a set of on-orbit missions, can result in a dedicated, talented staff which is fully trained and available to support each mission's needs. Such staff are not software developers but are rather spacecraft software systems engineers. The cost to any one mission is extremely low because the software staff works and charges, minimally on missions with no current operations issues; and their professional insight into on-orbit software troubleshooting and maintenance methods ensures low risk, effective and minimal-cost solutions to on-orbit issues.

  2. Second Insulin Pump Safety Meeting: Summary Report

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Yi; Jones, Paul L.; Klonoff, David C.

    2010-01-01

    Diabetes Technology Society facilitated a second meeting of insulin pump experts at Mills-Peninsula Health Services, San Mateo, California on November 4, 2009, at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories. The first such meeting was held in Bethesda, Maryland, on November 12, 2008. The group of physicians, nurses, diabetes educators, and engineers from across the United States discussed safety issues in insulin pump therapy and recommended adjustments to current insulin pump design and use to enhance overall safety. The meeting discussed safety issues in the context of pump operation; software; hardware; physical structure; electrical, biological, and chemical considerations; use; and environment from engineering, medical, nursing, and pump/user perspectives. There was consensus among meeting participants that insulin pump designs have made great progress in improving the quality of life of people with diabetes, but much more remains to be done. PMID:20307411

  3. ISEES: an institute for sustainable software to accelerate environmental science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jones, M. B.; Schildhauer, M.; Fox, P. A.

    2013-12-01

    Software is essential to the full science lifecycle, spanning data acquisition, processing, quality assessment, data integration, analysis, modeling, and visualization. Software runs our meteorological sensor systems, our data loggers, and our ocean gliders. Every aspect of science is impacted by, and improved by, software. Scientific advances ranging from modeling climate change to the sequencing of the human genome have been rendered possible in the last few decades due to the massive improvements in the capabilities of computers to process data through software. This pivotal role of software in science is broadly acknowledged, while simultaneously being systematically undervalued through minimal investments in maintenance and innovation. As a community, we need to embrace the creation, use, and maintenance of software within science, and address problems such as code complexity, openness,reproducibility, and accessibility. We also need to fully develop new skills and practices in software engineering as a core competency in our earth science disciplines, starting with undergraduate and graduate education and extending into university and agency professional positions. The Institute for Sustainable Earth and Environmental Software (ISEES) is being envisioned as a community-driven activity that can facilitate and galvanize activites around scientific software in an analogous way to synthesis centers such as NCEAS and NESCent that have stimulated massive advances in ecology and evolution. We will describe the results of six workshops (Science Drivers, Software Lifecycles, Software Components, Workforce Development and Training, Sustainability and Governance, and Community Engagement) that have been held in 2013 to envision such an institute. We will present community recommendations from these workshops and our strategic vision for how ISEES will address the technical issues in the software lifecycle, sustainability of the whole software ecosystem, and the critical issue of computational training for the scientific community. Process for envisioning ISEES.

  4. Software Development for EECU Platform of Turbofan Engine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Bo Gyoung; Kwak, Dohyup; Kim, Byunghyun; Choi, Hee ju; Kong, Changduk

    2017-04-01

    The turbofan engine operation consists of a number of hardware and software. The engine is controlled by Electronic Engine Control Unit (EECU). In order to control the engine, EECU communicates with an aircraft system, Actuator Drive Unit (ADU), Engine Power Unit (EPU) and sensors on the engine. This paper tried to investigate the process form starting to taking-off and aims to design the EECU software mode and defined communication data format. The software is implemented according to the designed software mode.

  5. A Methodological Framework for Enterprise Information System Requirements Derivation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Caplinskas, Albertas; Paškevičiūtė, Lina

    Current information systems (IS) are enterprise-wide systems supporting strategic goals of the enterprise and meeting its operational business needs. They are supported by information and communication technologies (ICT) and other software that should be fully integrated. To develop software responding to real business needs, we need requirements engineering (RE) methodology that ensures the alignment of requirements for all levels of enterprise system. The main contribution of this chapter is a requirement-oriented methodological framework allowing to transform business requirements level by level into software ones. The structure of the proposed framework reflects the structure of Zachman's framework. However, it has other intentions and is purposed to support not the design but the RE issues.

  6. Software engineering methodologies and tools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilcox, Lawrence M.

    1993-01-01

    Over the years many engineering disciplines have developed, including chemical, electronic, etc. Common to all engineering disciplines is the use of rigor, models, metrics, and predefined methodologies. Recently, a new engineering discipline has appeared on the scene, called software engineering. For over thirty years computer software has been developed and the track record has not been good. Software development projects often miss schedules, are over budget, do not give the user what is wanted, and produce defects. One estimate is there are one to three defects per 1000 lines of deployed code. More and more systems are requiring larger and more complex software for support. As this requirement grows, the software development problems grow exponentially. It is believed that software quality can be improved by applying engineering principles. Another compelling reason to bring the engineering disciplines to software development is productivity. It has been estimated that productivity of producing software has only increased one to two percent a year in the last thirty years. Ironically, the computer and its software have contributed significantly to the industry-wide productivity, but computer professionals have done a poor job of using the computer to do their job. Engineering disciplines and methodologies are now emerging supported by software tools that address the problems of software development. This paper addresses some of the current software engineering methodologies as a backdrop for the general evaluation of computer assisted software engineering (CASE) tools from actual installation of and experimentation with some specific tools.

  7. Experimental control in software reliability certification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Trammell, Carmen J.; Poore, Jesse H.

    1994-01-01

    There is growing interest in software 'certification', i.e., confirmation that software has performed satisfactorily under a defined certification protocol. Regulatory agencies, customers, and prospective reusers all want assurance that a defined product standard has been met. In other industries, products are typically certified under protocols in which random samples of the product are drawn, tests characteristic of operational use are applied, analytical or statistical inferences are made, and products meeting a standard are 'certified' as fit for use. A warranty statement is often issued upon satisfactory completion of a certification protocol. This paper outlines specific engineering practices that must be used to preserve the validity of the statistical certification testing protocol. The assumptions associated with a statistical experiment are given, and their implications for statistical testing of software are described.

  8. Building the Scientific Modeling Assistant: An interactive environment for specialized software design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Keller, Richard M.

    1991-01-01

    The construction of scientific software models is an integral part of doing science, both within NASA and within the scientific community at large. Typically, model-building is a time-intensive and painstaking process, involving the design of very large, complex computer programs. Despite the considerable expenditure of resources involved, completed scientific models cannot easily be distributed and shared with the larger scientific community due to the low-level, idiosyncratic nature of the implemented code. To address this problem, we have initiated a research project aimed at constructing a software tool called the Scientific Modeling Assistant. This tool provides automated assistance to the scientist in developing, using, and sharing software models. We describe the Scientific Modeling Assistant, and also touch on some human-machine interaction issues relevant to building a successful tool of this type.

  9. Annotated bibliography of software engineering laboratory literature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kistler, David; Bristow, John; Smith, Don

    1994-01-01

    This document is an annotated bibliography of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory. Nearly 200 publications are summarized. These publications cover many areas of software engineering and range from research reports to software documentation. This document has been updated and reorganized substantially since the original version (SEL-82-006, November 1982). All materials have been grouped into eight general subject areas for easy reference: (1) The Software Engineering Laboratory; (2) The Software Engineering Laboratory: Software Development Documents; (3) Software Tools; (4) Software Models; (5) Software Measurement; (6) Technology Evaluations; (7) Ada Technology; and (8) Data Collection. This document contains an index of these publications classified by individual author.

  10. ProCon - PROteomics CONversion tool.

    PubMed

    Mayer, Gerhard; Stephan, Christian; Meyer, Helmut E; Kohl, Michael; Marcus, Katrin; Eisenacher, Martin

    2015-11-03

    With the growing amount of experimental data produced in proteomics experiments and the requirements/recommendations of journals in the proteomics field to publicly make available data described in papers, a need for long-term storage of proteomics data in public repositories arises. For such an upload one needs proteomics data in a standardized format. Therefore, it is desirable, that the proprietary vendor's software will integrate in the future such an export functionality using the standard formats for proteomics results defined by the HUPO-PSI group. Currently not all search engines and analysis tools support these standard formats. In the meantime there is a need to provide user-friendly free-to-use conversion tools that can convert the data into such standard formats in order to support wet-lab scientists in creating proteomics data files ready for upload into the public repositories. ProCon is such a conversion tool written in Java for conversion of proteomics identification data into standard formats mzIdentML and Pride XML. It allows the conversion of Sequest™/Comet .out files, of search results from the popular and often used ProteomeDiscoverer® 1.x (x=versions 1.1 to1.4) software and search results stored in the LIMS systems ProteinScape® 1.3 and 2.1 into mzIdentML and PRIDE XML. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Computational Proteomics. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  11. Using CASE to Exploit Process Modeling in Technology Transfer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Renz-Olar, Cheryl

    2003-01-01

    A successful business will be one that has processes in place to run that business. Creating processes, reengineering processes, and continually improving processes can be accomplished through extensive modeling. Casewise(R) Corporate Modeler(TM) CASE is a computer aided software engineering tool that will enable the Technology Transfer Department (TT) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to capture these abilities. After successful implementation of CASE, it could then go on to be applied in other departments at MSFC and other centers at NASA. The success of a business process is dependent upon the players working as a team and continuously improving the process. A good process fosters customer satisfaction as well as internal satisfaction in the organizational infrastructure. CASE provides a method for business process success through functions consisting of systems and processes business models; specialized diagrams; matrix management; simulation; report generation and publishing; and, linking, importing, and exporting documents and files. The software has an underlying repository or database to support these functions. The Casewise. manual informs us that dynamics modeling is a technique used in business design and analysis. Feedback is used as a tool for the end users and generates different ways of dealing with the process. Feedback on this project resulted from collection of issues through a systems analyst interface approach of interviews with process coordinators and Technical Points of Contact (TPOCs).

  12. Software Engineering Improvement Activities/Plan

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2003-01-01

    bd Systems personnel accomplished the technical responsibilities for this reporting period, as planned. A close working relationship was maintained with personnel of the MSFC Avionics Department Software Group (ED14). Work accomplishments included development, evaluation, and enhancement of a software cost model, performing literature search and evaluation of software tools available for code analysis and requirements analysis, and participating in other relevant software engineering activities. Monthly reports were submitted. This support was provided to the Flight Software Group/ED 1 4 in accomplishing the software engineering improvement engineering activities of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Software Engineering Improvement Plan.

  13. Software reuse issues affecting AdaNET

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcbride, John G.

    1989-01-01

    The AdaNet program is reviewing its long-term goals and strategies. A significant concern is whether current AdaNet plans adequately address the major strategic issues of software reuse technology. The major reuse issues of providing AdaNet services that should be addressed as part of future AdaNet development are identified and reviewed. Before significant development proceeds, a plan should be developed to resolve the aforementioned issues. This plan should also specify a detailed approach to develop AdaNet. A three phased strategy is recommended. The first phase would consist of requirements analysis and produce an AdaNet system requirements specification. It would consider the requirements of AdaNet in terms of mission needs, commercial realities, and administrative policies affecting development, and the experience of AdaNet and other projects promoting the transfer software engineering technology. Specifically, requirements analysis would be performed to better understand the requirements for AdaNet functions. The second phase would provide a detailed design of the system. The AdaNet should be designed with emphasis on the use of existing technology readily available to the AdaNet program. A number of reuse products are available upon which AdaNet could be based. This would significantly reduce the risk and cost of providing an AdaNet system. Once a design was developed, implementation would proceed in the third phase.

  14. Development of Management Metrics for Research and Technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sheskin, Theodore J.

    2003-01-01

    Professor Ted Sheskin from CSU will be tasked to research and investigate metrics that can be used to determine the technical progress for advanced development and research tasks. These metrics will be implemented in a software environment that hosts engineering design, analysis and management tools to be used to support power system and component research work at GRC. Professor Sheskin is an Industrial Engineer and has been involved in issues related to management of engineering tasks and will use his knowledge from this area to allow extrapolation into the research and technology management area. Over the course of the summer, Professor Sheskin will develop a bibliography of management papers covering current management methods that may be applicable to research management. At the completion of the summer work we expect to have him recommend a metric system to be reviewed prior to implementation in the software environment. This task has been discussed with Professor Sheskin and some review material has already been given to him.

  15. SysML: A Language for Space System Engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mazzini, S.; Strangapede, A.

    2008-08-01

    This paper presents the results of an ESA/ESTEC internal study, performed with the support of INTECS, about modeling languages to support Space System Engineering activities and processes, with special emphasis on system requirements identification and analysis. The study was focused on the assessment of dedicated UML profiles, their positioning alongside the system and software life cycles and associated methodologies. Requirements for a Space System Requirements Language were identified considering the ECSS-E-10 and ECSS-E_40 processes. The study has identified SysML as a very promising language, having as theoretical background the reference system processes defined by the ISO15288, as well as industrial practices.

  16. Agreement between Medline searches using the Medline-CD-Rom and Internet Pubmed, BioMedNet, Medscape and Gateway search-engines.

    PubMed

    Caro-Rojas, Rosa Angela; Eslava-Schmalbach, Javier H

    2005-01-01

    To compare the information obtained from the Medline database using Internet commercial search engines with that obtained from a compact disc (Medline-CD). An agreement study was carried out based on 101 clinical scenarios provided by specialists in internal medicine, pharmacy, gynaecology-obstetrics, surgery and paediatrics. 175 search strategies were employed using the connector AND plus text within quotation marks. The search was limited to 1991-1999. Internet search-engines were selected by common criteria. Identical search strategies were independently applied to and masked from Internet search engines, as well as the Medline-CD. 3,488 articles were obtained using 129 search strategies. Agreement with the Medline-CD was 54% for PubMed, 57% for Gateway, 54% for Medscape and 65% for BioMedNet. The highest agreement rate for a given speciality (paediatrics) was 78.1% for BioMedNet, having greater -/- than +/+ agreement. Even though free access to Medline has encouraged the boom and growth of evidence-based medicine, these results must be considered within the context of which search engine was selected for doing the searches. The Internet search engines studied showed a poor agreement with the Medline-CD, the rate of agreement differing according to speciality, thus significantly affecting searches and their reproducibility. Software designed for conducting Medline database searches, including the Medline-CD, must be standardised and validated.

  17. Insights into software development in Japan

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Duvall, Lorraine M.

    1992-01-01

    The interdependence of the U.S.-Japanese economies makes it imperative that we in the United States understand how business and technology developments take place in Japan. We can gain insight into these developments in software engineering by studying the context in which Japanese software is developed, the practices that are used, the problems encountered, the setting surrounding these problems, and the resolution of these problems. Context includes the technological and sociological characteristics of the software development environment, the software processes applied, personnel involved in the development process, and the corporate and social culture surrounding the development. Presented in this paper is a summary of results of a study that addresses these issues. Data for this study was collected during a three month visit to Japan where the author interviewed 20 software managers representing nine companies involved in developing software in Japan. These data are compared to similar data from the United States in which 12 managers from five companies were interviewed.

  18. The Australian Computational Earth Systems Simulator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mora, P.; Muhlhaus, H.; Lister, G.; Dyskin, A.; Place, D.; Appelbe, B.; Nimmervoll, N.; Abramson, D.

    2001-12-01

    Numerical simulation of the physics and dynamics of the entire earth system offers an outstanding opportunity for advancing earth system science and technology but represents a major challenge due to the range of scales and physical processes involved, as well as the magnitude of the software engineering effort required. However, new simulation and computer technologies are bringing this objective within reach. Under a special competitive national funding scheme to establish new Major National Research Facilities (MNRF), the Australian government together with a consortium of Universities and research institutions have funded construction of the Australian Computational Earth Systems Simulator (ACcESS). The Simulator or computational virtual earth will provide the research infrastructure to the Australian earth systems science community required for simulations of dynamical earth processes at scales ranging from microscopic to global. It will consist of thematic supercomputer infrastructure and an earth systems simulation software system. The Simulator models and software will be constructed over a five year period by a multi-disciplinary team of computational scientists, mathematicians, earth scientists, civil engineers and software engineers. The construction team will integrate numerical simulation models (3D discrete elements/lattice solid model, particle-in-cell large deformation finite-element method, stress reconstruction models, multi-scale continuum models etc) with geophysical, geological and tectonic models, through advanced software engineering and visualization technologies. When fully constructed, the Simulator aims to provide the software and hardware infrastructure needed to model solid earth phenomena including global scale dynamics and mineralisation processes, crustal scale processes including plate tectonics, mountain building, interacting fault system dynamics, and micro-scale processes that control the geological, physical and dynamic behaviour of earth systems. ACcESS represents a part of Australia's contribution to the APEC Cooperation for Earthquake Simulation (ACES) international initiative. Together with other national earth systems science initiatives including the Japanese Earth Simulator and US General Earthquake Model projects, ACcESS aims to provide a driver for scientific advancement and technological breakthroughs including: quantum leaps in understanding of earth evolution at global, crustal, regional and microscopic scales; new knowledge of the physics of crustal fault systems required to underpin the grand challenge of earthquake prediction; new understanding and predictive capabilities of geological processes such as tectonics and mineralisation.

