Clinton J. Woodward

Multiple objective ant colony optimisation

Multiple Objective Optimisation is a fast growing area of research, and consequently several Ant Colony Optimisation approaches have been proposed for a variety of these problems. In this paper, a taxonomy for Multiple Objective Ant Colony Optimisation algorithms is proposed and many existing approaches are reviewed and described using the taxonomy. The taxonomy offers guidelines for the development and use of Multiple Objective Ant Colony Optimisation algorithms.

Detecting structural changes in object oriented software systems

It is an increasingly accepted fact that software development is a non-linear activity with inherently feedback driven processes. In such a development environment, however, it is important that major structural changes in the design and/or architecture of a software system under development are introduced with care and documented accordingly. In order to give developers appropriate tools that can identify such changes, we need to have a good understanding how software systems evolve over time so that evolutionary anomalies can be automatically detected. In this paper, we present recurring high-level structural and evolutionary patterns that we have observed in a number of public-domain object-oriented software systems and define a simple predictive model that can aid developers in detecting structural changes and as a consequence, improve the underlying development processes.

Toward constructive alignment with portfolio assessment for introductory programming

Learning to program is widely agreed to be a challenging task for many students. Introductory programming units are typically taken by largely diverse student cohorts, with a range of different learning approaches and prior programming knowledge. With issues such as declining enrolments and high attrition, alternate methods for teaching introductory programming need to be investigated. Constructive alignment is a student-centered model of education that aims to enhance learning through the amalgamation of constructivism and aligned curriculum. Constructive alignment encourages students to adopt deep approaches to learning, which should be beneficial to students in introductory programming. This paper proposes an approach for using constructive alignment with portfolio assessment in the teaching of introductory programming, together with preliminary results and analysis.

Helping students track learning progress using burn down charts

Agile software development methods, such as Scrum, have adopted the use of burn down charts to help track progress by development teams. We considered if this same technique could be applied to help students track their progress in programming units. Tools that help students visually track their progress may help address issues with time management, particularly in units that make use of frequent formative feedback. In this work we describe such a tool, named Doubtfire, and explain its use in helping students keep track of their progress across a number of undergraduate programming units.

ESDL: a simple description language for population-based evolutionary computation

A large proportion of publications in the field of evolutionary computation describe algorithm specialisation and experimentation. Algorithms are variously described using text, tables, flowcharts, functions or pseudocode. However, ambiguity that can limit the efficiency of communication is common. Evolutionary System Definition Language (ESDL) is a conceptual model and language for describing evolutionary systems efficiently and with reduced ambiguity, including systems with multiple populations and adaptive parameters. ESDL may also be machine-interpreted, allowing algorithms to be tested without requiring a hand-coded implementation, as may already be done using the esec framework. The style is distinct from existing notations used within the field and is easily recognisable. This paper describes the case for ESDL, provides an overview of ESDL and examples of its use.

On the Resilience of Classes to Change

Software systems evolve over time incrementally and sections of code are modified. But, how much does code really change? Lehmans laws suggest that software must be continuously adapted to be useful. We have studied the evolution of several public domain object-oriented software systems and analyzed the rate as well as the amount of change that individual classes undergo as they evolve. Our observations suggest that although classes are modified, the majority of changes are minor and only a small proportion of classes undergo significant modification.

Examining student progress in portfolio assessed introductory programming

Constructive alignment has gained wide acceptance as a pedagogical approach that promotes deep learning, and portfolio assessment offers a natural means of achieving this. This work examines students progress in an introductory programming unit that used portfolio assessment to implement constructive alignment. Charts visually showing student progress provided material for a thematic analysis. This paper categorizes these charts into several classes, and discusses insight this gives into the teaching and learning approach used. These results can be used to inform the development of constructively aligned units using this approach.

An analysis of courtroom evidence presentation technology requirements and current solutions

With the ever-increasing volumes of evidence being used in todays courts, evidence presentation is an area that may be best modernised in Australian courtrooms through the use of Information Technology to greatly increase efficiency and effectiveness. In this paper we have identified some of the key usability requirements for evidence presentation applications to run on tablet technology. This study analyses three current evidence presentation applications for the iPad for their individual usability qualities, and against the requirements established. The study identified deficiencies in the three applications tested, particularly in the area of document annotation. As a result we propose a number of design principles that will ideally improve the usability of evidence presentation applications for iPads and other tablet technologies. This study will be extended to include different tablet operating systems, and focus on the changes in the design principles that are dependent on available tablet work area size.

Diversity preservation using excited particle swarm optimisation

The particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm suffers from the possibility of premature convergence. This problem has historically been addressed ab intra - manipulating velocity and swarm topology - yet the judicious addition of external mechanisms has been shown to adjust search behaviour to yield significantly improved results across many problems. This paper introduces an addition to the canonical particle swarm algorithm, designed to preserve the diversity typically lost by attraction to suboptimal positions. The proposed excited PSO method stimulates exploration upon the discovery of a candidate solution by manipulating the position to which particles are attracted. It is shown to maintain a suitable degree of diversity for the duration of an experiment, as well as an ability for self-scaling. Comparisons to the canonical PSO algorithm demonstrate improved solutions in both unimodal and multimodal spaces.

On domain-specific decision support systems for e-sports strategy games

Extensive domain-specific Decision Support Systems (DSS) have been developed for use by commentators and team managers in professional sports. Particularly developed DSS are available in basketball, baseball, and motorsports. E-sports is a burgeoning new field of professional sports, wherein a video game is played as a sport. This paper will develop a set of criteria to measure the capabilities and limitations of DSS in professional sport based on academic descriptions of DSS and the existing applications of DSS to traditional professional sports leagues. These criteria will be applied to the video game StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, as a popular e-sports title that is representative of the DSS characteristics of e-sports games. Based upon the developed metrics, this paper will propose additions and modifications to the DSS available in StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, and the e-sports field at large.