Um estudo sobre a utilização do software SCRATCH como ferramenta de apoio ao ensino da disciplina de lógica de programação

Learning to program or master a programming language is not an easy task, and the base of process should by study Logic Programming, beginning to learning through the development of pseudocodes, algorithms and flowcharts, for, techniques that facilitate the construction and understanding of what you want to accomplish, to that is subsequently developed or elaborated a program. Reflecting on the learning of Logic Programming, this article presents information about software SCRATCH in relation to logic (pseudocodes), and how it provides support to the understanding of student learning in this course.

Artificial neural networks applied to bandsawing process control

In the search for productivity increase, industry has invested on the development of intelligent, flexible and self-adjusting method, capable of controlling processes through the assistance of autonomous systems, independently whether they are hardware or software. Notwithstanding, simulating conventional computational techniques is rather challenging, regarding the complexity and non-linearity of the production systems. Compared to traditional models, the approach with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) performs well as noise suppression and treatment of non-linear data. Therefore, the challenges in the wood industry justify the use of ANN as a tool for process improvement and, consequently, add value to the final product. Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence techniques such as Neuro-Fuzzy Networks (NFNs) have proven effective, since NFNs combine the ability to learn from previous examples and generalize the acquired information from the ANNs with the capacity of Fuzzy Logic to transform linguistic variables in rules.

Avaliação do software Autodesk Revit 2016 para quantificação por meio da modelagem da informação da construção

The building budgeting quickly and accurately is a challenge faced by the companies in the sector. The cost estimation process is performed from the quantity takeoff and this process of quantification, historically, through the analysis of the project, scope of work and project information contained in 2D design, text files and spreadsheets. This method, in many cases, present itself flawed, influencing the making management decisions, once it is closely coupled to time and cost management. In this scenario, this work intends to make a critical analysis of conventional process of quantity takeoff, from the quantification through 2D designs, and with the use of the software Autodesk Revit 2016, which uses the concepts of building information modeling for automated quantity takeoff of 3D model construction. It is noted that the 3D modeling process should be aligned with the goals of budgeting. The use of BIM technology programs provides several benefits compared to traditional quantity takeoff process, representing gains in productivity, transparency and assertiveness

Using Source-Code Analysis to Help End-user Programmers Create Dependable Software

Not long ago, most software was written by professional programmers, who could be presumed to have an interest in software engineering methodologies and in tools and techniques for improving software dependability. Today, however, a great deal of software is written not by professionals but by end-users, who create applications such as multimedia simulations, dynamic web pages, and spreadsheets. Applications such as these are often used to guide important decisions or aid in important tasks, and it is important that they be sufficiently dependable, but evidence shows that they frequently are not. For example, studies have shown that a large percentage of the spreadsheets created by end-users contain faults. Despite such evidence, until recently, relatively little research had been done to help end-users create more dependable software. We have been working to address this problem by finding ways to provide at least some of the benefits of formal software engineering techniques to end-user programmers. In this talk, focusing on the spreadsheet application paradigm, I present several of our approaches, focusing on methodologies that utilize source-code-analysis techniques to help end-users build more dependable spreadsheets. Behind the scenes, our methodologies use static analyses such as dataflow analysis and slicing, together with dynamic analyses such as execution monitoring, to support user tasks such as validation and fault localization. I show how, to accommodate the user base of spreadsheet languages, an interface to these methodologies can be provided in a manner that does not require an understanding of the theory behind the analyses, yet supports the interactive, incremental process by which spreadsheets are created. Finally, I present empirical results gathered in the use of our methodologies that highlight several costs and benefits trade-offs, and many opportunities for future work.

Avaliação do software Autodesk Revit 2016 para quantificação por meio da modelagem da informação da construção

The building budgeting quickly and accurately is a challenge faced by the companies in the sector. The cost estimation process is performed from the quantity takeoff and this process of quantification, historically, through the analysis of the project, scope of work and project information contained in 2D design, text files and spreadsheets. This method, in many cases, present itself flawed, influencing the making management decisions, once it is closely coupled to time and cost management. In this scenario, this work intends to make a critical analysis of conventional process of quantity takeoff, from the quantification through 2D designs, and with the use of the software Autodesk Revit 2016, which uses the concepts of building information modeling for automated quantity takeoff of 3D model construction. It is noted that the 3D modeling process should be aligned with the goals of budgeting. The use of BIM technology programs provides several benefits compared to traditional quantity takeoff process, representing gains in productivity, transparency and assertiveness

THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF SOFTWARE TO VERIFY DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY

This article describes the development and evaluation of software that verifies the accuracy of diagnoses made by nursing students. The software was based on a model that uses fuzzy logic concepts, including PERL, the MySQL database for Internet accessibility, and the NANDA-I 2007-2008 classification system. The software was evaluated in terms of its technical quality and usability through specific instruments. The activity proposed in the software involves four stages in which students establish the relationship values between nursing diagnoses, defining characteristics/risk factors and clinical cases. The relationship values determined by students are compared to those of specialists, generating performance scores for the students. In the evaluation, the software demonstrated satisfactory outcomes regarding the technical quality and, according to the students, helped in their learning and may become an educational tool to teach the process of nursing diagnosis.