  19. Software Engineering for Human Spaceflight

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fredrickson, Steven E.

    2014-01-01

    The Spacecraft Software Engineering Branch of NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) provides world-class products, leadership, and technical expertise in software engineering, processes, technology, and systems management for human spaceflight. The branch contributes to major NASA programs (e.g. ISS, MPCV/Orion) with in-house software development and prime contractor oversight, and maintains the JSC Engineering Directorate CMMI rating for flight software development. Software engineering teams work with hardware developers, mission planners, and system operators to integrate flight vehicles, habitats, robotics, and other spacecraft elements. They seek to infuse automation and autonomy into missions, and apply new technologies to flight processor and computational architectures. This presentation will provide an overview of key software-related projects, software methodologies and tools, and technology pursuits of interest to the JSC Spacecraft Software Engineering Branch.

  20. Knowledge-based processing for aircraft flight control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Painter, John H.; Glass, Emily; Economides, Gregory; Russell, Paul

    1994-01-01

    This Contractor Report documents research in Intelligent Control using knowledge-based processing in a manner dual to methods found in the classic stochastic decision, estimation, and control discipline. Such knowledge-based control has also been called Declarative, and Hybid. Software architectures were sought, employing the parallelism inherent in modern object-oriented modeling and programming. The viewpoint adopted was that Intelligent Control employs a class of domain-specific software architectures having features common over a broad variety of implementations, such as management of aircraft flight, power distribution, etc. As much attention was paid to software engineering issues as to artificial intelligence and control issues. This research considered that particular processing methods from the stochastic and knowledge-based worlds are duals, that is, similar in a broad context. They provide architectural design concepts which serve as bridges between the disparate disciplines of decision, estimation, control, and artificial intelligence. This research was applied to the control of a subsonic transport aircraft in the airport terminal area.

  1. Molecular modeling of lipase binding to a substrate-water interface.

    PubMed

    Gruber, Christian C; Pleiss, Jürgen

    2012-01-01

    Interactions of lipases with hydrophobic substrate-water interfaces are of great interest to design improved lipase variants and engineer reaction conditions. This chapter describes the necessary steps to carry out molecular dynamics simulations of Candida antarctica lipase B at tributyrin-water interface using the GROMACS simulation software. Special attention is drawn to the preparation of the protein and the substrate-water interface and to the analysis of the obtained trajectory.

  2. Microcomputer Software Engineering, Documentation and Evaluation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-03-31

    local dealer or call for complete specificalons. eAUTOMATIC INC To proceed step by step, we need toUe G T A TOMA IC NC. know where we are going and a...MICROPROCESSOR normal sequence that should be DIRECT MEMORY ACCESS preserved in the documentation. For INTRODUCTION 2.2 DRIVE CONTROLS example, you...with linear, sequential logic (like a computer). It is also the verbal side and controls language. The right side specializes in images, music, pictures

  3. Contracting for Weapon System Software: The Pricing Arrangement.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-04-01

    considerations. 4E-rn iricacts the suitability of a particular contract type. i r-rment Process -" qhi,’ specialized and complex contract law regulates bo,ernment... Contract Law , and professional journals tnat have StLit.> C’? ar lyses of the federal procurement system and its application. Sources for the acquisition...Documents .14. U.S. Air Force Systems Command. Government Contract Law for engineers (3rd Edition). Los Angeles AFS, California: Space and Missile

  4. Implementations of the CC'01 Human-Computer Interaction Guidelines Using Bloom's Taxonomy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manaris, Bill; Wainer, Michael; Kirkpatrick, Arthur E.; Stalvey, RoxAnn H.; Shannon, Christine; Leventhal, Laura; Barnes, Julie; Wright, John; Schafer, J. Ben; Sanders, Dean

    2007-01-01

    In today's technology-laden society human-computer interaction (HCI) is an important knowledge area for computer scientists and software engineers. This paper surveys existing approaches to incorporate HCI into computer science (CS) and such related issues as the perceived gap between the interests of the HCI community and the needs of CS…

  5. Faster than a Speeding Bullet (or, How To Keep up with the Internet).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fingerman, Susan

    1999-01-01

    Discusses how librarians can keep up with Internet developments. Advice includes: step back and think; recognize that it is a hopeless task; stay focused; and "stand on the shoulders of others." World Wide Web sites that provide access to information on specific subjects, hardware/software, Internet issues, and search engines are cited,…

  6. The HACMS program: using formal methods to eliminate exploitable bugs

    PubMed Central

    Launchbury, John; Richards, Raymond

    2017-01-01

    For decades, formal methods have offered the promise of verified software that does not have exploitable bugs. Until recently, however, it has not been possible to verify software of sufficient complexity to be useful. Recently, that situation has changed. SeL4 is an open-source operating system microkernel efficient enough to be used in a wide range of practical applications. Its designers proved it to be fully functionally correct, ensuring the absence of buffer overflows, null pointer exceptions, use-after-free errors, etc., and guaranteeing integrity and confidentiality. The CompCert Verifying C Compiler maps source C programs to provably equivalent assembly language, ensuring the absence of exploitable bugs in the compiler. A number of factors have enabled this revolution, including faster processors, increased automation, more extensive infrastructure, specialized logics and the decision to co-develop code and correctness proofs rather than verify existing artefacts. In this paper, we explore the promise and limitations of current formal-methods techniques. We discuss these issues in the context of DARPA’s HACMS program, which had as its goal the creation of high-assurance software for vehicles, including quadcopters, helicopters and automobiles. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Verified trustworthy software systems’. PMID:28871050

  7. The HACMS program: using formal methods to eliminate exploitable bugs.

    PubMed

    Fisher, Kathleen; Launchbury, John; Richards, Raymond

    2017-10-13

    For decades, formal methods have offered the promise of verified software that does not have exploitable bugs. Until recently, however, it has not been possible to verify software of sufficient complexity to be useful. Recently, that situation has changed. SeL4 is an open-source operating system microkernel efficient enough to be used in a wide range of practical applications. Its designers proved it to be fully functionally correct, ensuring the absence of buffer overflows, null pointer exceptions, use-after-free errors, etc., and guaranteeing integrity and confidentiality. The CompCert Verifying C Compiler maps source C programs to provably equivalent assembly language, ensuring the absence of exploitable bugs in the compiler. A number of factors have enabled this revolution, including faster processors, increased automation, more extensive infrastructure, specialized logics and the decision to co-develop code and correctness proofs rather than verify existing artefacts. In this paper, we explore the promise and limitations of current formal-methods techniques. We discuss these issues in the context of DARPA's HACMS program, which had as its goal the creation of high-assurance software for vehicles, including quadcopters, helicopters and automobiles.This article is part of the themed issue 'Verified trustworthy software systems'. © 2017 The Authors.

  8. Software engineering from a Langley perspective

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Voigt, Susan

    1994-01-01

    A brief introduction to software engineering is presented. The talk is divided into four sections beginning with the question 'What is software engineering', followed by a brief history of the progression of software engineering at the Langley Research Center in the context of an expanding computing environment. Several basic concepts and terms are introduced, including software development life cycles and maturity levels. Finally, comments are offered on what software engineering means for the Langley Research Center and where to find more information on the subject.

  9. The need for scientific software engineering in the pharmaceutical industry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luty, Brock; Rose, Peter W.

    2017-03-01

    Scientific software engineering is a distinct discipline from both computational chemistry project support and research informatics. A scientific software engineer not only has a deep understanding of the science of drug discovery but also the desire, skills and time to apply good software engineering practices. A good team of scientific software engineers can create a software foundation that is maintainable, validated and robust. If done correctly, this foundation enable the organization to investigate new and novel computational ideas with a very high level of efficiency.

  10. The need for scientific software engineering in the pharmaceutical industry.

    PubMed

    Luty, Brock; Rose, Peter W

    2017-03-01

    Scientific software engineering is a distinct discipline from both computational chemistry project support and research informatics. A scientific software engineer not only has a deep understanding of the science of drug discovery but also the desire, skills and time to apply good software engineering practices. A good team of scientific software engineers can create a software foundation that is maintainable, validated and robust. If done correctly, this foundation enable the organization to investigate new and novel computational ideas with a very high level of efficiency.

  11. Experimentation in software engineering

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Basili, V. R.; Selby, R. W.; Hutchens, D. H.

    1986-01-01

    Experimentation in software engineering supports the advancement of the field through an iterative learning process. In this paper, a framework for analyzing most of the experimental work performed in software engineering over the past several years is presented. A variety of experiments in the framework is described and their contribution to the software engineering discipline is discussed. Some useful recommendations for the application of the experimental process in software engineering are included.

  12. SAGA: A project to automate the management of software production systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Campbell, Roy H.; Beckman-Davies, C. S.; Benzinger, L.; Beshers, G.; Laliberte, D.; Render, H.; Sum, R.; Smith, W.; Terwilliger, R.

    1986-01-01

    Research into software development is required to reduce its production cost and to improve its quality. Modern software systems, such as the embedded software required for NASA's space station initiative, stretch current software engineering techniques. The requirements to build large, reliable, and maintainable software systems increases with time. Much theoretical and practical research is in progress to improve software engineering techniques. One such technique is to build a software system or environment which directly supports the software engineering process, i.e., the SAGA project, comprising the research necessary to design and build a software development which automates the software engineering process. Progress under SAGA is described.

  13. Artificial Life Art, Creativity, and Techno-hybridization (editor's introduction).

    PubMed

    Dorin, Alan

    2015-01-01

    Artists and engineers have devised lifelike technology for millennia. Their ingenious devices have often prompted inquiry into our preferences, prejudices, and beliefs about living systems, especially regarding their origins, status, constitution, and behavior. A recurring fabrication technique is shared across artificial life art, science, and engineering. This involves aggregating representations or re-creations of familiar biological parts-techno-hybridization-but the motives of practitioners may differ markedly. This article, and the special issue it introduces, explores how ground familiar to contemporary artificial life science and engineering has been assessed and interpreted in parallel by (a) artists and (b) theorists studying creativity explicitly. This activity offers thoughtful, alternative perspectives on artificial life science and engineering, highlighting and sometimes undermining the fields' underlying assumptions, or exposing avenues that are yet to be explored outside of art. Additionally, art has the potential to engage the general public, supporting and exploring the findings of scientific research and engineering. This adds considerably to the maturity of a culture tackling the issues the discipline of artificial life raises.

  14. Calculus domains modelled using an original bool algebra based on polygons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oanta, E.; Panait, C.; Raicu, A.; Barhalescu, M.; Axinte, T.

    2016-08-01

    Analytical and numerical computer based models require analytical definitions of the calculus domains. The paper presents a method to model a calculus domain based on a bool algebra which uses solid and hollow polygons. The general calculus relations of the geometrical characteristics that are widely used in mechanical engineering are tested using several shapes of the calculus domain in order to draw conclusions regarding the most effective methods to discretize the domain. The paper also tests the results of several CAD commercial software applications which are able to compute the geometrical characteristics, being drawn interesting conclusions. The tests were also targeting the accuracy of the results vs. the number of nodes on the curved boundary of the cross section. The study required the development of an original software consisting of more than 1700 computer code lines. In comparison with other calculus methods, the discretization using convex polygons is a simpler approach. Moreover, this method doesn't lead to large numbers as the spline approximation did, in that case being required special software packages in order to offer multiple, arbitrary precision. The knowledge resulted from this study may be used to develop complex computer based models in engineering.

  15. DYNA3D Code Practices and Developments

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lin, L.; Zywicz, E.; Raboin, P.

    2000-04-21

    DYNA3D is an explicit, finite element code developed to solve high rate dynamic simulations for problems of interest to the engineering mechanics community. The DYNA3D code has been under continuous development since 1976[1] by the Methods Development Group in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The pace of code development activities has substantially increased in the past five years, growing from one to between four and six code developers. This has necessitated the use of software tools such as CVS (Concurrent Versions System) to help manage multiple version updates. While on-line documentation with an Adobe PDF manualmore » helps to communicate software developments, periodically a summary document describing recent changes and improvements in DYNA3D software is needed. The first part of this report describes issues surrounding software versions and source control. The remainder of this report details the major capability improvements since the last publicly released version of DYNA3D in 1996. Not included here are the many hundreds of bug corrections and minor enhancements, nor the development in DYNA3D between the manual release in 1993[2] and the public code release in 1996.« less

  16. Using hybrid expert system approaches for engineering applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Allen, R. H.; Boarnet, M. G.; Culbert, C. J.; Savely, R. T.

    1987-01-01

    In this paper, the use of hybrid expert system shells and hybrid (i.e., algorithmic and heuristic) approaches for solving engineering problems is reported. Aspects of various engineering problem domains are reviewed for a number of examples with specific applications made to recently developed prototype expert systems. Based on this prototyping experience, critical evaluations of and comparisons between commercially available tools, and some research tools, in the United States and Australia, and their underlying problem-solving paradigms are made. Characteristics of the implementation tool and the engineering domain are compared and practical software engineering issues are discussed with respect to hybrid tools and approaches. Finally, guidelines are offered with the hope that expert system development will be less time consuming, more effective, and more cost-effective than it has been in the past.

  17. Supporting Data for FY 1990/1991 Biennial Budget: Budget Estimates Descriptive Summaries Submitted to Congress January 1989, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Navy

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-01-01

    necessitate de -emphasizing network interface demonstrations in favor of real-time network interface technologies and slip ICEX demonstration of...Aperture Radar target classi- fication and Fault Diagnosis issues. o Demonstrate a complete, transportable , fully functional software engineering...BLK 3 MS 3B 109D MS 3A Blk 3 MS 2 TASM Milestones MS 3A 109D IOC Flex Upgrade MS 3B SW-3 MS 3B Blk 3 IOC Blk 3 Engineering Eng Dev Eng Dev DES Rev

  18. Space Station: NASA's software development approach increases safety and cost risks. Report to the Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    1992-06-01

    The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology asked NASA to study software development issues for the space station. How well NASA has implemented key software engineering practices for the station was asked. Specifically, the objectives were to determine: (1) if independent verification and validation techniques are being used to ensure that critical software meets specified requirements and functions; (2) if NASA has incorporated software risk management techniques into program; (3) whether standards are in place that will prescribe a disciplined, uniform approach to software development; and (4) if software support tools will help, as intended, to maximize efficiency in developing and maintaining the software. To meet the objectives, NASA proceeded: (1) reviewing and analyzing software development objectives and strategies contained in NASA conference publications; (2) reviewing and analyzing NASA, other government, and industry guidelines for establishing good software development practices; (3) reviewing and analyzing technical proposals and contracts; (4) reviewing and analyzing software management plans, risk management plans, and program requirements; (4) reviewing and analyzing reports prepared by NASA and contractor officials that identified key issues and challenges facing the program; (5) obtaining expert opinions on what constitutes appropriate independent V-and-V and software risk management activities; (6) interviewing program officials at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC; at the Space Station Program Office in Reston, Virginia; and at the three work package centers; Johnson in Houston, Texas; Marshall in Huntsville, Alabama; and Lewis in Cleveland, Ohio; and (7) interviewing contractor officials doing work for NASA at Johnson and Marshall. The audit work was performed in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards, between April 1991 and May 1992.

  19. Advances in refrigeration and heat transfer engineering

    DOE PAGES

    Bansal, Pradeep; Cremaschi, Prof. Lorenzo

    2015-05-13

    This special edition of Science and Technology for the Built Environment (STBE) presents selected high quality papers that were presented at the 15th International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference held at Purdue University during July 14-17 2014. All papers went through the additional review before being finally accepted for publication in this special issue of Science and Technology and the Built Environment. Altogether 20 papers made to this special issue that cover a wide range of topics, including advancements in alternative refrigerants, heat exchangers/heat transfer, nano-fluids, systems design and optimization and modeling approaches. Although CO 2 may perhaps have beenmore » the most researched and popular refrigerant in the past decade, R32 is being seriously considered lately as an alternative and environmentally friendly refrigerant for small systems due to its low Global Warming Potential (GWP).« less

  20. Advances in refrigeration and heat transfer engineering

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bansal, Pradeep; Cremaschi, Prof. Lorenzo

    This special edition of Science and Technology for the Built Environment (STBE) presents selected high quality papers that were presented at the 15th International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference held at Purdue University during July 14-17 2014. All papers went through the additional review before being finally accepted for publication in this special issue of Science and Technology and the Built Environment. Altogether 20 papers made to this special issue that cover a wide range of topics, including advancements in alternative refrigerants, heat exchangers/heat transfer, nano-fluids, systems design and optimization and modeling approaches. Although CO 2 may perhaps have beenmore » the most researched and popular refrigerant in the past decade, R32 is being seriously considered lately as an alternative and environmentally friendly refrigerant for small systems due to its low Global Warming Potential (GWP).« less

  1. Ethical issues in engineering models: an operations researcher's reflections.

    PubMed

    Kleijnen, J

    2011-09-01

    This article starts with an overview of the author's personal involvement--as an Operations Research consultant--in several engineering case-studies that may raise ethical questions; e.g., case-studies on nuclear waste, water management, sustainable ecology, military tactics, and animal welfare. All these case studies employ computer simulation models. In general, models are meant to solve practical problems, which may have ethical implications for the various stakeholders; namely, the modelers, the clients, and the public at large. The article further presents an overview of codes of ethics in a variety of disciples. It discusses the role of mathematical models, focusing on the validation of these models' assumptions. Documentation of these model assumptions needs special attention. Some ethical norms and values may be quantified through the model's multiple performance measures, which might be optimized. The uncertainty about the validity of the model leads to risk or uncertainty analysis and to a search for robust models. Ethical questions may be pressing in military models, including war games. However, computer games and the related experimental economics may also provide a special tool to study ethical issues. Finally, the article briefly discusses whistleblowing. Its many references to publications and websites enable further study of ethical issues in modeling.

