Design/Evaluation of A Methodology For Performance Optimization Of Indexable Carbide Inserts

In this project, two broad facets in the design of a methodology for performance optimization of indexable carbide inserts were examined. They were physical destructive testing and software simulation.For the physical testing, statistical research techniques were used for the design of the methodology. A five step method which began with Problem definition, through System identification, Statistical model formation, Data collection and Statistical analyses and results was indepthly elaborated upon. Set-up and execution of an experiment with a compression machine together with roadblocks and possible solution to curb road blocks to quality data collection were examined. 2k factorial design was illustrated and recommended for process improvement. Instances of first-order and second-order response surface analyses were encountered. In the case of curvature, test for curvature significance with center point analysis was recommended. Process optimization with method of steepest ascent and central composite design or process robustness studies of response surface analyses were also recommended.For the simulation test, AdvantEdge program was identified as the most used software for tool development. Challenges to the efficient application of this software were identified and possible solutions proposed. In conclusion, software simulation and physical testing were recommended to meet the objective of the project.

Uma abordagem dirigida por modelos para gerência de variabilidade e execução de processos de software

This dissertation presents a model-driven and integrated approach to variability management, customization and execution of software processes. Our approach is founded on the principles and techniques of software product lines and model-driven engineering. Model-driven engineering provides support to the specification of software processes and their transformation to workflow specifications. Software product lines techniques allows the automatic variability management of process elements and fragments. Additionally, in our approach, workflow technologies enable the process execution in workflow engines. In order to evaluate the approach feasibility, we have implemented it using existing model-driven engineering technologies. The software processes are specified using Eclipse Process Framework (EPF). The automatic variability management of software processes has been implemented as an extension of an existing product derivation tool. Finally, ATL and Acceleo transformation languages are adopted to transform EPF process to jPDL workflow language specifications in order to enable the deployment and execution of software processes in the JBoss BPM workflow engine. The approach is evaluated through the modeling and modularization of the project management discipline of the Open Unified Process (OpenUP)

Apoio à maturidade pessoal visando a melhoria dos projetos de software

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Computação - IBILCE

Metodologia para implementação do MPS.BR utilizando o ambiente webapsee

Uma série de iniciativas para melhoria do processo de software surgiu recentemente visando melhorar a qualidade e a produtividade em organizações de desenvolvimento de software. Alguns modelos e normas têm buscado a implantação de melhorias no processo de desenvolvimento de software, o MPS.BR é um deles. Esse modelo de melhoria de processo é voltado para as micro, pequenas e médias empresas, de forma a atender as suas necessidades de negócio e foi o modelo escolhido para ser explorado nesse trabalho. Várias são as vantagens adquiridas com a implantação de um modelo de melhoria, umas delas é a definição de um processo sistemático de desenvolvimento de software, que auxilie tanto na qualidade e produtividade do processo quanto na qualidade do produto desenvolvido. Com um modelo de processo definido a organização pode contar com diversos benefícios associados à padronização, como, por exemplo, a otimização, a redução de custos com retrabalho, a redução de defeitos nos produtos, dentre outros. Mas não existem modelos prontos que possam ser aplicados diretamente a uma empresa específica de desenvolvimento de software e, por isso, é necessário modelar o processo, customizando-o, com o objetivo final de gerar um modelo que adequadamente represente o processo da organização. Uma das dificuldades para a implantação de modelos como o MPS.BR é a falta de metodologia que mostre como a implantação de melhoria deve ser feita e não apenas o que deve ser feito. Este trabalho propõe uma metodologia para a implementação do modelo MPS.BR baseada no modelo de implantação IDEAL, através de uma ferramenta específica, chamada WebAPSEE. A metodologia foi experimentada no CTIC - Centro de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação da UFPA que ao final do trabalho foi avaliado Nível G do MPS.BR.

