Geoffrey G. Roy

A risk management framework for software engineering practice

Formal risk analysis and management in software engineering is still an emerging part of project management. We provide a brief introduction to the concepts of risk management for software development projects, and then an overview of a new risk management framework. Risk management for software projects is intended to minimize the chances of unexpected events, or more specifically to keep all possible outcomes under tight management control. Risk management is also concerned with making judgments about how risk events are to be treated, valued, compared and combined. The ProRisk management framework is intended to account for a number of the key risk management principles required for managing the process of software development. It also provides a support environment to operationalize these management tasks.

Sky analysis from CCD images: cloud cover

One of the tasks in sky modelling is the determination of the location and amount of cloud coverage in the sky. Analysis using digital camera systems is possible but requires an automated method of separating sky images into clear sky and cloud regions. Two segmentation approaches have been used in this research, one based purely upon the colour characteristics of sky regions, the other a neural network approach using a wider range of variables. A convolution technique was developed to reduce classification errors prior to defining cloud outlines using polylines. Sensitivity analysis shows that this can be carried out efficiently with little loss of accuracy.

Towards a visual programming environment for software development

Visual programming concerns the use of graphical tools and visual metaphors for software. While various visual programming tools have been proposed, their success is largely limited to specialised programming domains. There has been less success in more general programming applications. In this paper we review a subset of the family of visual programming environments and then argue that the potential of visual programming may be better realised within the functional style of programming. Functional programming paradigms offer a range of interesting advantages when extended into graphical/visual environments. The much simpler syntactical rules reduce the range of visual metaphors required to define and facilitate a general programming language and thus may provide some help towards the provision of more robust programming environments.

A framework for risk analysis in software engineering

The paper is concerned with the risks associated with software development and with the range of factors that can impact on the quality of the project management process. The management goal is to mitigate these risks leaving the project plan as unperturbed as possible. To achieve this goal risk analysis must attempt to identify the high risk elements of the project, provide ways of documenting the impacts of risk mitigation strategies and review the risks on a continuing basis as the project proceeds. A model is proposed for such risk analysis and to demonstrate its realization in a risk management tool, ProRisk.

An Implementation of the Method of Aperture Meridians for the ISO/CIE Standard General Sky

The use of the new ISO/CIE Standard General Sky offers some new challenges for lighting designers. The MAMmodeller package described in this study provides a user-friendly tool for visualizing each of the SSLD 15 models in simple design contexts. The method of aperture meridians (MAM) provides a relatively simple geometric framework to estimate the appearance of the sky as a luminance map in the window opening, as seen from a point of interest inside the room. In addition, the total horizontal illuminance at the same point is estimated. This provides the user or designer with a quick tool for undertaking preliminary design investigations. MAMmodeller is not a complete lighting design tool, it considers only sunlight and the diffuse light component from the sky entering through the window opening. It does not account for internal reflections, artificial lighting, or external reflections.

The Graphical Translation of English Text into Signed English in the Hand Sign Translator System

Signed English is a manual interpretation of English using fingerspelling and signs. A prototype of the Hand Sign Translator (HST) system was developed to graphically translate English into Signed English, using two‐handed animation. The HST consists of a practical interface that aims to help users learn Signed English, and the translation process where English text is transformed into a series of images that represent corresponding signs. This paper describes the translation process which involves two stages; the input environment and the animation process. The input environment consists of text analysis in order to extract corresponding kinematic data from the database, named English‐Sign Dictionary (ESD). The data is then used as an input to the animation process, Firstly, the skeleton models of keyframe images and their in‐between poses are calculated. Secondly, appropriate volume models are applied in order to surround the surface of skin. Then the shapes that are suitable for painting are generated, and finally images are drawn and rendered using a smooth animation technique.

Applications of psychology to computer‐based tutoring systems

Recent theory and research in psychology suggests that computer‐managed tutoring systems should have two goals. One goal should be to impact knowledge, that is, the rules or algorithms that lead to optimal performance of the task in question. A second goal should be to teach novices to represent or use this knowledge in the way that an expert would, and this involves more than simply teaching rules. A brief review of selected tutoring systems shows that current systems have contrasting strengths and weaknesses. Intelligent tutoring systems are relatively good in imparting knowledge but poor at teaching appropriate knowledge representations, whereas simulation‐based tutoring systems that provide exploratory learning environments may be poor at imparting knowledge, but are likely to be good at teaching appropriate knowledge representations. We conclude with a very general description of a hybrid tutoring system that aims to accomplish bom goals.

Computer-Aided Regional Planning: Applications for the Perth and Helsinki Regions

The ISP computer system for interactive spatial planning was originally developed as a part of a project concerning land-use planning in the Malmö region of Sweden. In its first versions it was set up for use on mainframe computers. Land-use models were developed using this version of the computer system for Stockholm and Perth. During the last few years the system has been redesigned for a sun workstation environment. The background for this redevelopment has been the use of the system for the preparation of a land-use plan for the metropolitan region of Helsinki. The philosophy of the ISP system is to develop an interactive work environment for the generation and evaluation of land-use plan alternatives. The focus is on man-machine interaction and flexibility of model development. The current paper outlines the properties of the current version of the ISP system and the traits of the models designed for Perth and Helsinki planners. The paper uses the Perth application to demonstrate the modelling capabilities within the system. The Helsinki application is used as a means to illustrate some traits of the graphics interface.

Constructing engineering knowledge: development of an online learning environment

With the development of new undergraduate degree programmes within Murdoch Universitys School of Engineering, the decision was made to offer courses, as much as practical, online. This provides numerous challenges to be addressed including considerations of curriculum design and learning issues. Within the software engineering program, an infrastructure has been developed to address these issues and to enable students to exercise a measure of control over their learning experiences.

Functional visual programming interface to geographical information systems

Abstract Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are now widely used for the manipulation of spatial data. Clear limitations in the design of GIS for the user are identified, notably the limited knowledge represented within the systems, the time and difficulty involved in becoming a competent user and, in many cases, the low-level nature of the commands. One of the principal requirements of a more knowledgable GIS involves the representation of knowledge related to a number of features: the data in the system; the operations that can be performed; the processing of requests; and the presentation of results. Many of the ideas presented can be generally applied to other query language driven systems. The approach taken to the design and implementation of a prototype high-level interface to GIS is based on the functional style of programming. Functional languages appear to offer some important properties, for example: the strong and polymorphic typing and the ease with which new types can be defined; the ability to order the knowledge base within functions; and the facility to create functional hierarchies composed of compound or higher-order functions which allow high-level operations to be manipulated as units. It is described how a functional solution to the problems can be represented by a command based approach and how this can be improved upon through the use of a graphical user interface with direct manipulation of objects/icons.