  2. System Engineering Issues for Avionics Survival in the Space Environment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pavelitz, Steven

    1999-01-01

    This paper examines how the system engineering process influences the design of a spacecraft's avionics by considering the space environment. Avionics are susceptible to the thermal, radiation, plasma, and meteoroids/orbital debris environments. The environment definitions for various spacecraft mission orbits (LEO/low inclination, LEO/Polar, MEO, HEO, GTO, GEO and High ApogeeElliptical) are discussed. NASA models and commercial software used for environment analysis are reviewed. Applicability of technical references, such as NASA TM-4527 "Natural Orbital Environment Guidelines for Use in Aerospace Vehicle Development" is discussed. System engineering references, such as the MSFC System Engineering Handbook, are reviewed to determine how the environments are accounted for in the system engineering process. Tools and databases to assist the system engineer and avionics designer in addressing space environment effects on avionics are described and usefulness assessed.

  3. Proceedings of Tenth Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1985-01-01

    Papers are presented on the following topics: measurement of software technology, recent studies of the Software Engineering Lab, software management tools, expert systems, error seeding as a program validation technique, software quality assurance, software engineering environments (including knowledge-based environments), the Distributed Computing Design System, and various Ada experiments.

  4. Annotated bibliography of software engineering laboratory literature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Buhler, Melanie; Valett, Jon

    1989-01-01

    An annotated bibliography is presented of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory. The bibliography was updated and reorganized substantially since the original version (SEL-82-006, November 1982). All materials were grouped into eight general subject areas for easy reference: (1) The Software Engineering Laboratory; (2) The Software Engineering Laboratory: Software Development Documents; (3) Software Tools; (4) Software Models; (5) Software Measurement; (6) Technology Evaluations; (7) Ada Technology; and (8) Data Collection. Subject and author indexes further classify these documents by specific topic and individual author.

  5. 76 FR 50812 - Seventeenth Meeting: RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-16

    ... Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71 meeting: Software... of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems Agenda...

  6. 76 FR 16469 - Sixteenth Meeting: RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-23

    ... Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71 meeting: Software... of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems Agenda...

  7. Software Engineering Education Directory

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-04-01

    and Engineering (CMSC 735) Codes: GPEV2 * Textiooks: IEEE Tutoria on Models and Metrics for Software Management and Engameeing by Basi, Victor R...Software Engineering (Comp 227) Codes: GPRY5 Textbooks: IEEE Tutoria on Software Design Techniques by Freeman, Peter and Wasserman, Anthony 1. Software

  8. The research and practice of spacecraft software engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Chengxin; Wang, Jinghua; Xu, Xiaoguang

    2017-06-01

    In order to ensure the safety and reliability of spacecraft software products, it is necessary to execute engineering management. Firstly, the paper introduces the problems of unsystematic planning, uncertain classified management and uncontinuous improved mechanism in domestic and foreign spacecraft software engineering management. Then, it proposes a solution for software engineering management based on system-integrated ideology in the perspective of spacecraft system. Finally, a application result of spacecraft is given as an example. The research can provides a reference for executing spacecraft software engineering management and improving software product quality.

  9. Role of Friction in Materials Selection for Automotive Applications

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Blau, Peter Julian

    This is an invited article for a special issue of the ASM International monthly magazine that concerns "Automotive Materials and Applications." The article itself overviews frictional considerations in material selection for automobiles. It discusses implications for energy efficiency (engine friction) and safety (brakes) among other topics.

  10. Practical Guide to HVAC for Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    ASHRAE Journal, 1998

    1998-01-01

    Features six articles on heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems for schools. Examines how to avoid air temperature complaints when choosing a system; special system features; engineers, indoor air quality, and schools; mechanical systems noise in classrooms; operation and management issues related to design; and details on bids and…

  11. Bringing Legacy Visualization Software to Modern Computing Devices via Application Streaming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fisher, Ward

    2014-05-01

    Planning software compatibility across forthcoming generations of computing platforms is a problem commonly encountered in software engineering and development. While this problem can affect any class of software, data analysis and visualization programs are particularly vulnerable. This is due in part to their inherent dependency on specialized hardware and computing environments. A number of strategies and tools have been designed to aid software engineers with this task. While generally embraced by developers at 'traditional' software companies, these methodologies are often dismissed by the scientific software community as unwieldy, inefficient and unnecessary. As a result, many important and storied scientific software packages can struggle to adapt to a new computing environment; for example, one in which much work is carried out on sub-laptop devices (such as tablets and smartphones). Rewriting these packages for a new platform often requires significant investment in terms of development time and developer expertise. In many cases, porting older software to modern devices is neither practical nor possible. As a result, replacement software must be developed from scratch, wasting resources better spent on other projects. Enabled largely by the rapid rise and adoption of cloud computing platforms, 'Application Streaming' technologies allow legacy visualization and analysis software to be operated wholly from a client device (be it laptop, tablet or smartphone) while retaining full functionality and interactivity. It mitigates much of the developer effort required by other more traditional methods while simultaneously reducing the time it takes to bring the software to a new platform. This work will provide an overview of Application Streaming and how it compares against other technologies which allow scientific visualization software to be executed from a remote computer. We will discuss the functionality and limitations of existing application streaming frameworks and how a developer might prepare their software for application streaming. We will also examine the secondary benefits realized by moving legacy software to the cloud. Finally, we will examine the process by which a legacy Java application, the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), is to be adapted for tablet computing via Application Streaming.

  12. Data systems and computer science: Software Engineering Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zygielbaum, Arthur I.

    1991-01-01

    An external review of the Integrated Technology Plan for the Civil Space Program is presented. This review is specifically concerned with the Software Engineering Program. The goals of the Software Engineering Program are as follows: (1) improve NASA's ability to manage development, operation, and maintenance of complex software systems; (2) decrease NASA's cost and risk in engineering complex software systems; and (3) provide technology to assure safety and reliability of software in mission critical applications.

  13. Multi-version software reliability through fault-avoidance and fault-tolerance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vouk, Mladen A.; Mcallister, David F.

    1989-01-01

    A number of experimental and theoretical issues associated with the practical use of multi-version software to provide run-time tolerance to software faults were investigated. A specialized tool was developed and evaluated for measuring testing coverage for a variety of metrics. The tool was used to collect information on the relationships between software faults and coverage provided by the testing process as measured by different metrics (including data flow metrics). Considerable correlation was found between coverage provided by some higher metrics and the elimination of faults in the code. Back-to-back testing was continued as an efficient mechanism for removal of un-correlated faults, and common-cause faults of variable span. Software reliability estimation methods was also continued based on non-random sampling, and the relationship between software reliability and code coverage provided through testing. New fault tolerance models were formulated. Simulation studies of the Acceptance Voting and Multi-stage Voting algorithms were finished and it was found that these two schemes for software fault tolerance are superior in many respects to some commonly used schemes. Particularly encouraging are the safety properties of the Acceptance testing scheme.

  14. Cultural and Technological Issues and Solutions for Geodynamics Software Citation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heien, E. M.; Hwang, L.; Fish, A. E.; Smith, M.; Dumit, J.; Kellogg, L. H.

    2014-12-01

    Computational software and custom-written codes play a key role in scientific research and teaching, providing tools to perform data analysis and forward modeling through numerical computation. However, development of these codes is often hampered by the fact that there is no well-defined way for the authors to receive credit or professional recognition for their work through the standard methods of scientific publication and subsequent citation of the work. This in turn may discourage researchers from publishing their codes or making them easier for other scientists to use. We investigate the issues involved in citing software in a scientific context, and introduce features that should be components of a citation infrastructure, particularly oriented towards the codes and scientific culture in the area of geodynamics research. The codes used in geodynamics are primarily specialized numerical modeling codes for continuum mechanics problems; they may be developed by individual researchers, teams of researchers, geophysicists in collaboration with computational scientists and applied mathematicians, or by coordinated community efforts such as the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics. Some but not all geodynamics codes are open-source. These characteristics are common to many areas of geophysical software development and use. We provide background on the problem of software citation and discuss some of the barriers preventing adoption of such citations, including social/cultural barriers, insufficient technological support infrastructure, and an overall lack of agreement about what a software citation should consist of. We suggest solutions in an initial effort to create a system to support citation of software and promotion of scientific software development.

  15. CASE tools and UML: state of the ART.

    PubMed

    Agarwal, S

    2001-05-01

    With increasing need for automated tools to assist complex systems development, software design methods are becoming popular. This article analyzes the state of art in computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools and unified modeling language (UML), focusing on their evolution, merits, and industry usage. It identifies managerial issues for the tools' adoption and recommends an action plan to select and implement them. While CASE and UML offer inherent advantages like cheaper, shorter, and efficient development cycles, they suffer from poor user satisfaction. The critical success factors for their implementation include, among others, management and staff commitment, proper corporate infrastructure, and user training.

  16. Modeling software systems by domains

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dippolito, Richard; Lee, Kenneth

    1992-01-01

    The Software Architectures Engineering (SAE) Project at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) has developed engineering modeling techniques that both reduce the complexity of software for domain-specific computer systems and result in systems that are easier to build and maintain. These techniques allow maximum freedom for system developers to apply their domain expertise to software. We have applied these techniques to several types of applications, including training simulators operating in real time, engineering simulators operating in non-real time, and real-time embedded computer systems. Our modeling techniques result in software that mirrors both the complexity of the application and the domain knowledge requirements. We submit that the proper measure of software complexity reflects neither the number of software component units nor the code count, but the locus of and amount of domain knowledge. As a result of using these techniques, domain knowledge is isolated by fields of engineering expertise and removed from the concern of the software engineer. In this paper, we will describe kinds of domain expertise, describe engineering by domains, and provide relevant examples of software developed for simulator applications using the techniques.

  17. Software Engineering Support of the Third Round of Scientific Grand Challenge Investigations: An Earth Modeling System Software Framework Strawman Design that Integrates Cactus and UCLA/UCB Distributed Data Broker

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Talbot, Bryan; Zhou, Shu-Jia; Higgins, Glenn

    2002-01-01

    One of the most significant challenges in large-scale climate modeling, as well as in high-performance computing in other scientific fields, is that of effectively integrating many software models from multiple contributors. A software framework facilitates the integration task. both in the development and runtime stages of the simulation. Effective software frameworks reduce the programming burden for the investigators, freeing them to focus more on the science and less on the parallel communication implementation, while maintaining high performance across numerous supercomputer and workstation architectures. This document proposes a strawman framework design for the climate community based on the integration of Cactus, from the relativistic physics community, and UCLA/UCB Distributed Data Broker (DDB) from the climate community. This design is the result of an extensive survey of climate models and frameworks in the climate community as well as frameworks from many other scientific communities. The design addresses fundamental development and runtime needs using Cactus, a framework with interfaces for FORTRAN and C-based languages, and high-performance model communication needs using DDB. This document also specifically explores object-oriented design issues in the context of climate modeling as well as climate modeling issues in terms of object-oriented design.

  18. Modular Rocket Engine Control Software (MRECS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tarrant, C.; Crook, J.

    1998-01-01

    The Modular Rocket Engine Control Software (MRECS) Program is a technology demonstration effort designed to advance the state-of-the-art in launch vehicle propulsion systems. Its emphasis is on developing and demonstrating a modular software architecture for advanced engine control systems that will result in lower software maintenance (operations) costs. It effectively accommodates software requirement changes that occur due to hardware technology upgrades and engine development testing. Ground rules directed by MSFC were to optimize modularity and implement the software in the Ada programming language. MRECS system software and the software development environment utilize Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products. This paper presents the objectives, benefits, and status of the program. The software architecture, design, and development environment are described. MRECS tasks are defined and timing relationships given. Major accomplishments are listed. MRECS offers benefits to a wide variety of advanced technology programs in the areas of modular software architecture, reuse software, and reduced software reverification time related to software changes. MRECS was recently modified to support a Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) hot-fire test. Cold Flow and Flight Readiness Testing were completed before the test was cancelled. Currently, the program is focused on supporting NASA MSFC in accomplishing development testing of the Fastrac Engine, part of NASA's Low Cost Technologies (LCT) Program. MRECS will be used for all engine development testing.

  19. Implementation Guidance for the Accelerated Improvement Method (AIM). Software Engineering Process Management: Special Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-12-01

    PSP and TSP books by Watts Humphrey or in the TSP-MT (multi-team) process extension. A few additional items should be created, e.g., see OPD-2...Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 2000. www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/00tr023.cfm [ Humphrey 2005] Humphrey , Watts S . PSP : A Self... Humphrey 2006] Humphrey , Watts S . TSP: Coaching Development Teams. Addison Wesley, 2006 (ISBN 978- 0201731132). www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/

  20. Teaching Agile Software Engineering Using Problem-Based Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    El-Khalili, Nuha H.

    2013-01-01

    Many studies have reported the utilization of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in teaching Software Engineering courses. However, these studies have different views of the effectiveness of PBL. This paper presents the design of an Advanced Software Engineering course for undergraduate Software Engineering students that uses PBL to teach them Agile…

  1. Software Engineering Frameworks: Textbooks vs. Student Perceptions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McMaster, Kirby; Hadfield, Steven; Wolthuis, Stuart; Sambasivam, Samuel

    2012-01-01

    This research examines the frameworks used by Computer Science and Information Systems students at the conclusion of their first semester of study of Software Engineering. A questionnaire listing 64 Software Engineering concepts was given to students upon completion of their first Software Engineering course. This survey was given to samples of…

  2. Developing Data System Engineers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Behnke, J.; Byrnes, J. B.; Kobler, B.

    2011-12-01

    In the early days of general computer systems for science data processing, staff members working on NASA's data systems would most often be hired as mathematicians. Computer engineering was very often filled by those with electrical engineering degrees. Today, the Goddard Space Flight Center has special position descriptions for data scientists or as they are more commonly called: data systems engineers. These staff members are required to have very diverse skills, hence the need for a generalized position description. There is always a need for data systems engineers to develop, maintain and operate the complex data systems for Earth and space science missions. Today's data systems engineers however are not just mathematicians, they are computer programmers, GIS experts, software engineers, visualization experts, etc... They represent many different degree fields. To put together distributed systems like the NASA Earth Observing Data and Information System (EOSDIS), staff are required from many different fields. Sometimes, the skilled professional is not available and must be developed in-house. This paper will address the various skills and jobs for data systems engineers at NASA. Further it explores how to develop staff to become data scientists.

  3. Teaching room acoustics as a product sound quality issue

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kleiner, Mendel; Vastfjall, Daniel

    2003-04-01

    The department of Applied Acoustics teaches engineering and architect students at Chalmers University of Technology. The teaching of room acoustics to architectural students has been under constant development under several years and is now based on the study of room acoustics as a product sound quality issue. Various listening sessions using binaural sound recording and reproduction is used to focus students' learning on simple, easy to remember concepts. Computer modeling using ray tracing software and auralization is also used extensively as a tool to demonstrate concepts in addition to other software for simple sound generation and manipulation. Sound in general is the focus of an interdisciplinary course for students from Chalmers as well as from a school of art, a school of design, and a school of music which offers particular challenges and which is almost all listening based.

  4. Video-Game-Like Engine for Depicting Spacecraft Trajectories

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Upchurch, Paul R.

    2009-01-01

    GoView is a video-game-like software engine, written in the C and C++ computing languages, that enables real-time, three-dimensional (3D)-appearing visual representation of spacecraft and trajectories (1) from any perspective; (2) at any spatial scale from spacecraft to Solar-system dimensions; (3) in user-selectable time scales; (4) in the past, present, and/or future; (5) with varying speeds; and (6) forward or backward in time. GoView constructs an interactive 3D world by use of spacecraft-mission data from pre-existing engineering software tools. GoView can also be used to produce distributable application programs for depicting NASA orbital missions on personal computers running the Windows XP, Mac OsX, and Linux operating systems. GoView enables seamless rendering of Cartesian coordinate spaces with programmable graphics hardware, whereas prior programs for depicting spacecraft trajectories variously require non-Cartesian coordinates and/or are not compatible with programmable hardware. GoView incorporates an algorithm for nonlinear interpolation between arbitrary reference frames, whereas the prior programs are restricted to special classes of inertial and non-inertial reference frames. Finally, whereas the prior programs present complex user interfaces requiring hours of training, the GoView interface provides guidance, enabling use without any training.

