Esta pesquisa propõe um método que aplica a Teoria de Projeto Axiomático (PA) ao processo de desenvolvimento de software que se orientam por regras. Nesse âmbito, salienta-se que não foi encontrada na literatura, durante os esforços de pesquisa deste trabalho, a aplicação da Teoria de Projeto Axiomático a sistemas orientados a Regras. Entretanto, a Teoria de Projeto Axiomático já sim foi foco de pesquisa e aplicação no processo de desenvolvimento de software orientado a objeto, servindo de inspiração ao presente trabalho. Dito isso, este trabalho propõe o método Projeto Axiomático aplicado ao Paradigma Orientado a Notificações e ao Paradigma Orientado a Regras (PA-PON-POR) desde que as regras sigam o modelo de estruturação dado pelo PON. O método PA-PON-POR propõe a decomposição funcional de requisitos do sistema em quatro níveis que são: Casos de Uso, Subcasos de Uso Independentes de Características Técnicas, Subcasos de Uso Dependentes de Características Técnicas e Serviços Técnicos. Além disso, o método PA-PON-POR aplica o Axioma da Independência do PA em cada um dos quatro níveis de decomposição por meio das matrizes de projeto e métricas de cálculo da reangularidade e semangularidade do próprio PA. As matrizes de projeto ainda auxiliam na identificação das Premissas exclusivas, elementos esses importantes quando um sistema PON-POR possui Regras que possuem Ações que instigam a geração de fatos conflitantes. O Axioma da Informação do Projeto Axiomático também é aplicado em cada nível de decomposição avaliando as soluções de projeto quanto a sua quantidade de informação. Ainda, o método PA-PON-POR apresenta um conjunto de métricas especificas para avaliação da qualidade estrutural da composição de Regras do sistema, fornecendo critérios para tomada de decisão sobre a qualidade do projeto especificado. Além disso, o método PA-PON-POR é passível de aplicação simultânea com o método existente de projeto de software baseado em desenvolvimento de aplicações PON-POR chamado de Desenvolvimento Orientado a Notificações e Orientado a Regras (DON-DOR), auxiliando na obtenção e validação de artefatos do mesmo. O método PA-PON-POR foi aplicado no desenvolvimento de dois softwares, o primeiro software refere-se um simulador de portão eletrônico e o segundo software refere-se a um sistema de vendas. Em ambas as aplicações, o método PA-PON-POR demonstrou ser eficiente no que se propõe, auxiliando no processo de criação de Regras e de sistemas PON-POR com alguma garantia de qualidade. / This research proposes a method to apply the Axiomatic Design Theory (ADT) in the Rule-oriented software development process. In this context, it was not found in the literature, by the efforts of this work research, the application of ADT in Rule-oriented software development. However, the ADT was focus on research in Object-Oriented software development in a previous work, which was used as inspiration in this current research work. This current research proposes the method Axiomatic Design for Notification-Oriented Paradigm and Rule-Oriented Paradigm (AD-NOP-ROP) since the rules follow the NOP structural model. This method proposes a functional decomposition of system requirements in four levels which are: Use Cases, Use Subcases that are Technical Feature Independent, Use Subcases that are Technical Feature Dependent, and Technical Service . Furthermore, the method AD-NOP-ROP applies the ADT Independence Axiom in each one of the decomposition levels by means of design matrixes and metrics which calculates reangularity and semangularity from ADT. The design matrixes still aids in the identification of Exclusive Premises, which are important elements of NOP-ROP systems with Rules whose Actions instigate the creation of conflicting facts. The Information Axiom from ADT is also applied in each decomposition level in order to evaluate design solutions in terms of its amount of information. Still, the method AD-NOP-ROP presents a set of metrics which are specific for evaluation of structural quality of Rule composition, thereby providing criteria for decision making with respect to design quality. Besides, the method AD-NOP-ROP can be used in a simultaneous way with the existent method used for software design based on NOP-ROP application development, so called Notification-Oriented and Rule-Oriented Application Development (NO-RO-AD), in order to assist in the achievement and validation of artifacts. The method AD-NOP-ROP was applied during the development of two software systems, the first one refers to an Electronic Gate and the second one refers to a Sales System. In both applications the method displayed efficiency in its purposes, assisting in the Rule creation process and also in the creation of NOP-ROP software with some quality assurance.

