Teaching software engineering fundamentals to practicing engineers

This paper describes an ongoing collaboration between Boeing Australia Limited and the University of Queensland to develop and deliver an introductory course on software engineering for Boeing Australia. The aim of the course is to provide a common understanding for all Boeing Australia's engineering staff of the nature of software engineering and the practices used throughout Boeing Australia. It is meant as an introductory course that can be presented to people with varying backgrounds, such as recent software engineering graduates, systems engineers, quality assurance personnel, etc. The paper describes the structure and content of the course, and the evaluation techniques used to collect feedback from the participants and the corresponding results. The course has been well-received by the participants, but the feedback from the course has indicated a need for more advanced courses in specific areas.

Proceedings of the 2004 Australian Software Engineering Conference

Established in 1986, ASWEC is the premier technical meeting for the Australian Software Engineering Community, and attracts a significant number of international participants. The conference is sponsored by both Engineers Australia and the Australian Computer Society. The major goal of the conference is to provide a forum for exchanging experience and new research results in software engineering. The technical program for ASWEC 2004 includes research papers from Australia and across the world. This year we received 79 submissions from 12 countries: 56 from Australia, 6 from New Zealand, 9 from Asia, 4 from Europe, and 4 from North America. All papers were fully refereed by three (two papers by only two) Program Committee members. We accepted 36 papers to be presented at the conference. We are grateful to all authors who contributed to ASWEC 2004. In addition to the technical papers, the conference program also includes two keynote speakers and one panel on Software Engineering accreditation. We are very pleased about being able to attract Philippe Kruchten, University of British Columbia, and Ian Hayes, The University of Queensland, as the keynote speakers for this conference.

Proceedings of the 2005 Australian Software Engineering Conference

Established in 1986, ASWEC is the premier technical meeting for the Australian software engineering community, and attracts a significant number of international participants. The major goal of the conference is to provide a forum for exchanging experience and new research results in software engineering. To increase the industry participation at ASWEC, we organized two separate paper tracks, which we have called Research Papers and Industry Experience Reports. These paper tracks had separate deadlines, separate program committees, separate review procedures, and separate proceedings. The Research Papers appear in these proceedings and the Industry Experience Reports will appear on a CD-Rom that will be distributed at the conference. The Research Papers track for ASWEC 2005 includes submissions from Australia and across the world. This year we received 79 submissions from 13 countries: 48 from Australia, 7 from New Zealand, 11 from Asia, 9 from Europe, and 2 each from North and South America. All papers were fully refereed by three Program Committee members. We accepted 34 papers to be presented at the conference. We are grateful to all authors who contributed to ASWEC.

Proceedings Ninth Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference. ASPEC 2002

The following topics are dealt with: Requirements engineering; components; design; formal specification analysis; education; model checking; human computer interaction; software design and architecture; formal methods and components; software maintenance; software process; formal methods and design; server-based applications; review and testing; measurement; documentation; management and knowledge-based approaches.

A two-phase approach for detecting recombination in nucleotide sequences

Genetic recombination can produce heterogeneous phylogenetic histories within a set of homologous genes. Delineating recombination events is important in the study of molecular evolution, as inference of such events provides a clearer picture of the phylogenetic relationships among different gene sequences or genomes. Nevertheless, detecting recombination events can be a daunting task, as the performance of different recombination-detecting approaches can vary, depending on evolutionary events that take place after recombination. We recently evaluated the effects of post-recombination events on the prediction accuracy of recombination-detecting approaches using simulated nucleotide sequence data. The main conclusion, supported by other studies, is that one should not depend on a single method when searching for recombination events. In this paper, we introduce a two-phase strategy, applying three statistical measures to detect the occurrence of recombination events, and a Bayesian phylogenetic approach in delineating breakpoints of such events in nucleotide sequences. We evaluate the performance of these approaches using simulated data, and demonstrate the applicability of this strategy to empirical data. The two-phase strategy proves to be time-efficient when applied to large datasets, and yields high-confidence results.

Compact tiled display with uniform illumination

The demand for more pixels is beginning to be met as manufacturers increase the native resolution of projector chips. Tiling several projectors still offers a solution to augment the pixel capacity of a display. However, problems of color and illumination uniformity across projectors need to be addressed as well as the computer software required to drive such devices. We present the results obtained on a desktop-size tiled projector array of three D-ILA projectors sharing a common illumination source. A short throw lens (0.8:1) on each projector yields a 21-in. diagonal for each image tile; the composite image on a 3×1 array is 3840×1024 pixels with a resolution of about 80 dpi. The system preserves desktop resolution, is compact, and can fit in a normal room or laboratory. The projectors are mounted on precision six-axis positioners, which allow pixel level alignment. A fiber optic beamsplitting system and a single set of red, green, and blue dichroic filters are the key to color and illumination uniformity. The D-ILA chips inside each projector can be adjusted separately to set or change characteristics such as contrast, brightness, or gamma curves. The projectors were then matched carefully: photometric variations were corrected, leading to a seamless image. Photometric measurements were performed to characterize the display and are reported here. This system is driven by a small PC cluster fitted with graphics cards and running Linux. It can be scaled to accommodate an array of 2×3 or 3×3 projectors, thus increasing the number of pixels of the final image. Finally, we present current uses of the display in fields such as astrophysics and archaeology (remote sensing).

Spatial Technologies: What use are they to managers of environmental lands?

This paper reviews the potential use of three types of spatial technology to land managers, namely satellite imagery, satellite positioning systems and supporting computer software. Developments in remote sensing and the relative advantages of multispectral and hyperspectral images are discussed. The main challenge to the wider use of remote sensing as a land management tool is seen as uncertainty whether apparent relationships between biophysical variables and spectral reflectance are direct and causal, or artefacts of particular images. Developments in satellite positioning systems are presented in the context of land managers’ need for position estimates in situations where absolute precision may or may not be required. The role of computer software in supporting developments in spatial technology is described. Spatial technologies are seen as having matured beyond empirical applications to the stage where they are useful and reliable land management tools. In addition, computer software has become more user-friendly and this has facilitated data collection and manipulation by semi-expert as well as specialist staff.