  5. Avoiding Human Error in Mission Operations: Cassini Flight Experience

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burk, Thomas A.

    2012-01-01

    Operating spacecraft is a never-ending challenge and the risk of human error is ever- present. Many missions have been significantly affected by human error on the part of ground controllers. The Cassini mission at Saturn has not been immune to human error, but Cassini operations engineers use tools and follow processes that find and correct most human errors before they reach the spacecraft. What is needed are skilled engineers with good technical knowledge, good interpersonal communications, quality ground software, regular peer reviews, up-to-date procedures, as well as careful attention to detail and the discipline to test and verify all commands that will be sent to the spacecraft. Two areas of special concern are changes to flight software and response to in-flight anomalies. The Cassini team has a lot of practical experience in all these areas and they have found that well-trained engineers with good tools who follow clear procedures can catch most errors before they get into command sequences to be sent to the spacecraft. Finally, having a robust and fault-tolerant spacecraft that allows ground controllers excellent visibility of its condition is the most important way to ensure human error does not compromise the mission.

  6. Mitigating Climate Change at the Carbon Water Nexus: A Call to Action for the Environmental Engineering Community

    PubMed Central

    Clarens, Andres F.; Peters, Catherine A.

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Environmental engineers have played a critical role in improving human and ecosystem health over the past several decades. These contributions have focused on providing clean water and air as well as managing waste streams and remediating polluted sites. As environmental problems have become more global in scale and more deeply entrenched in sociotechnical systems, the discipline of environmental engineering must grow to be ready to respond to the challenges of the coming decades. Here we make the case that environmental engineers should play a leadership role in the development of climate change mitigation technologies at the carbon-water nexus (CWN). Climate change, driven largely by unfettered emissions of fossil carbon into the atmosphere, is a far-reaching and enormously complex environmental risk with the potential to negatively affect food security, human health, infrastructure, and other systems. Solving this problem will require a massive mobilization of existing and innovative new technology. The environmental engineering community is uniquely positioned to do pioneering work at the CWN using a skillset that has been honed, solving related problems. The focus of this special issue, on “The science and innovation of emerging subsurface energy technologies,” provides one example domain within which environmental engineers and related disciplines are beginning to make important contributions at the CWN. In this article, we define the CWN and describe how environmental engineers can bring their considerable expertise to bear in this area. Then we review some of the topics that appear in this special issue, for example, mitigating the impacts of hydraulic fracturing and geologic carbon storage, and we provide perspective on emergent research directions, for example, enhanced geothermal energy, energy storage in sedimentary formations, and others. PMID:28031695

  7. Mitigating Climate Change at the Carbon Water Nexus: A Call to Action for the Environmental Engineering Community.

    PubMed

    Clarens, Andres F; Peters, Catherine A

    2016-10-01

    Environmental engineers have played a critical role in improving human and ecosystem health over the past several decades. These contributions have focused on providing clean water and air as well as managing waste streams and remediating polluted sites. As environmental problems have become more global in scale and more deeply entrenched in sociotechnical systems, the discipline of environmental engineering must grow to be ready to respond to the challenges of the coming decades. Here we make the case that environmental engineers should play a leadership role in the development of climate change mitigation technologies at the carbon-water nexus (CWN). Climate change, driven largely by unfettered emissions of fossil carbon into the atmosphere, is a far-reaching and enormously complex environmental risk with the potential to negatively affect food security, human health, infrastructure, and other systems. Solving this problem will require a massive mobilization of existing and innovative new technology. The environmental engineering community is uniquely positioned to do pioneering work at the CWN using a skillset that has been honed, solving related problems. The focus of this special issue, on "The science and innovation of emerging subsurface energy technologies," provides one example domain within which environmental engineers and related disciplines are beginning to make important contributions at the CWN. In this article, we define the CWN and describe how environmental engineers can bring their considerable expertise to bear in this area. Then we review some of the topics that appear in this special issue, for example, mitigating the impacts of hydraulic fracturing and geologic carbon storage, and we provide perspective on emergent research directions, for example, enhanced geothermal energy, energy storage in sedimentary formations, and others.

  8. Research and Technology Report. Goddard Space Flight Center

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Soffen, Gerald (Editor); Truszkowski, Walter (Editor); Ottenstein, Howard (Editor); Frost, Kenneth (Editor); Maran, Stephen (Editor); Walter, Lou (Editor); Brown, Mitch (Editor)

    1996-01-01

    This issue of Goddard Space Flight Center's annual report highlights the importance of mission operations and data systems covering mission planning and operations; TDRSS, positioning systems, and orbit determination; ground system and networks, hardware and software; data processing and analysis; and World Wide Web use. The report also includes flight projects, space sciences, Earth system science, and engineering and materials.

  9. 76 FR 14797 - Airworthiness Directives; Rolls-Royce plc (RR) RB211-Trent 900 Series Turbofan Engines

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-18

    .... Relevant Service Information Rolls-Royce plc has issued Trent 900 Series Propulsion Systems Alert Service... incorporating software 10.6 can be found in Rolls-Royce plc Trent 900 Series Propulsion Systems Alert Service... Propulsion Systems Alert SB No. RB.211-73-AG639, dated December 3, 2010, for related information. (i) Contact...

  10. Face-to-Face, Hybrid, or Online?: Issues Faculty Face Redesigning an Introductory Engineering Graphics Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Branoff, Theodore; Wiebe, Eric

    2009-01-01

    A hybrid introductory course was developed and piloted during the Fall 2007 semester in three laptop sections (i.e., all of the students owned and brought laptops to class each day). The online portion of the course included voiced-over content presentations, software demonstrations, and sketching examples as well as online assessments. Sections…

  11. Specialized Environmental Chamber Test Complex: User Test Planning Guide

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Montz, Michael E.

    2011-01-01

    Test process, milestones and inputs are unknowns to first-time users of the Specialized Environmental Test Complex. The User Test Planning Guide aids in establishing expectations for both NASA and non-NASA facility customers. The potential audience for this guide includes both internal and commercial spaceflight hardware/software developers. It is intended to assist their test engineering personnel in test planning and execution. Material covered includes a roadmap of the test process, roles and responsibilities of facility and user, major milestones, facility capabilities, and inputs required by the facility. Samples of deliverables, test article interfaces, and inputs necessary to define test scope, cost, and schedule are included as an appendix to the guide.

  12. The development of a specialized processor for a space-based multispectral earth imager

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khedr, Mostafa E.

    2008-10-01

    This work was done in the Department of Computer Engineering, Lvov Polytechnic National University, Lvov, Ukraine, as a thesis entitled "Space Imager Computer System for Raw Video Data Processing" [1]. This work describes the synthesis and practical implementation of a specialized computer system for raw data control and processing onboard a satellite MultiSpectral earth imager. This computer system is intended for satellites with resolution in the range of one meter with 12-bit precession. The design is based mostly on general off-the-shelf components such as (FPGAs) plus custom designed software for interfacing with PC and test equipment. The designed system was successfully manufactured and now fully functioning in orbit.

  13. Requirements Engineering in Building Climate Science Software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Batcheller, Archer L.

    Software has an important role in supporting scientific work. This dissertation studies teams that build scientific software, focusing on the way that they determine what the software should do. These requirements engineering processes are investigated through three case studies of climate science software projects. The Earth System Modeling Framework assists modeling applications, the Earth System Grid distributes data via a web portal, and the NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) Command Language is used to convert, analyze and visualize data. Document analysis, observation, and interviews were used to investigate the requirements-related work. The first research question is about how and why stakeholders engage in a project, and what they do for the project. Two key findings arise. First, user counts are a vital measure of project success, which makes adoption important and makes counting tricky and political. Second, despite the importance of quantities of users, a few particular "power users" develop a relationship with the software developers and play a special role in providing feedback to the software team and integrating the system into user practice. The second research question focuses on how project objectives are articulated and how they are put into practice. The team seeks to both build a software system according to product requirements but also to conduct their work according to process requirements such as user support. Support provides essential communication between users and developers that assists with refining and identifying requirements for the software. It also helps users to learn and apply the software to their real needs. User support is a vital activity for scientific software teams aspiring to create infrastructure. The third research question is about how change in scientific practice and knowledge leads to changes in the software, and vice versa. The "thickness" of a layer of software infrastructure impacts whether the software team or users have control and responsibility for making changes in response to new scientific ideas. Thick infrastructure provides more functionality for users, but gives them less control of it. The stability of infrastructure trades off against the responsiveness that the infrastructure can have to user needs.

  14. Ethical Risk Management Education in Engineering: A Systematic Review.

    PubMed

    Guntzburger, Yoann; Pauchant, Thierry C; Tanguy, Philippe A

    2017-04-01

    Risk management is certainly one of the most important professional responsibilities of an engineer. As such, this activity needs to be combined with complex ethical reflections, and this requirement should therefore be explicitly integrated in engineering education. In this article, we analyse how this nexus between ethics and risk management is expressed in the engineering education research literature. It was done by reviewing 135 articles published between 1980 and March 1, 2016. These articles have been selected from 21 major journals that specialize in engineering education, engineering ethics and ethics education. Our review suggests that risk management is mostly used as an anecdote or an example when addressing ethics issues in engineering education. Further, it is perceived as an ethical duty or requirement, achieved through rational and technical methods. However, a small number of publications do offer some critical analyses of ethics education in engineering and their implications for ethical risk and safety management. Therefore, we argue in this article that the link between risk management and ethics should be further developed in engineering education in order to promote the progressive change toward more socially and environmentally responsible engineering practices. Several research trends and issues are also identified and discussed in order to support the engineering education community in this project.

  15. Construction of integrated case environments.

    PubMed

    Losavio, Francisca; Matteo, Alfredo; Pérez, María

    2003-01-01

    The main goal of Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) technology is to improve the entire software system development process. The CASE approach is not merely a technology; it involves a fundamental change in the process of software development. The tendency of the CASE approach, technically speaking, is the integration of tools that assist in the application of specific methods. In this sense, the environment architecture, which includes the platform and the system's hardware and software, constitutes the base of the CASE environment. The problem of tools integration has been proposed for two decades. Current integration efforts emphasize the interoperability of tools, especially in distributed environments. In this work we use the Brown approach. The environment resulting from the application of this model is called a federative environment, focusing on the fact that this architecture pays special attention to the connections among the components of the environment. This approach is now being used in component-based design. This paper describes a concrete experience in civil engineering and architecture fields, for the construction of an integrated CASE environment. A generic architectural framework based on an intermediary architectural pattern is applied to achieve the integration of the different tools. This intermediary represents the control perspective of the PAC (Presentation-Abstraction-Control) style, which has been implemented as a Mediator pattern and it has been used in the interactive systems domain. In addition, a process is given to construct the integrated CASE.

  16. Performing Verification and Validation in Reuse-Based Software Engineering

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Addy, Edward A.

    1999-01-01

    The implementation of reuse-based software engineering not only introduces new activities to the software development process, such as domain analysis and domain modeling, it also impacts other aspects of software engineering. Other areas of software engineering that are affected include Configuration Management, Testing, Quality Control, and Verification and Validation (V&V). Activities in each of these areas must be adapted to address the entire domain or product line rather than a specific application system. This paper discusses changes and enhancements to the V&V process, in order to adapt V&V to reuse-based software engineering.

  17. SPECIAL ISSUE ON OPTICAL PROCESSING OF INFORMATION: Waveguide optoelectronic components for devices used in functional processing of digital information

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gladkii, V. P.; Nikitin, V. A.; Prokhorov, V. P.; Yakovenko, N. A.

    1995-10-01

    The results are given of technologic and circuit-engineering development of planar micro-optics components made of glasses and of lithium niobate. These components are intended for devices to be used in logic—arithmetic processing of information.

  18. Relational Reasoning in STEM Domains: A Foundation for Academic Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alexander, Patricia A.

    2017-01-01

    What is relational reasoning? Why is it critical to consider the role of relational reasoning in students learning and development in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)? Moreover, how do the particular contributions populating this special issue address the pressing societal needs and offer guidance to researchers and…

  19. Are We Social Engineers?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fetter, Jean H.; Spencer, Ted; Fitzsimmons, Bill; Hoganson, Mary Lee

    2006-01-01

    This article from the "Journal of College Admission's" Special Diversity Issue (which in its entirety won the 1997 Muir Award), presents a compilation of three speeches, given at the 51st National Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The preface, by Mary Lee Hoganson, serves to bind the three speeches together under the cohesive question, "Are…

  20. The Many Faces of a Software Engineer in a Research Community

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Marinovici, Maria C.; Kirkham, Harold

    2013-10-14

    The ability to gather, analyze and make decisions based on real world data is changing nearly every field of human endeavor. These changes are particularly challenging for software engineers working in a scientific community, designing and developing large, complex systems. To avoid the creation of a communications gap (almost a language barrier), the software engineers should possess an ‘adaptive’ skill. In the science and engineering research community, the software engineers must be responsible for more than creating mechanisms for storing and analyzing data. They must also develop a fundamental scientific and engineering understanding of the data. This paper looks atmore » the many faces that a software engineer should have: developer, domain expert, business analyst, security expert, project manager, tester, user experience professional, etc. Observations made during work on a power-systems scientific software development are analyzed and extended to describe more generic software development projects.« less

  1. System Engineering Strategy for Distributed Multi-Purpose Simulation Architectures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bhula, Dlilpkumar; Kurt, Cindy Marie; Luty, Roger

    2007-01-01

    This paper describes the system engineering approach used to develop distributed multi-purpose simulations. The multi-purpose simulation architecture focuses on user needs, operations, flexibility, cost and maintenance. This approach was used to develop an International Space Station (ISS) simulator, which is called the International Space Station Integrated Simulation (ISIS)1. The ISIS runs unmodified ISS flight software, system models, and the astronaut command and control interface in an open system design that allows for rapid integration of multiple ISS models. The initial intent of ISIS was to provide a distributed system that allows access to ISS flight software and models for the creation, test, and validation of crew and ground controller procedures. This capability reduces the cost and scheduling issues associated with utilizing standalone simulators in fixed locations, and facilitates discovering unknowns and errors earlier in the development lifecycle. Since its inception, the flexible architecture of the ISIS has allowed its purpose to evolve to include ground operator system and display training, flight software modification testing, and as a realistic test bed for Exploration automation technology research and development.

  2. Collected software engineering papers, volume 2

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1983-01-01

    Topics addressed include: summaries of the software engineering laboratory (SEL) organization, operation, and research activities; results of specific research projects in the areas of resource models and software measures; and strategies for data collection for software engineering research.

  3. Managing the Software Development Process

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lubelczky, Jeffrey T.; Parra, Amy

    1999-01-01

    The goal of any software development project is to produce a product that is delivered on time, within the allocated budget, and with the capabilities expected by the customer and unfortunately, this goal is rarely achieved. However, a properly managed project in a mature software engineering environment can consistently achieve this goal. In this paper we provide an introduction to three project success factors, a properly managed project, a competent project manager, and a mature software engineering environment. We will also present an overview of the benefits of a mature software engineering environment based on 24 years of data from the Software Engineering Lab, and suggest some first steps that an organization can take to begin benefiting from this environment. The depth and breadth of software engineering exceeds this paper, various references are cited with a goal of raising awareness and encouraging further investigation into software engineering and project management practices.

  4. Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1983-01-01

    The four major topics of discussion included: the NASA Software Engineering Laboratory, software testing, human factors in software engineering and software quality assessment. As in the past years, there were 12 position papers presented (3 for each topic) followed by questions and very heavy participation by the general audience.

  5. Project Management Software for Distributed Industrial Companies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dobrojević, M.; Medjo, B.; Rakin, M.; Sedmak, A.

    This paper gives an overview of the development of a new software solution for project management, intended mainly to use in industrial environment. The main concern of the proposed solution is application in everyday engineering practice in various, mainly distributed industrial companies. Having this in mind, special care has been devoted to development of appropriate tools for tracking, storing and analysis of the information about the project, and in-time delivering to the right team members or other responsible persons. The proposed solution is Internet-based and uses LAMP/WAMP (Linux or Windows - Apache - MySQL - PHP) platform, because of its stability, versatility, open source technology and simple maintenance. Modular structure of the software makes it easy for customization according to client specific needs, with a very short implementation period. Its main advantages are simple usage, quick implementation, easy system maintenance, short training and only basic computer skills needed for operators.