Redes neurais aplicadas em processos de usinagem da madeira

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG

Gestão de recursos humanos em projetos de software: proposta integrada ao processo pessoal

The software quality represents a more and more important attribute for the survival and growth of software industries. In order to ensure the quality of products manufactured, various practices have been incorporated into the development process. In this context, some successful software organizations have invested in an approach to human resource management, which consists in integrating the management activities with a personal process called Personal Software Process - PSP, which has led to the maintenance of greater discipline and control over all development phases. Given this, this work presents a proposal for integration of techniques set out in the PSP with a web system previously developed, which is called System to Aid Project Management - SAPM.

An integrated approach of software development and test processes to distributed teams

The Distributed Software Development (DSD) is a development strategy that meets the globalization needs concerned with the increase productivity and cost reduction. However, the temporal distance, geographical dispersion and the socio-cultural differences, increased some challenges and, especially, added new requirements related with the communication, coordination and control of projects. Among these new demands there is the necessity of a software process that provides adequate support to the distributed software development. This paper presents an integrated approach of software development and test that considers distributed teams peculiarities. The approach purpose is to offer support to DSD, providing a better project visibility, improving the communication between the development and test teams, minimizing the ambiguity and difficulty to understand the artifacts and activities. This integrated approach was conceived based on four pillars: (i) to identify the DSD peculiarities concerned with development and test processes, (ii) to define the necessary elements to compose the integrated approach of development and test to support the distributed teams, (iii) to describe and specify the workflows, artifacts, and roles of the approach, and (iv) to represent appropriately the approach to enable the effective communication and understanding of it.

Standardization of data collection for the Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health (LSAH)

Problems due to the lack of data standardization and data management have lead to work inefficiencies for the staff working with the vision data for the Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health. Data has been collected over 50 years in a variety of manners and then entered into a software. The lack of communication between the electronic health record (EHR) form designer, epidemiologists, and optometrists has led to some level to confusion on the capability of the EHR system and how its forms can be designed to fit all the needs of the relevant parties. EHR form customizations or form redesigns were found to be critical for using NASA's EHR system in the most beneficial way for its patients, optometrists, and epidemiologists. In order to implement a protocol, data being collected was examined to find the differences in data collection methods. Changes were implemented through the establishment of a process improvement team (PIT). Based on the findings of the PIT, suggestions have been made to improve the current EHR system. If the suggestions are implemented correctly, this will not only improve efficiency of the staff at NASA and its contractors, but set guidelines for changes in other forms such as the vision exam forms. Because NASA is at the forefront of such research and health surveillance the impact of this management change could have a drastic improvement on the collection of and adaptability of the EHR. Accurate data collection from this 50+ year study is ongoing and is going to help current and future generations understand the implications of space flight on human health. It is imperative that the vast amount of information is documented correctly.^

El color en las aceitunas negras naturales de mesa : nueva técnica de mensura digitalizada para optimizar el método de oscurecimiento natural

Se aplicó un nuevo método para la evaluación objetiva del color en aceitunas de mesa, basado en el análisis de la intensidad de reflexión de cada uno de los colores primarios que componen la luz blanca (rojo, verde y azul), según las longitudes de onda del Sistema RGB. Se trabajó con programas informáticos para el análisis de imágenes digitales color tipo BMP de 24 bits. Este trabajo proporciona mayor información sobre el pardeamiento de las aceitunas naturales en salmuera, lo que sería muy útil para incrementar la efectividad del proceso. El método propuesto es rápido y no destructivo, prometiendo ser muy práctico ya que permite que una misma muestra pueda ser evaluada en el tiempo. Se investigaron los cambios de color en aceitunas elaboradas naturalmente, con diferentes grados de madurez (pintas, rojas y negras) y a diferentes valores de pH (3,6 - 4,0 - 4,5), expuestas al aire durante períodos crecientes de tiempo. Se cuantificó el grado de oscurecimiento a través de Índices de Intensidad de Reflexión. La evolución del índice de reflexión en función del tiempo generó una curva polinomial de 4° grado que reveló el comportamiento sigmoidal del fenómeno de pardeamiento enzimático, con la máxima correlación a las 8 horas de aireación. Esta función permitiría predecir el fenómeno de pardeamiento en las aceitunas negras y representa una medición objetiva del grado relativo de pardeamiento. La evolución del color rojo (λ = 700,0 nm) exhibió la mayor correlación con el proceso de pardeamiento. Las aceitunas rojas naturales a pH 4,5 presentaron óptimo pardeamiento. El espectro de reflexión para el color azul (λ = 435,8 nm) se sugiere como medida de la actividad de la enzima PPO (polifenoloxidasa).