L'analisi di rischio nel trasporto stradale di merci pericolose: due software a confronto

Confronto tra due software specifici per l'analisi di rischio nel trasporto stradale di merci pericolose (TRAT GIS 4.1 e QRAM 3.6) mediante applicazione a un caso di studio semplice e al caso reale di Casalecchio di Reno, comune della provincia di Bologna.

Automatic code generation: from process algebraic architectural descriptions to multithreaded java programs

Process algebraic architectural description languages provide a formal means for modeling software systems and assessing their properties. In order to bridge the gap between system modeling and system im- plementation, in this thesis an approach is proposed for automatically generating multithreaded object-oriented code from process algebraic architectural descriptions, in a way that preserves – under certain assumptions – the properties proved at the architectural level. The approach is divided into three phases, which are illustrated by means of a running example based on an audio processing system. First, we develop an architecture-driven technique for thread coordination management, which is completely automated through a suitable package. Second, we address the translation of the algebraically-specified behavior of the individual software units into thread templates, which will have to be filled in by the software developer according to certain guidelines. Third, we discuss performance issues related to the suitability of synthesizing monitors rather than threads from software unit descriptions that satisfy specific constraints. In addition to the running example, we present two case studies about a video animation repainting system and the implementation of a leader election algorithm, in order to summarize the whole approach. The outcome of this thesis is the implementation of the proposed approach in a translator called PADL2Java and its integration in the architecture-centric verification tool TwoTowers.

Development of Software Tools for the Test of Ultra Wide Band Receivers

In the last years, the importance of locating people and objects and communicating with them in real time has become a common occurrence in every day life. Nowadays, the state of the art of location systems for indoor environments has not a dominant technology as instead occurs in location systems for outdoor environments, where GPS is the dominant technology. In fact, each location technology for indoor environments presents a set of features that do not allow their use in the overall application scenarios, but due its characteristics, it can well coexist with other similar technologies, without being dominant and more adopted than the others indoor location systems. In this context, the European project SELECT studies the opportunity of collecting all these different features in an innovative system which can be used in a large number of application scenarios. The goal of this project is to realize a wireless system, where a network of fixed readers able to query one or more tags attached to objects to be located. The SELECT consortium is composed of European institutions and companies, including Datalogic S.p.A. and CNIT, which deal with software and firmware development of the baseband receiving section of the readers, whose function is to acquire and process the information received from generic tagged objects. Since the SELECT project has an highly innovative content, one of the key stages of the system design is represented by the debug phase. This work aims to study and develop tools and techniques that allow to perform the debug phase of the firmware of the baseband receiving section of the readers.

Strategic decision making in international firms: effect of top management team internationalization on international strategic decision process

In this research project, I have integrated two research streams on international strategic decisions making in international firms: upper echelons or top management teams (TMT) internationalization research and international strategic decision making process research. Both research streams in international business literature have evolved independently, but there is a potential in combining these two streams of research. The first empirical paper “TMT internationalization and international strategic decision making process: a decision level analysis of rationality, speed, and performance” explores the influence of TMT internationalization on strategic decision rationality and speed and, subsequently, their effect on international strategic decision effectiveness (performance). The results show that the internationalization of TMT is positively related to decision effectiveness and this relationship is mediated by decision rationality while the hypotheses regarding the association between TMT internationalization and decision speed, and the mediating effect of speed were not supported. The second paper “TMT internationalization and international strategic decision rationality: the mediating role of international information” of my thesis is a simple but logical extension of first paper. The first paper showed that TMT Internationalization has a significant positive effect on international strategic decision rationality. The second paper explicitly showed that TMT internationalization affect on international strategic decision rationality comes from two sources: international experience (personal international knowledge and information) and international information collected from managerial international contacts. For this research project, I have collected data from international software firms in Pakistan. My research contributes to the literature on upper echelons theory and strategic decision making in context of international business and international firms by explicitly examining the link between TMT internationalization and characteristics of strategic decisions making process (i.e. rationality and speed) in international firms and their possible mediating effect on performance.

Software zur automatischen Tumordiagnose in der funktionalen MRT der weiblichen Brust