  6. Thoth: Software for data visualization & statistics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laher, R. R.

    2016-10-01

    Thoth is a standalone software application with a graphical user interface for making it easy to query, display, visualize, and analyze tabular data stored in relational databases and data files. From imported data tables, it can create pie charts, bar charts, scatter plots, and many other kinds of data graphs with simple menus and mouse clicks (no programming required), by leveraging the open-source JFreeChart library. It also computes useful table-column data statistics. A mature tool, having underwent development and testing over several years, it is written in the Java computer language, and hence can be run on any computing platform that has a Java Virtual Machine and graphical-display capability. It can be downloaded and used by anyone free of charge, and has general applicability in science, engineering, medical, business, and other fields. Special tools and features for common tasks in astronomy and astrophysical research are included in the software.

  7. Judicious use of custom development in an open source component architecture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bristol, S.; Latysh, N.; Long, D.; Tekell, S.; Allen, J.

    2014-12-01

    Modern software engineering is not as much programming from scratch as innovative assembly of existing components. Seamlessly integrating disparate components into scalable, performant architecture requires sound engineering craftsmanship and can often result in increased cost efficiency and accelerated capabilities if software teams focus their creativity on the edges of the problem space. ScienceBase is part of the U.S. Geological Survey scientific cyberinfrastructure, providing data and information management, distribution services, and analysis capabilities in a way that strives to follow this pattern. ScienceBase leverages open source NoSQL and relational databases, search indexing technology, spatial service engines, numerous libraries, and one proprietary but necessary software component in its architecture. The primary engineering focus is cohesive component interaction, including construction of a seamless Application Programming Interface (API) across all elements. The API allows researchers and software developers alike to leverage the infrastructure in unique, creative ways. Scaling the ScienceBase architecture and core API with increasing data volume (more databases) and complexity (integrated science problems) is a primary challenge addressed by judicious use of custom development in the component architecture. Other data management and informatics activities in the earth sciences have independently resolved to a similar design of reusing and building upon established technology and are working through similar issues for managing and developing information (e.g., U.S. Geoscience Information Network; NASA's Earth Observing System Clearing House; GSToRE at the University of New Mexico). Recent discussions facilitated through the Earth Science Information Partners are exploring potential avenues to exploit the implicit relationships between similar projects for explicit gains in our ability to more rapidly advance global scientific cyberinfrastructure.

  8. Use of Soft Computing Technologies For Rocket Engine Control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Trevino, Luis C.; Olcmen, Semih; Polites, Michael

    2003-01-01

    The problem to be addressed in this paper is to explore how the use of Soft Computing Technologies (SCT) could be employed to further improve overall engine system reliability and performance. Specifically, this will be presented by enhancing rocket engine control and engine health management (EHM) using SCT coupled with conventional control technologies, and sound software engineering practices used in Marshall s Flight Software Group. The principle goals are to improve software management, software development time and maintenance, processor execution, fault tolerance and mitigation, and nonlinear control in power level transitions. The intent is not to discuss any shortcomings of existing engine control and EHM methodologies, but to provide alternative design choices for control, EHM, implementation, performance, and sustaining engineering. The approaches outlined in this paper will require knowledge in the fields of rocket engine propulsion, software engineering for embedded systems, and soft computing technologies (i.e., neural networks, fuzzy logic, and Bayesian belief networks), much of which is presented in this paper. The first targeted demonstration rocket engine platform is the MC-1 (formerly FASTRAC Engine) which is simulated with hardware and software in the Marshall Avionics & Software Testbed laboratory that

  9. EDITORIAL: Special issue containing contributions from the Fourth International Brain-Computer Interface Meeting Special issue containing contributions from the Fourth International Brain-Computer Interface Meeting

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vaughan, Theresa M.; Wolpaw, Jonathan R.

    2011-04-01

    This special issue of Journal of Neural Engineering is a result of the Fourth International Brain-Computer Interface Meeting, which was held at the Asilomar Conference Center in Monterey, California, USA from 31 May to 4 June, 2010. The meeting was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, The National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, and was organized by the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health. It attracted over 260 participants from 17 countries—including many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows—and featured 19 workshops, platform presentations from 26 research groups, 170 posters, multiple brain-computer interface (BCI) demonstrations, and a keynote address by W Zev Rymer of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. The number of participants and the diversity of the topics covered greatly exceeded those of the previous meeting in 2005, and testified to the continuing rapid expansion and growing sophistication of this exciting and still relatively new research field. BCI research focuses primarily on using brain signals to replace or restore the motor functions that people have lost due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a brainstem stroke, or some other devastating neuromuscular disorder. In the last few years, attention has also turned towards using BCIs to improve rehabilitation after a stroke, and beyond that to enhancing or supplementing the capabilities of even those without disabilities. These diverse interests were represented in the wide range of topics covered in the workshops. While some workshops addressed broad traditional topics, such as signal acquisition, feature extraction and translation, and software development, many addressed topics that were entirely new or focused sharply on areas that have become important only recently. These included workshops on optimizing P300-based BCIs; improving the mutual adaptations of the BCI and the user; BCIs that can control neuroprostheses, robotic arms, and other complex devices; moving BCIs from the laboratory to the home; BCIs that can induce neural plasticity and restore function; BCIs that use metabolic brain signals; novel BCI designs; non-medical BCI applications; ethical issues in BCI research; and contentious issues in BCI research. Dr Rymer's keynote address, 'BCI: a long range view from within a rehabilitation hospital', applied lessons from the field of rehabilitation robotics to the current state and future prospects of BCI technology. He noted that the present enthusiasm for BCI research and development reflects a desire to help people and to make basic research serve clinical needs, the excitement of the challenges for engineers and scientists, and (perhaps overly optimistic) anticipation of future benefits. He emphasized the importance of focusing research on major clinical problems that affect large numbers of people and can be addressed by BCI technology. In this regard, he identified the common and devastating motor problems produced by hemispheric stroke and limb loss as realistic and important targets for BCI research. He also cautioned against overly aggressive invasive BCI studies that might produce adverse events that could sharply curtail support and enthusiasm for further work. The keynote address, and presentations and discussions throughout the meeting, brought out five major issues that will help determine whether BCIs realize the exciting future that many envision for them. The first issue is the identification and characterization of those brain signals that are best able to encode user intent and the development of improved methods for recording these signals. Both noninvasive and invasive BCIs need sensors and associated hardware that are robust, convenient, cosmetically acceptable and function reliably and safely for long periods with minimal ongoing technical support. The second issue is the need for BCI software that optimizes the ongoing adaptive interactions between the BCI and the user to achieve the reliability lacking in current BCIs. Marked improvement in reliability is essential if BCIs are to move from the laboratory into widespread practical use for significant purposes in real life. The third issue is the development of BCI applications that serve the most important unmet needs of specific populations of potential users. BCI applications are needed that can extend the current spectrum of assistive technology or augment rehabilitation to move beyond what is possible using conventional methods. The fourth issue is the critical requirement for well-designed studies that validate the ability of BCIs to serve the needs and improve the lives of people with severe disabilities. Without such translational studies, BCIs will never realize the promise projected from laboratory results. Finally, the future of BCI technology depends on the realization of clinically and economically viable models for implementing and supporting its widespread dissemination. Effective attention to these five issues requires cooperation among researchers from many diverse disciplines: neuroscientists, engineers, psychologists, applied mathematicians, computer scientists, clinicians and rehabilitation specialists. The translational research essential for the validation of BCI technology is particularly dependent on such multidisciplinary collaborations. The need for multidisciplinary interactions has been the primary impetus for the four international BCI meetings to date. In the service of this continuing need, a discussion session at the meeting resulted in the formation of a multidisciplinary steering committee to organize future meetings at three-year intervals. Chaired by Jane E Huggins of the University of Michigan, this committee is planning the next meeting for 2013. The 28 primary research articles and workshop-based reviews that comprise this special issue reflect the substance and range of the meeting, and illustrate the current state of the field. The articles are loosely organized into three groups: signal acquisition; feature extraction and translation; and applications. The large number of application studies indicates the critical importance of this area for the ultimate significance of BCI research and development.

  10. Communication Problems in Requirements Engineering: A Field Study

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Al-Rawas, Amer; Easterbrook, Steve

    1996-01-01

    The requirements engineering phase of software development projects is characterized by the intensity and importance of communication activities. During this phase, the various stakeholders must be able to communicate their requirements to the analysts, and the analysts need to be able to communicate the specifications they generate back to the stakeholders for validation. This paper describes a field investigation into the problems of communication between disparate communities involved in the requirements specification activities. The results of this study are discussed in terms of their relation to three major communication barriers: (1) ineffectiveness of the current communication channels; (2) restrictions on expressiveness imposed by notations; and (3) social and organizational barriers. The results confirm that organizational and social issues have great influence on the effectiveness of communication. They also show that in general, end-users find the notations used by software practitioners to model their requirements difficult to understand and validate.

  11. Systems engineering and integration: Advanced avionics laboratories

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1990-01-01

    In order to develop the new generation of avionics which will be necessary for upcoming programs such as the Lunar/Mars Initiative, Advanced Launch System, and the National Aerospace Plane, new Advanced Avionics Laboratories are required. To minimize costs and maximize benefits, these laboratories should be capable of supporting multiple avionics development efforts at a single location, and should be of a common design to support and encourage data sharing. Recent technological advances provide the capability of letting the designer or analyst perform simulations and testing in an environment similar to his engineering environment and these features should be incorporated into the new laboratories. Existing and emerging hardware and software standards must be incorporated wherever possible to provide additional cost savings and compatibility. Special care must be taken to design the laboratories such that real-time hardware-in-the-loop performance is not sacrificed in the pursuit of these goals. A special program-independent funding source should be identified for the development of Advanced Avionics Laboratories as resources supporting a wide range of upcoming NASA programs.

  12. Software Writing Skills for Your Research - Lessons Learned from Workshops in the Geosciences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hammitzsch, Martin

    2016-04-01

    Findings presented in scientific papers are based on data and software. Once in a while they come along with data - but not commonly with software. However, the software used to gain findings plays a crucial role in the scientific work. Nevertheless, software is rarely seen publishable. Thus researchers may not reproduce the findings without the software which is in conflict with the principle of reproducibility in sciences. For both, the writing of publishable software and the reproducibility issue, the quality of software is of utmost importance. For many programming scientists the treatment of source code, e.g. with code design, version control, documentation, and testing is associated with additional work that is not covered in the primary research task. This includes the adoption of processes following the software development life cycle. However, the adoption of software engineering rules and best practices has to be recognized and accepted as part of the scientific performance. Most scientists have little incentive to improve code and do not publish code because software engineering habits are rarely practised by researchers or students. Software engineering skills are not passed on to followers as for paper writing skill. Thus it is often felt that the software or code produced is not publishable. The quality of software and its source code has a decisive influence on the quality of research results obtained and their traceability. So establishing best practices from software engineering to serve scientific needs is crucial for the success of scientific software. Even though scientists use existing software and code, i.e., from open source software repositories, only few contribute their code back into the repositories. So writing and opening code for Open Science means that subsequent users are able to run the code, e.g. by the provision of sufficient documentation, sample data sets, tests and comments which in turn can be proven by adequate and qualified reviews. This assumes that scientist learn to write and release code and software as they learn to write and publish papers. Having this in mind, software could be valued and assessed as a contribution to science. But this requires the relevant skills that can be passed to colleagues and followers. Therefore, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences performed three workshops in 2015 to address the passing of software writing skills to young scientists, the next generation of researchers in the Earth, planetary and space sciences. Experiences in running these workshops and the lessons learned will be summarized in this presentation. The workshops have received support and funding by Software Carpentry, a volunteer organization whose goal is to make scientists more productive, and their work more reliable, by teaching them basic computing skills, and by FOSTER (Facilitate Open Science Training for European Research), a two-year, EU-Funded (FP7) project, whose goal to produce a European-wide training programme that will help to incorporate Open Access approaches into existing research methodologies and to integrate Open Science principles and practice in the current research workflow by targeting the young researchers and other stakeholders.

  13. PREFACE: Selected papers from the Fourth Topical Conference on Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wong, Michael S.; Lee, Gil U.

    2005-07-01

    This special issue of Nanotechnology contains research papers contributed by the participants of the Fourth Topical Conference on Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), which was held in Austin, Texas, USA, 7-12 November, 2004. This conference saw 284 oral presentations from institutions around the world, which is the highest number for this topical conference series to date. These presentations were organized into 64 sessions, covering the range of nanotechnology subject areas in which chemical engineers are currently engaged. These sessions included the following areas. • Fundamentals: thermodynamics at the nanoscale; applications of nanostructured fluids; transport properties in nanophase and nanoscale systems; molecular modelling methods; self and directed assembly at the nanoscale; nanofabrication and nanoscale processing; manipulation of nanophases by external fields; nanoscale systems; adsorption and transport in carbon nanotubes; nanotribology; making the transition from materials and phenomena to new technologies; operation of micro-and nano-systems. • Materials: nanoparticle synthesis and stabilization; nanoscale structure in polymers; nanotemplating of polymers; synthesis of carbon nanotubes and nanotube-based materials; nanowires; nanoparticle assemblies and superlattices; nanoelectronic materials; self-assembly of templated inorganic materials; nanostructured hybrid organic/inorganic materials; gas phase synthesis of nanoparticles; multicomponent structured particles; nano energetic materials; liquid-phase synthesis of nanoparticles. • Energy: synthesis and characterization of nanostructured catalytic materials; nanomaterials and devices for energy applications. • Biotechnology: nanobiotechnology; nanotechnology for the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industries; nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology for sensors; advances in biomaterials, bionanotechnology, biomimetic systems and tissue engineering; nanotechnology for drug delivery and imaging; bionanotechnology in cancer and cardiovascular disease; nanostructured biomaterials; nanotechnology in bioengineering; nanofabrication of biosensing devices. We are pleased to present a selection of research papers in this special issue of Nanotechnology on behalf of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum (NSEF). NSEF was established in 2001 as a new division of AIChE to promote nanotechnology efforts in chemical engineering. The chemical engineering discipline deals with the production and processing of chemicals and materials, and does so through a fundamental understanding of the core issues of transport, thermodynamics, and kinetics that exist at multiple length scales. Thus, it should come as no surprise that chemical engineers have been pursuing nanotechnology research for the last fifty years. For example, fuel production has benefited immensely from improved catalysts in which their pore structure is controlled with nanoscale precision, and polymer properties have been improved by controlling the polymer supramolecular structure at the nanometre scale. Chemical engineering will continue to make important contributions to nanotechnology, and will play a critical role in the transition from basic science and engineering research to commercial applications. We would like to thank all of the authors who contributed to this special issue; the three NSEF poster presentation award winners for their papers (Sureshkumar, Sunkara, and Rinaldi groups); Dr Nina Couzin, Publisher of Nanotechnology, for her support and enthusiasm for this project; Drs Sharon Glotzer and Dan Coy who chaired the topical conference; and Drs Meyya Meyyappan and Brett Cruden (NASA Ames Research Center) for their assistance in the initial planning stages. We also take this opportunity to thank the many people and organizations who have supported the 2004 topical conference along the way, which include all the session chairs, Hyperion Catalysis International, Inc., Nanophase Technologies, Inc., and the executive board of the NSEF.

  14. A Bibliography of Externally Published Works by the SEI Engineering Techniques Program

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-08-01

    media, and virtual reality * model- based engineering * programming languages * reuse * software architectures * software engineering as a discipline...Knowledge- Based Engineering Environments." IEEE Expert 3, 2 (May 1988): 18-23, 26-32. Audience: Practitioner [Klein89b] Klein, D.V. "Comparison of...Terms with Software Reuse Terminology: A Model- Based Approach." ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes 16, 2 (April 1991): 45-51. Audience: Practitioner

  15. The integration of the risk management process with the lifecycle of medical device software.

    PubMed

    Pecoraro, F; Luzi, D

    2014-01-01

    The application of software in the Medical Device (MD) domain has become central to the improvement of diagnoses and treatments. The new European regulations that specifically address software as an important component of MD, require complex procedures to make software compliant with safety requirements, introducing thereby new challenges in the qualification and classification of MD software as well as in the performance of risk management activities. Under this perspective, the aim of this paper is to propose an integrated framework that combines the activities to be carried out by the manufacturer to develop safe software within the development lifecycle based on the regulatory requirements reported in US and European regulations as well as in the relevant standards and guidelines. A comparative analysis was carried out to identify the main issues related to the application of the current new regulations. In addition, standards and guidelines recently released to harmonise procedures for the validation of MD software have been used to define the risk management activities to be carried out by the manufacturer during the software development process. This paper highlights the main issues related to the qualification and classification of MD software, providing an analysis of the different regulations applied in Europe and the US. A model that integrates the risk management process within the software development lifecycle has been proposed too. It is based on regulatory requirements and considers software risk analysis as a central input to be managed by the manufacturer already at the initial stages of the software design, in order to prevent MD failures. Relevant changes in the process of MD development have been introduced with the recognition of software being an important component of MDs as stated in regulations and standards. This implies the performance of highly iterative processes that have to integrate the risk management in the framework of software development. It also makes it necessary to involve both medical and software engineering competences to safeguard patient and user safety.