Identifying Moderator Variables Through Requirements Elicitation Experiments Limitations

Interviews are the most widely used elicitation technique in Requirements Engineering (RE). Despite its importance, research in interviews is quite limited, in particular from an experimental perspective. We have performed a series of experiments exploring the relative effectiveness of structured and unstructured interviews. This line of research has been active in Information Systems in the past years, so that our experiments can be aggregated together with existing ones to obtain guidelines for practice. Experimental aggregation is a demanding task. It requires not only a large number of experiments, but also considering the influence of the existing moderators. However, in the current state of the practice in RE, those moderators are unknown. We believe that analyzing the threats to validity in interviewing experiments may give insight about how to improve further replications and the corresponding aggregations. It is likely that this strategy may be applied in other Software Engineering areas as well.

Metamodelo para la definición, implantación y mejora de los procesos de gestión de proyectos

En los últimos años hemos sido testigos de la creciente demanda de software para resolver problemas cada vez más complejos y de mayor valor agregado. Bajo estas circunstancias, nos podemos hacer la siguiente pregunta: ¿Está preparada la industria de software para entregar el software que se necesita en los próximos años, de acuerdo con las demandas del cliente? Hoy en día, muchos expertos creen que el éxito de esta industria dependerá de su capacidad para gestionar los proyectos, las personas y los recursos. En este sentido, la gestión de proyectos es un factor clave para el éxito de los proyectos software en todo el mundo. Además, considerando que las Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas de software (PYMEs) representan el 99,87% de las empresas españolas, es vital para este tipo de empresas la implementación de los procesos involucrados con la gestión de proyectos. Es cierto que existen muchos modelos que mejoran la eficacia de la gestión de proyectos, pero la mayoría de ellos se centra únicamente en dos procesos: la planificación del proyecto y la monitorización y control del proyecto, ninguno de los cuales a menudo es asequible para las PYMEs. Estos modelos se basan en el consenso de un grupo de trabajo designado para establecer cómo debe ser gestionado el proceso software. Los modelos son bastante útiles ya que proporcionan lineamientos generales sobre dónde empezar a mejorar la gestión de los proyectos, y en qué orden, a personas que no saben cómo hacerlo. Sin embargo, como se ha dicho anteriormente, la mayoría de estos modelos solamente funcionan en escenarios dentro de las grandes empresas. Por lo tanto, es necesario adaptar los modelos y herramientas para el contexto de PYMEs. Esta tesis doctoral presenta una solución complementaria basada en la aplicación de un metamodelo. Este metamodelo es creado para mejorar la calidad de los procesos de la gestión de proyectos a través de la incorporación de prácticas eficaces identificadas a través del análisis y estudio de los modelos y normas existentes relacionadas con la gestión de proyectos. viii ProMEP – Metamodelo para la gestión de proyectos Por lo tanto, el metamodelo PROMEP (Gestión de Proyectos basada en Prácticas Efectivas) permitirá establecer un proceso estándar de gestión de proyectos que puede adaptarse a los proyectos de cada empresa a través de dos pasos: En primer lugar, para obtener una fotografía instantánea (o base) de los procesos de gestión de proyectos de las PYMEs se creó un cuestionario de dos fases para identificar tanto las prácticas realizadas y como las no realizadas. El cuestionario propuesto se basa en el Modelo de Madurez y Capacidad Integrado para el Desarrollo v1.2 (CMMI-DEV v1.2). Como resultado adicional, se espera que la aplicación de este cuestionario ayude a las PYMEs a identificar aquellas prácticas que se llevan a cabo, pero no son documentadas, aquellas que necesitan más atención, y aquellas que no se realizan debido a la mala gestión o al desconocimiento. En segundo lugar, para apoyar fácilmente y eficazmente las tareas de gestión de proyectos software del metamodelo PROMEP, se diseñó una biblioteca de activos de proceso (PAL) para apoyar la definición de los procesos de gestión de proyectos y realizar una gestión cuantitativa de cada proyecto de las PYMEs. Ambos pasos se