Ahmad Jaffar

Learning & Personality Types: A Case Study of a Software Design Course

Introduction The Software Engineering curriculum in most of the universities around the world aims to provide education and hands-on training in various phases of the software development life cycle. The waterfall model of the software development cycle is generally covered in the curriculum of software engineering, despite being classified as an old approach to software development. Design is a fundamental activity in software development and involves the identification of the major sub-systems and their relationship at an abstract level. It involves problem solving and creating a workable and implementable solution. The software design is ultimately translated into code, which takes the physical shape of the software running on any machine. According to Budgen (2003) the design process in its classical form is a scientific approach to problem solving typically consisting of observing the characteristics of some phenomenon, making measurements of these, building a theory to explain them, and then seeking to verify these. According to Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (Hilburn, Hirmanpour, Khajenoori, Turner, & Qasem, 1999): Software design area is concerned with the transformation of the statement of requirements into a description of how these requirements are to be implemented. Software design consists of activities such as architectural design, abstract specification, interface design, component design, data structure design, tasking design, and algorithm design. Software design uses a variety of techniques and forms of representation, each providing a capability for capturing and expressing a different view of the system. (p. 17) The psychological hypothesis that not everyone can perform all tasks effectively reveals that personality traits or types play a critical role in the performance of people executing the same task. The personality type of an individual generates a great deal of impact on the performance of various activities that humans can carry out. The behavior of individuals with a particular type of personality reflects the way these people perceive the world and make decisions. This personality type classification covers many aspects of human behavior such as attitude, action and reaction, thinking, learning, feeling, and lifestyle. In this work we are concentrating on the role of personality type in learning one of the core phases of software development life cycle. The study will aid us in understanding how different personality types of the students influence progress in a software design course. Keeping in view the significantly important phases of the software development cycle, the objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the personality type in acquiring the knowledge and necessary skills for the design process. The overall objective of this study is to find an answer to the following research question (RQ): RQ: Does personality type have an impact on the learning capability of the students in acquiring skills and knowledge of the software design process? Literature Survey There have been several studies that have dealt with the personality types, particularly in computer science and software engineering education. It is a common phenomenon that people have different personality traits, and the way they perceive, plan, and execute any assigned task is influenced by it. Software is a product of human activity, which often includes problem solving capabilities, cognitive aspects, and social interaction. On the other hand, human beings are more complicated and less predictable than computers. Therefore, the complexity of human personality gives rise to intricate dynamics along software development that cannot be ignored, but have often been overlooked. In their paper, McCaulley, MacDavid, and Walsh (1987) provide empirical evidence that the students having the personality traits of introvert and thinker are most likely to complete their degree programs, while students classified as extroverts and perceivers do not move along with their degree completion requirements. …

Myths and Realities about Online Forums in Open Source Software Development: An Empirical Study

The use of free and open source software (OSS) is gaining momentum due to the ever increasing availability and use of the Internet. Organizations are also now adopting open source software, despite some reservations, in particular regarding the provision and availability of support. Some of the biggest concerns about free and open source software are post release software defects and their rectification, management of dynamic requirements and support to the users. A common belief is that there is no appropriate support available for this class of software. A contradictory argument is that due to the active involvement of Internet users in online forums, there is in fact a large resource available that communi- cates and manages the provision of support. The research model of this empirical investigation examines the evidence available to assess whether this commonly held belief is based on facts given the current developments in OSS or simply a myth, which has developed around OSS development. We analyzed a dataset consisting of 1880 open source software projects covering a broad range of categories in this investigation. The results show that online forums play a significant role in managing software defects, implementation of new requirements and providing support to the users in open source software and have become a major source of assistance in maintenance of the open source projects.

Managing support requests in open source software project: The role of online forums

The use of free and open source software is gaining momentum due to the ever increasing availability and use of the Internet. Organizations are also now adopting open source software, despite some reservations in particular regarding the provision and availability of support. One of the greatest concerns about free and open source software is the availability of post release support and the handling of for support. A common belief is that there is no appropriate support available for this class of software, while an alternative argument is that due to the active involvement of Internet users in online forums, there is in fact a large resource available that communicates and manages the management of support requests. The research model of this empirical investigation establishes and studies the relationship between open source software support requests and online public forums. The results of this empirical study provide evidence about the realities of support that is present in open source software projects. We used a dataset consisting of 616 open source software projects covering a broad range of categories in this investigation. The results show that online forums play a significant role in managing support requests in open source software, thus becoming a major source of assistance in maintenance of the open source projects

A Neural Network Based Approach to Wind Energy Yield Forecasting

It is commonly acknowledged that wind energy is the leading renewable energy generation method; currently producing a power yield equivalent to 35 GW, with an estimated projection of 40-60 GW by 2012. In order to successfully integrate wind energy with traditional generation supplies it is necessary to have the ability to accurately forecast the available yield of a wind installation during a period of time. In this paper we present a neural network based estimation tool which produces wind speed estimates for a given wind installation. These predications are subsequently used in industry standard calculations to produce an energy yield estimate for the wind installation over a given time period. The proposed approach produces forecasts that can be used for two main purposes; firstly, delivery of wind (energy) yield estimations and secondly to assess the suitability of a given location for development into a wind park site. The tool makes use of a Multi-layered Perceptron which has been trained with historical data to produce a set of predicted wind speed data for a given period. This data is then processed in conjunction with independent variables, including Turbine Generator type and altitude to give an estimated power yield and expected uncertainty of the forecast (in terms of percentage capacity factor). Our results indicate that by using such a neural network approach the accuracy of the tool is sufficiently accurate to for short to medium estimations and could prove a valuable tool for wind energy producers and utility operators.

Applying Mobile Computing Technology in Traceability of a Poultry Production System

Traceability is defined in the ISO Regulation 9000:2000 as the ability to trace the history, application and location of what is under consideration. Traceability systems are record keeping systems designed to track the flow of product or product attributes through the production process or supply chain. All international supply chains are forced to comply with traceability requirements. In this project, we develop and implement an end-to-end mobile application that traces the poultry production. The application consists of front-end and back-end systems. At the front-end, the worker uses a handheld device (cell phone, PDA, etc.) to enter and send the information collected at the field to the back-end server. The handheld device should be connected to the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless network, and should be GPRS enabled. The back-end server documents all information received from the front-end and make them available, through the Internet, to system administrators. The back-end system consists of web server, application logic and database server.

Preparing Future IT Managers for the Services Economy

This paper presents a new postgraduate program in IT management which contains a core component designed to equip IT professionals in the United Arab Emirates with the necessary skills to transition to the emerging services driven economy. Candidates enrolled in this program will be graduates from an IT related field who wish to develop their career path into a management role. The program is aimed to provide a solid platform for management of a diverse range of specialist IT management while exposing candidates to the changes required in shifting to the design, delivery and support of services.