  16. Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production.

    PubMed

    Koller, Martin

    2017-11-02

    This editorial paper provides a synopsis of the contributions to the Bioengineering special issue "Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production". It illustrates the embedding of the issue's individual research articles in the current global research and development landscape related to polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). The article shows how these articles are interrelated to each other, reflecting the entire PHA process chain including strain selection, metabolic and genetic considerations, feedstock evaluation, fermentation regimes, process engineering, and polymer processing towards high-value marketable products.

  17. Some Issues in Programming Multi-Mini-Processors

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1975-01-01

    Hardware ^nd software are to be combined optimally to perform that specialized task. This in essence is the stategy followed by the BBN group in...large memory is directly addressable. MIXED SOLUTIONS The most promising approach appears to involve mixing several of the previous solutions...mini- or micro-computers. Possibly the problem will be solved by avoiding it. Some new minis are appearing on the market now with large physical

  18. Performance of the engineering analysis and data system 2 common file system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Debrunner, Linda S.

    1993-01-01

    The Engineering Analysis and Data System (EADS) was used from April 1986 to July 1993 to support large scale scientific and engineering computation (e.g. computational fluid dynamics) at Marshall Space Flight Center. The need for an updated system resulted in a RFP in June 1991, after which a contract was awarded to Cray Grumman. EADS II was installed in February 1993, and by July 1993 most users were migrated. EADS II is a network of heterogeneous computer systems supporting scientific and engineering applications. The Common File System (CFS) is a key component of this system. The CFS provides a seamless, integrated environment to the users of EADS II including both disk and tape storage. UniTree software is used to implement this hierarchical storage management system. The performance of the CFS suffered during the early months of the production system. Several of the performance problems were traced to software bugs which have been corrected. Other problems were associated with hardware. However, the use of NFS in UniTree UCFM software limits the performance of the system. The performance issues related to the CFS have led to a need to develop a greater understanding of the CFS organization. This paper will first describe the EADS II with emphasis on the CFS. Then, a discussion of mass storage systems will be presented, and methods of measuring the performance of the Common File System will be outlined. Finally, areas for further study will be identified and conclusions will be drawn.

  19. A report on NASA software engineering and Ada training requirements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Legrand, Sue; Freedman, Glenn B.; Svabek, L.

    1987-01-01

    NASA's software engineering and Ada skill base are assessed and information that may result in new models for software engineering, Ada training plans, and curricula are provided. A quantitative assessment which reflects the requirements for software engineering and Ada training across NASA is provided. A recommended implementation plan including a suggested curriculum with associated duration per course and suggested means of delivery is also provided. The distinction between education and training is made. Although it was directed to focus on NASA's need for the latter, the key relationships to software engineering education are also identified. A rationale and strategy for implementing a life cycle education and training program are detailed in support of improved software engineering practices and the transition to Ada.

  20. Advanced Manufacturing of Superconducting Magnets

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Senti, Mark W.

    1996-01-01

    The development of specialized materials, processes, and robotics technology allows for the rapid prototype and manufacture of superconducting and normal magnets which can be used for magnetic suspension applications. Presented are highlights of the Direct Conductor Placement System (DCPS) which enables automatic design and assembly of 3-dimensional coils and conductor patterns using LTS and HTS conductors. The system enables engineers to place conductors in complex patterns with greater efficiency and accuracy, and without the need for hard tooling. It may also allow researchers to create new types of coils and patterns which were never practical before the development of DCPS. The DCPS includes a custom designed eight-axis robot, patented end effector, CoilCAD(trademark) design software, RoboWire(trademark) control software, and automatic inspection.

  1. Knowledge-based reusable software synthesis system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Donaldson, Cammie

    1989-01-01

    The Eli system, a knowledge-based reusable software synthesis system, is being developed for NASA Langley under a Phase 2 SBIR contract. Named after Eli Whitney, the inventor of interchangeable parts, Eli assists engineers of large-scale software systems in reusing components while they are composing their software specifications or designs. Eli will identify reuse potential, search for components, select component variants, and synthesize components into the developer's specifications. The Eli project began as a Phase 1 SBIR to define a reusable software synthesis methodology that integrates reusabilityinto the top-down development process and to develop an approach for an expert system to promote and accomplish reuse. The objectives of the Eli Phase 2 work are to integrate advanced technologies to automate the development of reusable components within the context of large system developments, to integrate with user development methodologies without significant changes in method or learning of special languages, and to make reuse the easiest operation to perform. Eli will try to address a number of reuse problems including developing software with reusable components, managing reusable components, identifying reusable components, and transitioning reuse technology. Eli is both a library facility for classifying, storing, and retrieving reusable components and a design environment that emphasizes, encourages, and supports reuse.

  2. 48 CFR 227.7205 - Contracts for special works.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... Computer Software and Computer Software Documentation 227.7205 Contracts for special works. (a) Use the... a specific need to control the distribution of computer software or computer software documentation..., modification, reproduction, release, performance, display, or disclosure of such software or documentation. Use...

  3. 48 CFR 227.7205 - Contracts for special works.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Computer Software and Computer Software Documentation 227.7205 Contracts for special works. (a) Use the... a specific need to control the distribution of computer software or computer software documentation..., modification, reproduction, release, performance, display, or disclosure of such software or documentation. Use...

  4. Special Section dedicated to the 11th International Conference on Vibration Problems (ICOVP-2013)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dimitrovová, Zuzana; Gonçalves, Rodrigo

    2015-01-01

    This section contains the first set of selected papers from the 11th edition of the biennial International Conference series on Vibration Problems (ICOVP-2013), which was held at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, on 9-12 September 2013, and was jointly organized by the Civil Engineering Department of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering at the Instituto Superior Técnico. A second set of papers will be included in a forthcoming issue.

  5. Medical devices; radiology devices; reclassification of full-field digital mammography system. Final rule.

    PubMed

    2010-11-05

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the reclassification of the full-field digital mammography (FFDM) system from class III (premarket approval) to class II (special controls). The device type is intended to produce planar digital x-ray images of the entire breast; this generic type of device may include digital mammography acquisition software, full-field digital image receptor, acquisition workstation, automatic exposure control, image processing and reconstruction programs, patient and equipment supports, component parts, and accessories. The special control that will apply to the device is the guidance document entitled "Class II Special Controls Guidance Document: Full-Field Digital Mammography System." FDA is reclassifying the device into class II (special controls) because general controls along with special controls will provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of the device. Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, FDA is announcing the availability of the guidance document that will serve as the special control for this device.

  6. Software Certification - Coding, Code, and Coders

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Havelund, Klaus; Holzmann, Gerard J.

    2011-01-01

    We describe a certification approach for software development that has been adopted at our organization. JPL develops robotic spacecraft for the exploration of the solar system. The flight software that controls these spacecraft is considered to be mission critical. We argue that the goal of a software certification process cannot be the development of "perfect" software, i.e., software that can be formally proven to be correct under all imaginable and unimaginable circumstances. More realistically, the goal is to guarantee a software development process that is conducted by knowledgeable engineers, who follow generally accepted procedures to control known risks, while meeting agreed upon standards of workmanship. We target three specific issues that must be addressed in such a certification procedure: the coding process, the code that is developed, and the skills of the coders. The coding process is driven by standards (e.g., a coding standard) and tools. The code is mechanically checked against the standard with the help of state-of-the-art static source code analyzers. The coders, finally, are certified in on-site training courses that include formal exams.

  7. Business Intelligence Applied to the ALMA Software Integration Process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zambrano, M.; Recabarren, C.; González, V.; Hoffstadt, A.; Soto, R.; Shen, T.-C.

    2012-09-01

    Software quality assurance and planning of an astronomy project is a complex task, specially if it is a distributed collaborative project such as ALMA, where the development centers are spread across the globe. When you execute a software project there is much valuable information about this process itself that you might be able to collect. One of the ways you can receive this input is via an issue tracking system that will gather the problem reports relative to software bugs captured during the testing of the software, during the integration of the different components or even worst, problems occurred during production time. Usually, there is little time spent on analyzing them but with some multidimensional processing you can extract valuable information from them and it might help you on the long term planning and resources allocation. We present an analysis of the information collected at ALMA from a collection of key unbiased indicators. We describe here the extraction, transformation and load process and how the data was processed. The main goal is to assess a software process and get insights from this information.

  8. SeisCode: A seismological software repository for discovery and collaboration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trabant, C.; Reyes, C. G.; Clark, A.; Karstens, R.

    2012-12-01

    SeisCode is a community repository for software used in seismological and related fields. The repository is intended to increase discoverability of such software and to provide a long-term home for software projects. Other places exist where seismological software may be found, but none meet the requirements necessary for an always current, easy to search, well documented, and citable resource for projects. Organizations such as IRIS, ORFEUS, and the USGS have websites with lists of available or contributed seismological software. Since the authors themselves do often not maintain these lists, the documentation often consists of a sentence or paragraph, and the available software may be outdated. Repositories such as GoogleCode and SourceForge, which are directly maintained by the authors, provide version control and issue tracking but do not provide a unified way of locating geophysical software scattered in and among countless unrelated projects. Additionally, projects are hosted at language-specific sites such as Mathworks and PyPI, in FTP directories, and in websites strewn across the Web. Search engines are only partially effective discovery tools, as the desired software is often hidden deep within the results. SeisCode provides software authors a place to present their software, codes, scripts, tutorials, and examples to the seismological community. Authors can choose their own level of involvement. At one end of the spectrum, the author might simply create a web page that points to an existing site. At the other extreme, an author may choose to leverage the many tools provided by SeisCode, such as a source code management tool with integrated issue tracking, forums, news feeds, downloads, wikis, and more. For software development projects with multiple authors, SeisCode can also be used as a central site for collaboration. SeisCode provides the community with an easy way to discover software, while providing authors a way to build a community around their software packages. IRIS invites the seismological community to browse and to submit projects to https://seiscode.iris.washington.edu/

  9. Preface.

    PubMed

    Ditlevsen, Susanne; Lansky, Petr

    2016-06-01

    This Special Issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering contains 11 selected papers presented at the Neural Coding 2014 workshop. The workshop was held in the royal city of Versailles in France, October 6-10, 2014. This was the 11th of a series of international workshops on this subject, the first held in Prague (1995), then Versailles (1997), Osaka (1999), Plymouth (2001), Aulla (2003), Marburg (2005), Montevideo (2007), Tainan (2009), Limassol (2010), and again in Prague (2012). Also selected papers from Prague were published as a special issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering and in this way a tradition was started. Similarly to the previous workshops, this was a single track multidisciplinary event bringing together experimental and computational neuroscientists. The Neural Coding Workshops are traditionally biennial symposia. They are relatively small in size, interdisciplinary with major emphasis on the search for common principles in neural coding. The workshop was conceived to bring together scientists from different disciplines for an in-depth discussion of mathematical model-building and computational strategies. Further information on the meeting can be found at the NC2014 website at https://colloque6.inra.fr/neural_coding_2014. The meeting was supported by French National Institute for Agricultural Research, the world's leading institution in this field. This Special Issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering contains 11 selected papers presented at the Neural Coding 2014 workshop. The workshop was held in the royal city of Versailles in France, October 6-10, 2014. This was the 11th of a series of international workshops on this subject, the first held in Prague (1995), then Versailles (1997), Osaka (1999), Plymouth (2001), Aulla (2003), Marburg (2005), Montevideo (2007), Tainan (2009), Limassol (2010), and again in Prague (2012). Also selected papers from Prague were published as a special issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering and in this way a tradition was started. Similarly to the previous workshops, this was a single track multidisciplinary event bringing together experimental and computational neuroscientists. The Neural Coding Workshops are traditionally biennial symposia. They are relatively small in size, interdisciplinary with major emphasis on the search for common principles in neural coding. The workshop was conceived to bring together scientists from different disciplines for an in-depth discussion of mathematical model-building and computational strategies. Further information on the meeting can be found at the NC2014 website at https://colloque6.inra.fr/neural_coding_2014. The meeting was supported by French National Institute for Agricultural Research, the world's leading institution in this field. Understanding how the brain processes information is one of the most challenging subjects in neuroscience. The papers presented in this special issue show a small corner of the huge diversity of this field, and illustrate how scientists with different backgrounds approach this vast subject. The diversity of disciplines engaged in these investigations is remarkable: biologists, mathematicians, physicists, psychologists, computer scientists, and statisticians, all have original tools and ideas by which to try to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. In this issue, emphasis is put on mathematical modeling of single neurons. A variety of problems in computational neuroscience accompanied with a rich diversity of mathematical tools and approaches are presented. We hope it will inspire and challenge the readers in their own research. We would like to thank the authors for their valuable contributions and the referees for their priceless effort of reviewing the manuscripts. Finally, we would like to thank Yang Kuang for supporting us and making this publication possible.

  10. Development of a case tool to support decision based software development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wild, Christian J.

    1993-01-01

    A summary of the accomplishments of the research over the past year are presented. Achievements include: made demonstrations with DHC, a prototype supporting decision based software development (DBSD) methodology, for Paramax personnel at ODU; met with Paramax personnel to discuss DBSD issues, the process of integrating DBSD and Refinery and the porting process model; completed and submitted a paper describing DBSD paradigm to IFIP '92; completed and presented a paper describing the approach for software reuse at the Software Reuse Workshop in April 1993; continued to extend DHC with a project agenda, facility necessary for a better project management; completed a primary draft of the re-engineering process model for porting; created a logging form to trace all the activities involved in the process of solving the reengineering problem, and developed a primary chart with the problems involved by the reengineering process.

  11. V&V Within Reuse-Based Software Engineering

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Addy, Edward A.

    1996-01-01

    Verification and Validation (V&V) is used to increase the level of assurance of critical software, particularly that of safety-critical and mission-critical software. V&V is a systems engineering discipline that evaluates the software in a systems context, and is currently applied during the development of a specific application system. In order to bring the effectiveness of V&V to bear within reuse-based software engineering, V&V must be incorporated within the domain engineering process.

  12. Engineering Complex Embedded Systems with State Analysis and the Mission Data System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ingham, Michel D.; Rasmussen, Robert D.; Bennett, Matthew B.; Moncada, Alex C.

    2004-01-01

    It has become clear that spacecraft system complexity is reaching a threshold where customary methods of control are no longer affordable or sufficiently reliable. At the heart of this problem are the conventional approaches to systems and software engineering based on subsystem-level functional decomposition, which fail to scale in the tangled web of interactions typically encountered in complex spacecraft designs. Furthermore, there is a fundamental gap between the requirements on software specified by systems engineers and the implementation of these requirements by software engineers. Software engineers must perform the translation of requirements into software code, hoping to accurately capture the systems engineer's understanding of the system behavior, which is not always explicitly specified. This gap opens up the possibility for misinterpretation of the systems engineer s intent, potentially leading to software errors. This problem is addressed by a systems engineering methodology called State Analysis, which provides a process for capturing system and software requirements in the form of explicit models. This paper describes how requirements for complex aerospace systems can be developed using State Analysis and how these requirements inform the design of the system software, using representative spacecraft examples.

  13. Issues in Requirements Elicitation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-09-01

    oriented domain analysis ( FODA ) continues that the re- quirements analyst uses the products of domain analysis when implementing a new system [Kang 90, p...Peterson, A. Spencer. Feature-Oriented Domain Analysis ( FODA ) Feasibility Study. Technical Report CMU/SEI-90-TR-21, ADA235785, Software Engineering...3.3 Problems of Volatility 12 4 Current Elicitation Techniques 15 4.1 Information Gathering 16 4.2 Requirements Expression and Analysis 19 4.3

  14. CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 23, Number 5, September/October 2010

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-10-01

    paper/static -analysis-when-why-how>. 12. Haddon-Cave, Charles. The Nimrod Review: An Independent Review into the Broader Issues Surrounding the Loss...of the RAF Nimrod MR2 Aircraft XV230 in Afghanistan in 2006: Report. London: TSO. 28 Oct. 2009 <http://ethics. tamu.edu/guest/XV230/1025%5B 1%5D.pdf

  15. Research on Visualization Design Method in the Field of New Media Software Engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deqiang, Hu

    2018-03-01

    In the new period of increasingly developed science and technology, with the increasingly fierce competition in the market and the increasing demand of the masses, new design and application methods have emerged in the field of new media software engineering, that is, the visualization design method. Applying the visualization design method to the field of new media software engineering can not only improve the actual operation efficiency of new media software engineering but more importantly the quality of software development can be enhanced by means of certain media of communication and transformation; on this basis, the progress and development of new media software engineering in China are also continuously promoted. Therefore, the application of visualization design method in the field of new media software engineering is analysed concretely in this article from the perspective of the overview of visualization design methods and on the basis of systematic analysis of the basic technology.