han implementado como una herramienta computacional que apoya nuestro enfoque de metamodelo. En concreto, la presente investigación propone la construcción del metamodelo PROMEP para aquellas PYMEs que desarrollan productos software de tal forma que les permita planificar, monitorizar y controlar sus proyectos software, identificar los riesgos y tomar las medidas correctivas necesarias, establecer y mantener un conjunto de activos de proceso, definir un mecanismo cuantitativo para predecir el rendimiento de los procesos, y obtener información de mejora. Por lo tanto, nuestro estudio sugiere un metamodelo alternativo para lograr mayores niveles de rendimiento en los entornos de PYMEs. Así, el objetivo principal de esta tesis es ayudar a reducir los excesos de trabajo y el tiempo de entrega, y aumentar así la calidad del software producido en este tipo de organizaciones. Abstract In recent years we have been witnessing the increasing demand for software to solve more and more complex tasks and greater added value. Under these circumstances, we can ourselves the following question: Is the software industry prepared to deliver the software that is needed in the coming years, according to client demands? Nowadays, many experts believe that the industry’ success will depend on its capacity to manage the projects, people and resources. In this sense, project management is a key factor for software project success around the world. Moreover, taking into account that small and medium-sized software enterprises (SMSe) are the 99.87% of the Spanish enterprises, it is vital for this type of enterprises to implement the processes involved in project management. It is true that there are many models that improve the project management effectiveness, but most of them are focused only on two processes: project planning and project monitoring and control, neither of which is affordable for SMSe. Such models are based on the consensus of a designated working group on how software process should be managed. They are very useful in that they provide general guidelines on where to start improving the project management, and in which order, to people who do not know how to do it. However, as we said, the majority of these models have only worked in scenarios within large companies. So, it is necessary to adapt these models and tools to the context of SMSe. A complementary solution based on the implementation of a metamodel is presented in this thesis. This metamodel is created to improve the quality of project management processes through the incorporation of effective practices identified through the analysis and study of relevant models and standards related to project management. Thus, the PROMEP (PROject Management based on Effective Practices) metamodel will allow establishing a project management standard process to be tailored to each enterprise’s project through two steps: Firstly, to obtain a baseline snapshot of project management processes in SMSe a two-phase questionnaire was created to identify both performed and nonperformed practices. The x ProMEP – Metamodelo para la gestión de proyectos proposed questionnaire is based on Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development v1.2. As additional result, it is expected that the application of the questionnaire to the processes will help SMSe to identify those practices which are performed but not documented, which practices need more attention, and which are not implemented due to bad management or unawareness. Secondly, to easily an effectively support the software project management tasks in the PROMEP metamodel, a Process Asset Library (PAL) is designed to support the definition of project management processes and to achieve quantitative project management in SMSe. Both steps have been implemented as a computational tool that supports our metamodel approach. Concretely, the present research proposes the accomplishment of the PROMEP metamodel for those SMSe which develop software products and enable them to plan, supervise and control their software projects, identify risks and take corrective actions, establish and maintain a set of process assets, define quantitative models that predict the process performance, and provide improvement information. So, our study suggests an alternative metamodel to achieve higher performance levels in the SMSe environments. The main objective of this thesis is help to reduce software overruns and delivery time, and increase software quality in these types of organizations.