In den westlichen Industrieländern ist das Mammakarzinom der häufigste bösartige Tumor der Frau. Sein weltweiter Anteil an allen Krebserkrankungen der Frau beläuft sich auf etwa 21 %. Inzwischen ist jede neunte Frau bedroht, während ihres Lebens an Brustkrebs zu erkranken. Die alterstandardisierte Mortalitätrate liegt derzeit bei knapp 27 %.rnrnDas Mammakarzinom hat eine relative geringe Wachstumsrate. Die Existenz eines diagnostischen Verfahrens, mit dem alle Mammakarzinome unter 10 mm Durchmesser erkannt und entfernt werden, würden den Tod durch Brustkrebs praktisch beseitigen. Denn die 20-Jahres-Überlebungsrate bei Erkrankung durch initiale Karzinome der Größe 5 bis 10 mm liegt mit über 95 % sehr hoch.rnrnMit der Kontrastmittel gestützten Bildgebung durch die MRT steht eine relativ junge Untersuchungsmethode zur Verfügung, die sensitiv genug zur Erkennung von Karzinomen ab einer Größe von 3 mm Durchmesser ist. Die diagnostische Methodik ist jedoch komplex, fehleranfällig, erfordert eine lange Einarbeitungszeit und somit viel Erfahrung des Radiologen.rnrnEine Computer unterstützte Diagnosesoftware kann die Qualität einer solch komplexen Diagnose erhöhen oder zumindest den Prozess beschleunigen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung einer vollautomatischen Diagnose Software, die als Zweitmeinungssystem eingesetzt werden kann. Meines Wissens existiert eine solche komplette Software bis heute nicht.rnrnDie Software führt eine Kette von verschiedenen Bildverarbeitungsschritten aus, die dem Vorgehen des Radiologen nachgeahmt wurden. Als Ergebnis wird eine selbstständige Diagnose für jede gefundene Läsion erstellt: Zuerst eleminiert eine 3d Bildregistrierung Bewegungsartefakte als Vorverarbeitungsschritt, um die Bildqualität der nachfolgenden Verarbeitungsschritte zu verbessern. Jedes kontrastanreichernde Objekt wird durch eine regelbasierte Segmentierung mit adaptiven Schwellwerten detektiert. Durch die Berechnung kinetischer und morphologischer Merkmale werden die Eigenschaften der Kontrastmittelaufnahme, Form-, Rand- und Textureeigenschaften für jedes Objekt beschrieben. Abschließend werden basierend auf den erhobenen Featurevektor durch zwei trainierte neuronale Netze jedes Objekt in zusätzliche Funde oder in gut- oder bösartige Läsionen klassifiziert.rnrnDie Leistungsfähigkeit der Software wurde auf Bilddaten von 101 weiblichen Patientinnen getested, die 141 histologisch gesicherte Läsionen enthielten. Die Vorhersage der Gesundheit dieser Läsionen ergab eine Sensitivität von 88 % bei einer Spezifität von 72 %. Diese Werte sind den in der Literatur bekannten Vorhersagen von Expertenradiologen ähnlich. Die Vorhersagen enthielten durchschnittlich 2,5 zusätzliche bösartige Funde pro Patientin, die sich als falsch klassifizierte Artefakte herausstellten.rn

TA-RE: An Exchange Language for Mining Software Repositories

Software repositories have been getting a lot of attention from researchers in recent years. In order to analyze software repositories, it is necessary to first extract raw data from the version control and problem tracking systems. This poses two challenges: (1) extraction requires a non-trivial effort, and (2) the results depend on the heuristics used during extraction. These challenges burden researchers that are new to the community and make it difficult to benchmark software repository mining since it is almost impossible to reproduce experiments done by another team. In this paper we present the TA-RE corpus. TA-RE collects extracted data from software repositories in order to build a collection of projects that will simplify extraction process. Additionally the collection can be used for benchmarking. As the first step we propose an exchange language capable of making sharing and reusing data as simple as possible.

An Active Learning Module for an Introduction to Software Engineering Course

Many schools do not begin to introduce college students to software engineering until they have had at least one semester of programming. Since software engineering is a large, complex, and abstract subject it is difficult to construct active learning exercises that build on the students’ elementary knowledge of programming and still teach basic software engineering principles. It is also the case that beginning students typically know how to construct small programs, but they have little experience with the techniques necessary to produce reliable and long-term maintainable modules. I have addressed these two concerns by defining a local standard (Montana Tech Method (MTM) Software Development Standard for Small Modules Template) that step-by-step directs students toward the construction of highly reliable small modules using well known, best-practices software engineering techniques. “Small module” is here defined as a coherent development task that can be unit tested, and can be car ried out by a single (or a pair of) software engineer(s) in at most a few weeks. The standard describes the process to be used and also provides a template for the top-level documentation. The instructional module’s sequence of mini-lectures and exercises associated with the use of this (and other) local standards are used throughout the course, which perforce covers more abstract software engineering material using traditional reading and writing assignments. The sequence of mini-lectures and hands-on assignments (many of which are done in small groups) constitutes an instructional module that can be used in any similar software engineering course.

Comparative Analysis of Evolving Software Systems Using the Gini Coefficient

Software metrics offer us the promise of distilling useful information from vast amounts of software in order to track development progress, to gain insights into the nature of the software, and to identify potential problems. Unfortunately, however, many software metrics exhibit highly skewed, non-Gaussian distributions. As a consequence, usual ways of interpreting these metrics --- for example, in terms of "average" values --- can be highly misleading. Many metrics, it turns out, are distributed like wealth --- with high concentrations of values in selected locations. We propose to analyze software metrics using the Gini coefficient, a higher-order statistic widely used in economics to study the distribution of wealth. Our approach allows us not only to observe changes in software systems efficiently, but also to assess project risks and monitor the development process itself. We apply the Gini coefficient to numerous metrics over a range of software projects, and we show that many metrics not only display remarkably high Gini values, but that these values are remarkably consistent as a project evolves over time.