  16. Improving Data Collection and Analysis Interface for the Data Acquisition Software of the Spin Laboratory at NASA Glenn Research Center

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Abdul-Aziz, Ali; Curatolo, Ben S.; Woike, Mark R.

    2011-01-01

    In jet engines, turbines spin at high rotational speeds. The forces generated from these high speeds make the rotating components of the turbines susceptible to developing cracks that can lead to major engine failures. The current inspection technologies only allow periodic examinations to check for cracks and other anomalies due to the requirements involved, which often necessitate entire engine disassembly. Also, many of these technologies cannot detect cracks that are below the surface or closed when the crack is at rest. Therefore, to overcome these limitations, efforts at NASA Glenn Research Center are underway to develop techniques and algorithms to detect cracks in rotating engine components. As a part of these activities, a high-precision spin laboratory is being utilized to expand and conduct highly specialized tests to develop methodologies that can assist in detecting predetermined cracks in a rotating turbine engine rotor. This paper discusses the various features involved in the ongoing testing at the spin laboratory and elaborates on its functionality and on the supporting data system tools needed to enable successfully running optimal tests and collecting accurate results. The data acquisition system and the associated software were updated and customized to adapt to the changes implemented on the test rig system and to accommodate the data produced by various sensor technologies. Discussion and presentation of these updates and the new attributes implemented are herein reported

  17. State analysis requirements database for engineering complex embedded systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bennett, Matthew B.; Rasmussen, Robert D.; Ingham, Michel D.

    2004-01-01

    It has become clear that spacecraft system complexity is reaching a threshold where customary methods of control are no longer affordable or sufficiently reliable. At the heart of this problem are the conventional approaches to systems and software engineering based on subsystem-level functional decomposition, which fail to scale in the tangled web of interactions typically encountered in complex spacecraft designs. Furthermore, there is a fundamental gap between the requirements on software specified by systems engineers and the implementation of these requirements by software engineers. Software engineers must perform the translation of requirements into software code, hoping to accurately capture the systems engineer's understanding of the system behavior, which is not always explicitly specified. This gap opens up the possibility for misinterpretation of the systems engineer's intent, potentially leading to software errors. This problem is addressed by a systems engineering tool called the State Analysis Database, which provides a tool for capturing system and software requirements in the form of explicit models. This paper describes how requirements for complex aerospace systems can be developed using the State Analysis Database.

  18. The Impact of Ada and Object-Oriented Design in NASA Goddard's Flight Dynamics Division

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Waligora, Sharon; Bailey, John; Stark, Mike

    1996-01-01

    This paper presents the highlights and key findings of 10 years of use and study of Ada and object-oriented design in NASA Goddard's Flight Dynamics Division (FDD). In 1985, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) began investigating how the Ada language might apply to FDD software development projects. Although they began cautiously using Ada on only a few pilot projects, they expected that, if the Ada pilots showed promising results, the FDD would fully transition its entire development organization from FORTRAN to Ada within 10 years. However, 10 years later, the FDD still produced 80 percent of its software in FORTRAN and had begun using C and C++, despite positive results on Ada projects. This paper presents the final results of a SEL study to quantify the impact of Ada in the FDD, to determine why Ada has not flourished, and to recommend future directions regarding Ada. Project trends in both languages are examined as are external factors and cultural issues that affected the infusion of this technology. The detailed results of this study were published in a formal study report in March of 1995. This paper supersedes the preliminary results of this study that were presented at the Eighteenth Annual Software Engineering Workshop in 1993.

  19. Comparison of Marketing Techniques to Enroll Females at a Major Aeronautical University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cross, David Scott

    2012-01-01

    Traditionally, industries belonging to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are dominated by males. Recruitment and enrollment of females for STEM fields have become an issue among universities specializing in fields such as aviation and aeronautics. The research problem for this study was that marketing departments…

  20. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Platt, F.N. Jr.

    This article examines the treatment of a Superfund site, the Runyon Watershed just outside of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, for volatile organic compounds. The beginning of treatment was the result of a 20-year legal battle begun in 1971 and resolved after the city's consulting engineering firm designed and implemented a specialized approach to identify and develop key critical issues.

  1. 14 CFR 43.7 - Persons authorized to approve aircraft, airframes, aircraft engines, propellers, appliances, or...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... data approved by the Administrator. (e) The holder of an air carrier operating certificate or an... holder of a repairman certificate (light-sport aircraft) with a maintenance rating may approve an aircraft issued a special airworthiness certificate in light-sport category for return to service, as...

  2. Music Software for Special Needs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCord, Kimberly

    2001-01-01

    Discusses the use of computer software for students with special needs in the music classroom. Focuses on software programs that are appropriate for children with special needs such as: "Musicshop,""Band-in-a-Box,""Rock Rap'n Roll,""Music Mania,""Music Ace" and "Music Ace 2," and "Children's Songbook." (CMK)

  3. The TAME Project: Towards improvement-oriented software environments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Basili, Victor R.; Rombach, H. Dieter

    1988-01-01

    Experience from a dozen years of analyzing software engineering processes and products is summarized as a set of software engineering and measurement principles that argue for software engineering process models that integrate sound planning and analysis into the construction process. In the TAME (Tailoring A Measurement Environment) project at the University of Maryland, such an improvement-oriented software engineering process model was developed that uses the goal/question/metric paradigm to integrate the constructive and analytic aspects of software development. The model provides a mechanism for formalizing the characterization and planning tasks, controlling and improving projects based on quantitative analysis, learning in a deeper and more systematic way about the software process and product, and feeding the appropriate experience back into the current and future projects. The TAME system is an instantiation of the TAME software engineering process model as an ISEE (integrated software engineering environment). The first in a series of TAME system prototypes has been developed. An assessment of experience with this first limited prototype is presented including a reassessment of its initial architecture.

  4. The KASE approach to domain-specific software systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bhansali, Sanjay; Nii, H. Penny

    1992-01-01

    Designing software systems, like all design activities, is a knowledge-intensive task. Several studies have found that the predominant cause of failures among system designers is lack of knowledge: knowledge about the application domain, knowledge about design schemes, knowledge about design processes, etc. The goal of domain-specific software design systems is to explicitly represent knowledge relevant to a class of applications and use it to partially or completely automate various aspects of the designing systems within that domain. The hope is that this would reduce the intellectual burden on the human designers and lead to more efficient software development. In this paper, we present a domain-specific system built on top of KASE, a knowledge-assisted software engineering environment being developed at the Stanford Knowledge Systems Laboratory. We introduce the main ideas underlying the construction of domain specific systems within KASE, illustrate the application of the idea in the synthesis of a system for tracking aircraft from radar signals, and discuss some of the issues in constructing domain-specific systems.

  5. Beyond the Renderer: Software Architecture for Parallel Graphics and Visualization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Crockett, Thomas W.

    1996-01-01

    As numerous implementations have demonstrated, software-based parallel rendering is an effective way to obtain the needed computational power for a variety of challenging applications in computer graphics and scientific visualization. To fully realize their potential, however, parallel renderers need to be integrated into a complete environment for generating, manipulating, and delivering visual data. We examine the structure and components of such an environment, including the programming and user interfaces, rendering engines, and image delivery systems. We consider some of the constraints imposed by real-world applications and discuss the problems and issues involved in bringing parallel rendering out of the lab and into production.

  6. Impacts of Technological Changes in the Cyber Environment on Software/Systems Engineering Workforce Development

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-04-01

    for decoupled parallel development Ref: Barry Boehm 12 Impacts of Technological Changes in the Cyber Environment on Software/Systems Engineering... Pressman , R.S., Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, 13 Impacts of Technological Changes in the Cyber Environment on Software/Systems

  7. Software And Systems Engineering Risk Management

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-04-01

    RSKM 2004 COSO Enterprise RSKM Framework 2006 ISO/IEC 16085 Risk Management Process 2008 ISO/IEC 12207 Software Lifecycle Processes 2009 ISO/IEC...1 Software And Systems Engineering Risk Management John Walz VP Technical and Conferences Activities, IEEE Computer Society Vice-Chair Planning...Software & Systems Engineering Standards Committee, IEEE Computer Society US TAG to ISO TMB Risk Management Working Group Systems and Software

  8. Proceedings of the 19th Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1994-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of applications software. The goals of the SEL are: (1) to understand the software development process in the GSFC environment; (2) to measure the effects of various methodologies, tools, and models on this process; and (3) to identify and then to apply successful development practices. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that include this document.

  9. Data collection procedures for the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) database

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heller, Gerard; Valett, Jon; Wild, Mary

    1992-01-01

    This document is a guidebook to collecting software engineering data on software development and maintenance efforts, as practiced in the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL). It supersedes the document entitled Data Collection Procedures for the Rehosted SEL Database, number SEL-87-008 in the SEL series, which was published in October 1987. It presents procedures to be followed on software development and maintenance projects in the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for collecting data in support of SEL software engineering research activities. These procedures include detailed instructions for the completion and submission of SEL data collection forms.

  10. Annotated bibliography of Software Engineering Laboratory literature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1985-01-01

    An annotated bibliography of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory is presented. More than 100 publications are summarized. These publications are summarized. These publications cover many areas of software engineering and range from research reports to software documentation. This document has been updated and reorganized substantially since the original version (SEL-82-006, November 1982). All materials are grouped into five general subject areas for easy reference: (1) the software engineering laboratory; (2) software tools; (3) models and measures; (4) technology evaluations; and (5) data collection. An index further classifies these documents by specific topic.

  11. Modular Rocket Engine Control Software (MRECS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tarrant, Charlie; Crook, Jerry

    1997-01-01

    The Modular Rocket Engine Control Software (MRECS) Program is a technology demonstration effort designed to advance the state-of-the-art in launch vehicle propulsion systems. Its emphasis is on developing and demonstrating a modular software architecture for a generic, advanced engine control system that will result in lower software maintenance (operations) costs. It effectively accommodates software requirements changes that occur due to hardware. technology upgrades and engine development testing. Ground rules directed by MSFC were to optimize modularity and implement the software in the Ada programming language. MRECS system software and the software development environment utilize Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products. This paper presents the objectives and benefits of the program. The software architecture, design, and development environment are described. MRECS tasks are defined and timing relationships given. Major accomplishment are listed. MRECS offers benefits to a wide variety of advanced technology programs in the areas of modular software, architecture, reuse software, and reduced software reverification time related to software changes. Currently, the program is focused on supporting MSFC in accomplishing a Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) hot-fire test at Stennis Space Center and the Low Cost Boost Technology (LCBT) Program.

  12. Design and implementation of a software package to control a network of robotic observatories

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tuparev, G.; Nicolova, I.; Zlatanov, B.; Mihova, D.; Popova, I.; Hessman, F. V.

    2006-09-01

    We present a description of a reusable software package able to control a large, heterogeneous network of fully and semi-robotic observatories initially developed to run the MONET network of two 1.2 m telescopes. Special attention is given to the design of a robust, long-term observation scheduler which also allows the trading of observation time and facilities within various networks. The handling of the ``Phase I&II" project-development process, the time-accounting between complex organizational structures, and usability issues for making the package accessible not only to professional astronomers, but also to amateurs and high-school students is discussed. A simple RTML-based solution to link multiple networks is demonstrated.

  13. Applying formal methods and object-oriented analysis to existing flight software

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cheng, Betty H. C.; Auernheimer, Brent

    1993-01-01

    Correctness is paramount for safety-critical software control systems. Critical software failures in medical radiation treatment, communications, and defense are familiar to the public. The significant quantity of software malfunctions regularly reported to the software engineering community, the laws concerning liability, and a recent NRC Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board report additionally motivate the use of error-reducing and defect detection software development techniques. The benefits of formal methods in requirements driven software development ('forward engineering') is well documented. One advantage of rigorously engineering software is that formal notations are precise, verifiable, and facilitate automated processing. This paper describes the application of formal methods to reverse engineering, where formal specifications are developed for a portion of the shuttle on-orbit digital autopilot (DAP). Three objectives of the project were to: demonstrate the use of formal methods on a shuttle application, facilitate the incorporation and validation of new requirements for the system, and verify the safety-critical properties to be exhibited by the software.

  14. GLobal Integrated Design Environment (GLIDE): A Concurrent Engineering Application

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    McGuire, Melissa L.; Kunkel, Matthew R.; Smith, David A.

    2010-01-01

    The GLobal Integrated Design Environment (GLIDE) is a client-server software application purpose-built to mitigate issues associated with real time data sharing in concurrent engineering environments and to facilitate discipline-to-discipline interaction between multiple engineers and researchers. GLIDE is implemented in multiple programming languages utilizing standardized web protocols to enable secure parameter data sharing between engineers and researchers across the Internet in closed and/or widely distributed working environments. A well defined, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) based Application Programming Interface (API) to the GLIDE client/server environment enables users to interact with GLIDE, and each other, within common and familiar tools. One such common tool, Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation), paired with its add-in API for GLIDE, is discussed in this paper. The top-level examples given demonstrate how this interface improves the efficiency of the design process of a concurrent engineering study while reducing potential errors associated with manually sharing information between study participants.

  15. GiveMe Shelter: a people-centred design process for promoting independent inquiry-led learning in engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dyer, Mark; Grey, Thomas; Kinnane, Oliver

    2017-11-01

    It has become increasingly common for tasks traditionally carried out by engineers to be undertaken by technicians and technologist with access to sophisticated computers and software that can often perform complex calculations that were previously the responsibility of engineers. Not surprisingly, this development raises serious questions about the future role of engineers and the education needed to address these changes in technology as well as emerging priorities from societal to environmental challenges. In response to these challenges, a new design module was created for undergraduate engineering students to design and build temporary shelters for a wide variety of end users from refugees, to the homeless and children. Even though the module provided guidance on principles of design thinking and methods for observing users needs through field studies, the students found it difficult to respond to needs of specific end users but instead focused more on purely technical issues.

  16. Proceedings of the Annual Ada Software Engineering Education and Training Symposium (3rd) Held in Denver, Colorado on June 14-16, 1988

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-06-01

    Based Software Engineering Project Course .............. 83 SSoftware Engineering, Software Engineering Concepts: The Importance of Object-Based...quality assurance, and independent system testing . The Chief Programmer is responsible for all software development activities, including prototyping...during the Requirements Analysis phase, the Preliminary Design, the Detailed Design, Coding and Unit Testing , CSC Integration and Testing , and informal

  17. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1990-01-01

    The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by GSFC and created for the purpose of investigating the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of applications software. The goals of the SEL are: (1) to understand the software development process in the GSFC environment; (2) to measure the effect of various methodologies, tools, and models on this process; and (3) to identify and then to apply successful development practices. Fifteen papers were presented at the Fifteenth Annual Software Engineering Workshop in five sessions: (1) SEL at age fifteen; (2) process improvement; (3) measurement; (4) reuse; and (5) process assessment. The sessions were followed by two panel discussions: (1) experiences in implementing an effective measurement program; and (2) software engineering in the 1980's. A summary of the presentations and panel discussions is given.

  18. A Knowledge Engineering Approach to Analysis and Evaluation of Construction Schedules

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-02-01

    software engineering discipline focusing on constructing KBSs. It is an incremental and cyclical process that requires the interaction of a domain expert(s...the U.S. Army Coips of Engineers ; and (3) the project management software developer, represented by Pinnell Engineering , Inc. Since the primary...the programming skills necessary to convert the raw knowledge intn a form a computer can understand. knowledge engineering : The software engineering

  19. Questioning the Role of Requirements Engineering in the Causes of Safety-Critical Software Failures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Johnson, C. W.; Holloway, C. M.

    2006-01-01

    Many software failures stem from inadequate requirements engineering. This view has been supported both by detailed accident investigations and by a number of empirical studies; however, such investigations can be misleading. It is often difficult to distinguish between failures in requirements engineering and problems elsewhere in the software development lifecycle. Further pitfalls arise from the assumption that inadequate requirements engineering is a cause of all software related accidents for which the system fails to meet its requirements. This paper identifies some of the problems that have arisen from an undue focus on the role of requirements engineering in the causes of major accidents. The intention is to provoke further debate within the emerging field of forensic software engineering.

  20. Computer systems and software engineering

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mckay, Charles W.

    1988-01-01

    The High Technologies Laboratory (HTL) was established in the fall of 1982 at the University of Houston Clear Lake. Research conducted at the High Tech Lab is focused upon computer systems and software engineering. There is a strong emphasis on the interrelationship of these areas of technology and the United States' space program. In Jan. of 1987, NASA Headquarters announced the formation of its first research center dedicated to software engineering. Operated by the High Tech Lab, the Software Engineering Research Center (SERC) was formed at the University of Houston Clear Lake. The High Tech Lab/Software Engineering Research Center promotes cooperative research among government, industry, and academia to advance the edge-of-knowledge and the state-of-the-practice in key topics of computer systems and software engineering which are critical to NASA. The center also recommends appropriate actions, guidelines, standards, and policies to NASA in matters pertinent to the center's research. Results of the research conducted at the High Tech Lab/Software Engineering Research Center have given direction to many decisions made by NASA concerning the Space Station Program.