Metamodelo para la mejora del proceso de gestión de requisitos

El vertiginoso avance de la informática y las telecomunicaciones en las últimas décadas ha incidido invariablemente en la producción y la prestación de servicios, en la educación, en la industria, en la medicina, en las comunicaciones e inclusive en las relaciones interpersonales. No obstante estos avances, y a pesar de la creciente aportación del software al mundo actual, durante su desarrollo continuamente se incurre en el mismo tipo de problemas que provocan un retraso sistemático en los plazos de entrega, se exceda en presupuesto, se entregue con una alta tasa de errores y su utilidad sea inferior a la esperada. En gran medida, esta problemática es atribuible a defectos en los procesos utilizados para recoger, documentar, acordar y modificar los requisitos del sistema. Los requisitos son los cimientos sobre los cuáles se construye un producto software, y sin embargo, la incapacidad de gestionar sus cambios es una de las principales causas por las que un producto software se entrega fuera de tiempo, se exceda en coste y no cumpla con la calidad esperada por el cliente. El presente trabajo de investigación ha identificado la necesidad de contar con metodologías que ayuden a desplegar un proceso de Gestión de Requisitos en pequeños grupos y entornos de trabajo o en pequeñas y medianas empresas. Para efectos de esta tesis llamaremos Small-Settings a este tipo de organizaciones. El objetivo de este trabajo de tesis doctoral es desarrollar un metamodelo que permita, por un lado, la implementación y despliegue del proceso de Gestión de Requisitos de forma natural y a bajo coste y, por otro lado, el desarrollo de mecanismos para la mejora continua del mismo. Este metamodelo esta soportado por el desarrollo herramientas que permiten mantener una biblioteca de activos de proceso para la Gestión de Requisitos y a su vez contar con plantillas para implementar el proceso partiendo del uso de activos previamente definidos. El metamodelo contempla el desarrollo de prácticas y actividades para guiar, paso a paso, la implementación del proceso de Gestión de Requisitos para una Small-Setting utilizando un modelo de procesos como referencia y una biblioteca de activos de proceso como principal herramienta de apoyo. El mantener los activos de proceso bien organizados, indexados, y fácilmente asequibles, facilita la introducción de las mejores prácticas al interior de una organización. ABSTRACT The fast growth of computer science and telecommunication in recent decades has invariably affected the provision of products and services in education, industry, healthcare, communications and also interpersonal relationships. In spite of such progress and the active role of the software in the world, its development and production continually incurs in the same type of problems that cause systematic delivery delays, over budget, a high error rate and consequently its use is lower than expected. These problems are largely attributed to defects in the processes used to identify, document, organize, and track all system's requirements. It is generally accepted that requirements are the foundation upon which the software process is built, however, the inability to manage changes in requirements is one of the principal factors that contribute to delays on the software development process, which in turn, may cause customer dissatisfaction. The aim of the present research work has identified the need for appropriate methodologies to help on the requirement management process for those organizations that are categorised as small and medium size enterprises, small groups within large companies, or small projects. For the purposes of this work, these organizations are named Small-Settings. The main goal of this research work is to develop a metamodel to manage the requirement process using a Process Asset Library (PAL) and to provide predefined tools and actives to help on the implementation process. The metamodel includes the development of practices and activities to guide step by step the deployment of the requirement management process in Small-Settings. Keeping assets organized, indexed, and readily available are a main factor to the success of the organization process improvement effort and facilitate the introduction of best practices within the organization. The Process Asset Library (PAL) will become a repository of information used to keep and make available all process assets that are useful to those who are defining, implementing, and managing processes in the organization.

A practical approach to project management in a very small company

This article shows how a very small company has tailored Scrum according to its own needs. The main additions made were the “sprint design” phase and the “sprint test” phase. Before the sprint 0, the requirements elicitation and the functional specification were made in order to meet deadlines and costs agreed with clients. Besides, the introduction of an agile project management tool has supported all the process and it is considered the main success factor for the institutionalization of the Scrum process.