  1. Generalized implementation of software safety policies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Knight, John C.; Wika, Kevin G.

    1994-01-01

    As part of a research program in the engineering of software for safety-critical systems, we are performing two case studies. The first case study, which is well underway, is a safety-critical medical application. The second, which is just starting, is a digital control system for a nuclear research reactor. Our goal is to use these case studies to permit us to obtain a better understanding of the issues facing developers of safety-critical systems, and to provide a vehicle for the assessment of research ideas. The case studies are not based on the analysis of existing software development by others. Instead, we are attempting to create software for new and novel systems in a process that ultimately will involve all phases of the software lifecycle. In this abstract, we summarize our results to date in a small part of this project, namely the determination and classification of policies related to software safety that must be enforced to ensure safe operation. We hypothesize that this classification will permit a general approach to the implementation of a policy enforcement mechanism.

  2. Mitigating Motion Base Safety Issues: The NASA LaRC CMF Implementation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bryant, Richard B., Jr.; Grupton, Lawrence E.; Martinez, Debbie; Carrelli, David J.

    2005-01-01

    The NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF) motion base design has taken advantage of inherent hydraulic characteristics to implement safety features using hardware solutions only. Motion system safety has always been a concern and its implementation is addressed differently by each organization. Some approaches rely heavily on software safety features. Software which performs safety functions is subject to more scrutiny making its approval, modification, and development time consuming and expensive. The NASA LaRC's CMF motion system is used for research and, as such, requires that the software be updated or modified frequently. The CMF's customers need the ability to update the simulation software frequently without the associated cost incurred with safety critical software. This paper describes the CMF engineering team's approach to achieving motion base safety by designing and implementing all safety features in hardware, resulting in applications software (including motion cueing and actuator dynamic control) being completely independent of the safety devices. This allows the CMF safety systems to remain intact and unaffected by frequent research system modifications.

  3. Annotated bibliography of Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) literature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Card, D.

    1982-01-01

    An annotated bibliography of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory is presented. More than 75 publications are summarized. An index of these publications by subject is also included. These publications cover many areas of software engineering and range from research reports to software documentation.

  4. Towards a Controlled Vocabulary on Software Engineering Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pizard, Sebastián; Vallespir, Diego

    2017-01-01

    Software engineering is the discipline that develops all the aspects of the production of software. Although there are guidelines about what topics to include in a software engineering curricula, it is usually unclear which are the best methods to teach them. In any science discipline the construction of a classification schema is a common…

  5. AADL and Model-based Engineering

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-10-20

    and MBE Feiler, Oct 20, 2014 © 2014 Carnegie Mellon University We Rely on Software for Safe Aircraft Operation Embedded software systems ...D eveloper Compute Platform Runtime Architecture Application Software Embedded SW System Engineer Data Stream Characteristics Latency...confusion Hardware Engineer Why do system level failures still occur despite fault tolerance techniques being deployed in systems ? Embedded software

  6. Intelligent Agents for Design and Synthesis Environments: My Summary

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Norvig, Peter

    1999-01-01

    This presentation gives a summary of intelligent agents for design synthesis environments. We'll start with the conclusions, and work backwards to justify them. First, an important assumption is that agents (whatever they are) are good for software engineering. This is especially true for software that operates in an uncertain, changing environment. The "real world" of physical artifacts is like that: uncertain in what we can measure, changing in that things are always breaking down, and we must interact with non-software entities. The second point is that software engineering techniques can contribute to good design. There may have been a time when we wanted to build simple artifacts containing little or no software. But modern aircraft and spacecraft are complex, and rely on a great deal of software. So better software engineering leads to better designed artifacts, especially when we are designing a series of related artifacts and can amortize the costs of software development. The third point is that agents are especially useful for design tasks, above and beyond their general usefulness for software engineering, and the usefulness of software engineering to design.

  7. NASA software documentation standard software engineering program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1991-01-01

    The NASA Software Documentation Standard (hereinafter referred to as Standard) can be applied to the documentation of all NASA software. This Standard is limited to documentation format and content requirements. It does not mandate specific management, engineering, or assurance standards or techniques. This Standard defines the format and content of documentation for software acquisition, development, and sustaining engineering. Format requirements address where information shall be recorded and content requirements address what information shall be recorded. This Standard provides a framework to allow consistency of documentation across NASA and visibility into the completeness of project documentation. This basic framework consists of four major sections (or volumes). The Management Plan contains all planning and business aspects of a software project, including engineering and assurance planning. The Product Specification contains all technical engineering information, including software requirements and design. The Assurance and Test Procedures contains all technical assurance information, including Test, Quality Assurance (QA), and Verification and Validation (V&V). The Management, Engineering, and Assurance Reports is the library and/or listing of all project reports.

  8. Introduction to This Special Issue on Geostatistics and Geospatial Techniques in Remote Sensing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Atkinson, Peter; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Goodman, H. Michael (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    The germination of this special Computers & Geosciences (C&G) issue began at the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS-IBG) annual meeting in January 1997 held at the University of Exeter, UK. The snow and cold of the English winter were tempered greatly by warm and cordial discussion of how to stimulate and enhance cooperation on geostatistical and geospatial research in remote sensing 'across the big pond' between UK and US researchers. It was decided that one way forward would be to hold parallel sessions in 1998 on geostatistical and geospatial research in remote sensing at appropriate venues in both the UK and the US. Selected papers given at these sessions would be published as special issues of C&G on the UK side and Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PE&RS) on the US side. These issues would highlight the commonality in research on geostatistical and geospatial research in remote sensing on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. As a consequence, a session on "Geostatistics and Geospatial Techniques for Remote Sensing of Land Surface Processes" was held at the RGS-IBG annual meeting in Guildford, Surrey, UK in January 1998, organized by the Modeling and Advanced Techniques Special Interest Group (MAT SIG) of the Remote Sensing Society (RSS). A similar session was held at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting in Boston, Massachusetts in March 1998, sponsored by the AAG's Remote Sensing Specialty Group (RSSG). The 10 papers that make up this issue of C&G, comprise 7 papers from the UK and 3 papers from the LIS. We are both co-editors of each of the journal special issues, with the lead editor of each journal issue being from their respective side of the Atlantic. The special issue of PE&RS (vol. 65) that constitutes the other half of this co-edited journal series was published in early 1999, comprising 6 papers by US authors. We are indebted to the International Association for Mathematical Geology for allowing us to use C&G as a vehicle to convey how geostatistics and geospatial techniques can be used to analyze remote sensing and other types of spatial data. We see this special issue of C&G. and its complementary issue of PE&RS. as a testament to the vitality and interest in the application of geostatistical and geospatial techniques in remote sensing. We also see these special journal issues as the beginning of a fruitful. and hopefully long-term relationship, between American and British geographers and other researchers interested in geostatistical and geospatial techniques applied to remote sensing and other spatial data.

  9. Computer simulation of on-orbit manned maneuvering unit operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stuart, G. M.; Garcia, K. D.

    1986-01-01

    Simulation of spacecraft on-orbit operations is discussed in reference to Martin Marietta's Space Operations Simulation laboratory's use of computer software models to drive a six-degree-of-freedom moving base carriage and two target gimbal systems. In particular, key simulation issues and related computer software models associated with providing real-time, man-in-the-loop simulations of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) are addressed with special attention given to how effectively these models and motion systems simulate the MMU's actual on-orbit operations. The weightless effects of the space environment require the development of entirely new devices for locomotion. Since the access to space is very limited, it is necessary to design, build, and test these new devices within the physical constraints of earth using simulators. The simulation method that is discussed here is the technique of using computer software models to drive a Moving Base Carriage (MBC) that is capable of providing simultaneous six-degree-of-freedom motions. This method, utilized at Martin Marietta's Space Operations Simulation (SOS) laboratory, provides the ability to simulate the operation of manned spacecraft, provides the pilot with proper three-dimensional visual cues, and allows training of on-orbit operations. The purpose here is to discuss significant MMU simulation issues, the related models that were developed in response to these issues and how effectively these models simulate the MMU's actual on-orbiter operations.

  10. Improving Software Engineering on NASA Projects

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Crumbley, Tim; Kelly, John C.

    2010-01-01

    Software Engineering Initiative: Reduces risk of software failure -Increases mission safety. More predictable software cost estimates and delivery schedules. Smarter buyer of contracted out software. More defects found and removed earlier. Reduces duplication of efforts between projects. Increases ability to meet the challenges of evolving software technology.

  11. Johnson Space Center: Workmanship Training

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Patterson, Ashley; Sikes, Larry; Corbin, Cheryl; Rucka, Becky

    2015-01-01

    Special processes require special skills, knowledge and experienced application. For over 15 years, the NASA Johnson Space Center's Receiving, Inspection and Test Facility (RITF) has provided Agency-wide NASA Workmanship Standards compliance training, issuing more than 500 to 800 training completion certificates annually. It is critical that technicians and inspectors are trained and that they maintain their proficiency to implement the applicable standards and specifications. Training services include "hands-on" training to engineers, technicians, and inspectors in the areas of electrostatic discharge (ESD), soldering, surface mount technology (SMT), crimping, conformal coating, and fiber-optic terminations.

  12. Workmanship Training Industry

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Patterson, Ashley; Sikes, Larry; Corbin, Cheryl; Rucka, Rebecca

    2015-01-01

    Special processes require special skills, knowledge and experienced application. For over 15 years, the NASA Johnson Space Center's Receiving, Inspection and Test Facility (RITF) has provided Workmanship Standards compliance training, issuing more than 500 to 800 training completion certificates annually. It is critical that technicians and inspectors are trained and that they maintain their proficiency to implement the applicable standards and specifications. Training services include 'hands-on' training to engineers, technicians, and inspectors in the areas of electrostatic discharge (ESD), soldering, fiber optics, lithium battery handling, torque and wire safety, and wire wrapping.

  13. Insider Threat Study: Illicit Cyber Activity in the Banking and Finance Sector

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-06-01

    as a computer fraud case investigated by the Secret Service. Each case was analyzed from a behavioral and a technical perspective to identify...insider threat and address the issue from an approach that draws on human resources, corporate security, and information security perspectives. The ... Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center and the CERT Coordination Center of Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute joined

  14. Evolution of Ada technology in the flight dynamics area: Implementation/testing phase analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Quimby, Kelvin L.; Esker, Linda; Miller, John; Smith, Laurie; Stark, Mike; Mcgarry, Frank

    1989-01-01

    An analysis is presented of the software engineering issues related to the use of Ada for the implementation and system testing phases of four Ada projects developed in the flight dynamics area. These projects reflect an evolving understanding of more effective use of Ada features. In addition, the testing methodology used on these projects has changed substantially from that used on previous FORTRAN projects.

  15. Usability study of clinical exome analysis software: top lessons learned and recommendations.

    PubMed

    Shyr, Casper; Kushniruk, Andre; Wasserman, Wyeth W

    2014-10-01

    New DNA sequencing technologies have revolutionized the search for genetic disruptions. Targeted sequencing of all protein coding regions of the genome, called exome analysis, is actively used in research-oriented genetics clinics, with the transition to exomes as a standard procedure underway. This transition is challenging; identification of potentially causal mutation(s) amongst ∼10(6) variants requires specialized computation in combination with expert assessment. This study analyzes the usability of user interfaces for clinical exome analysis software. There are two study objectives: (1) To ascertain the key features of successful user interfaces for clinical exome analysis software based on the perspective of expert clinical geneticists, (2) To assess user-system interactions in order to reveal strengths and weaknesses of existing software, inform future design, and accelerate the clinical uptake of exome analysis. Surveys, interviews, and cognitive task analysis were performed for the assessment of two next-generation exome sequence analysis software packages. The subjects included ten clinical geneticists who interacted with the software packages using the "think aloud" method. Subjects' interactions with the software were recorded in their clinical office within an urban research and teaching hospital. All major user interface events (from the user interactions with the packages) were time-stamped and annotated with coding categories to identify usability issues in order to characterize desired features and deficiencies in the user experience. We detected 193 usability issues, the majority of which concern interface layout and navigation, and the resolution of reports. Our study highlights gaps in specific software features typical within exome analysis. The clinicians perform best when the flow of the system is structured into well-defined yet customizable layers for incorporation within the clinical workflow. The results highlight opportunities to dramatically accelerate clinician analysis and interpretation of patient genomic data. We present the first application of usability methods to evaluate software interfaces in the context of exome analysis. Our results highlight how the study of user responses can lead to identification of usability issues and challenges and reveal software reengineering opportunities for improving clinical next-generation sequencing analysis. While the evaluation focused on two distinctive software tools, the results are general and should inform active and future software development for genome analysis software. As large-scale genome analysis becomes increasingly common in healthcare, it is critical that efficient and effective software interfaces are provided to accelerate clinical adoption of the technology. Implications for improved design of such applications are discussed. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Sensor control of robot arc welding

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sias, F. R., Jr.

    1985-01-01

    A basic problem in the application of robots for welding which is how to guide a torch along a weld seam using sensory information was studied. Improvement of the quality and consistency of certain Gas Tungsten Arc welds on the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) that are too complex geometrically for conventional automation and therefore are done by hand was examined. The particular problems associated with space shuttle main egnine (SSME) manufacturing and weld-seam tracking with an emphasis on computer vision methods were analyzed. Special interface software for the MINC computr are developed which will allow it to be used both as a test system to check out the robot interface software and later as a development tool for further investigation of sensory systems to be incorporated in welding procedures.

  17. Design of a stateless low-latency router architecture for green software-defined networking

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Saldaña Cercós, Silvia; Ramos, Ramon M.; Ewald Eller, Ana C.; Martinello, Magnos; Ribeiro, Moisés. R. N.; Manolova Fagertun, Anna; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

    2015-01-01

    Expanding software defined networking (SDN) to transport networks requires new strategies to deal with the large number of flows that future core networks will have to face. New south-bound protocols within SDN have been proposed to benefit from having control plane detached from the data plane offering a cost- and energy-efficient forwarding engine. This paper presents an overview of a new approach named KeyFlow to simultaneously reduce latency, jitter, and power consumption in core network nodes. Results on an emulation platform indicate that round trip time (RTT) can be reduced above 50% compared to the reference protocol OpenFlow, specially when flow tables are densely populated. Jitter reduction has been demonstrated experimentally on a NetFPGA-based platform, and 57.3% power consumption reduction has been achieved.

  18. Automating Software Design Metrics.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-02-01

    INTRODUCTION 1 ", ... 0..1 1.2 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE High quality software is of interest to both the software engineering com- munity and its users. As...contributions of many other software engineering efforts, most notably [MCC 77] and [Boe 83b], which have defined and refined a framework for quantifying...AUTOMATION OF DESIGN METRICS Software metrics can be useful within the context of an integrated soft- ware engineering environment. The purpose of this

  19. Specialized data analysis for the Space Shuttle Main Engine and diagnostic evaluation of advanced propulsion system components

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1993-01-01

    The Marshall Space Flight Center is responsible for the development and management of advanced launch vehicle propulsion systems, including the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), which is presently operational, and the Space Transportation Main Engine (STME) under development. The SSME's provide high performance within stringent constraints on size, weight, and reliability. Based on operational experience, continuous design improvement is in progress to enhance system durability and reliability. Specialized data analysis and interpretation is required in support of SSME and advanced propulsion system diagnostic evaluations. Comprehensive evaluation of the dynamic measurements obtained from test and flight operations is necessary to provide timely assessment of the vibrational characteristics indicating the operational status of turbomachinery and other critical engine components. Efficient performance of this effort is critical due to the significant impact of dynamic evaluation results on ground test and launch schedules, and requires direct familiarity with SSME and derivative systems, test data acquisition, and diagnostic software. Detailed analysis and evaluation of dynamic measurements obtained during SSME and advanced system ground test and flight operations was performed including analytical/statistical assessment of component dynamic behavior, and the development and implementation of analytical/statistical models to efficiently define nominal component dynamic characteristics, detect anomalous behavior, and assess machinery operational condition. In addition, the SSME and J-2 data will be applied to develop vibroacoustic environments for advanced propulsion system components, as required. This study will provide timely assessment of engine component operational status, identify probable causes of malfunction, and indicate feasible engineering solutions. This contract will be performed through accomplishment of negotiated task orders.

  20. A Review of the Suitability of Available Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) Tools for the Small Software Development Environment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-07-11

    LITERATURE CITED [Boeh73] Boehm, Barry W., "Software and its Impact: A Quantitative Assessment," Datamation, 19, 5, (May 1973), pp 48-59. [Boeh76...Boehm, Barry W., "Software Engineering," IEEE Transactions on Computers, C-25, 12, (December 1976), pp 1226-1241. [Boeh81a] Boehm, Barry W., Software...Engineering Economics, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, (1981). [Boeh8lb] Boehm, Barry W., "An Experiment in Small Scale Application Software

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