Este trabalho apresenta um novo hardware coprocessador para acelerar aplicações desenvolvidas utilizando-se o Paradigma Orientado a Notificações (PON), cuja essência se constitui em uma nova forma de influência causal baseada na colaboração pontual entre entidades granulares e notificantes. Uma aplicação PON apresenta as vantagens da programação baseada em eventos e da programação declarativa, possibilitando um desenvolvimento de alto nível, auxiliando o reuso de código e reduzindo o processamento desnecessário existente das aplicações desenvolvidas com os paradigmas atuais. Como uma aplicação PON é composta de uma cadeia de pequenas entidades computacionais, comunicando-se somente quando necessário, é um bom candidato a implementação direta em hardware. Para investigar este pressuposto, criou-se um coprocessador capaz de executar aplicações PON existentes. O coprocessador foi desenvolvido utilizando-se linguagem VHDL e testado em FPGAs, mostrando um decréscimo de 96% do número de ciclos de clock utilizados por um programa se comparado a implementação puramente em software da mesma aplicação, considerando uma dada materialização em um framework em PON. / This work presents a new hardware coprocessor to accelerate applications developed using the Notification-Oriented Paradigm (NOP). A NOP application has the advantages of both event-based programming and declarative programming, enabling higher level software development, improving code reuse, and reducing the number of unnecessary computations. Because a NOP application is composed of a network of small computational entities communicating only when needed, it is a good candidate for a direct hardware implementation. In order to investigate this assumption, a coprocessor that is able to run existing NOP applications was created. The coprocessor was developed in VHDL and tested in FPGAs, providing a decrease of 96% in the number of clock cycles compared to a purely software implementation.

Este trabalho propõe a utilização da técnica de computação evolucionária conhecida como algoritmos genéticos (AGs) na predição da estrutura de proteínas para o modelo 2D HP. A metodologia tem como principal proposta a utilização uma função de fitness melhorada, que utiliza o conceito de raio de giração. Operadores genéticos especiais foram desenvolvidos e acrescentados aos comumente usados em AG, além de novas estratégias utilizadas para auxiliar o algoritmo no processo de busca de conformações de proteínas. Estas modificações levaram ao desenvolvimento de um sistema de software com diversos recursos gráficos e apresentação de relatórios dos resultados, denominado GANDALF PRED. Uma certa quantidade de experimentos foi realizada com o objetivo de avaliar a influência parâmetros do AG no resultado obtido. Foram realizados dois conjuntos de testes para avaliar a metodologia proposta. O primeiro utilizou 9 seqüências de resíduos, manualmente definidas, cujos máximos de ligações são conhecidos e comprimento variando de 20 a 85 resíduos. Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com duas outras implementações encontradas na literatura. No segundo, 7 proteínas com características globulares foram escolhidas do PDB e traduzidas para o modelo HP. Seus comprimentos variam de 288 a 842 resíduos. Seus resultados foram apresentados e discutidos, já que nenhuma comparação pôde ser realizada. Para ambos os casos de teste, as conformações encontradas podem ser consideradas bons dobramentos. / This work suggests the use of an evolutionary computation technique known as genetic algorithms (GAs) for predicting protein structures in the 2D HP model. The methodology has the main proposal the use of an enhanced fitness function, which makes use of the radius of gyration concept. Special genetic operators were developed and added to those commonly used in GAs, besides new strategies to aid the algorithm in the search of protein conformations. These changes led to the development of a user-friendly software system, with several graphical resources and result reports, named GANDALF PRED. A certain amount of experiments were done with the objective of evaluating the influence of GA parameters in the result obtained. Two test cases were set to evaluate the proposed methodology. The first used 9 manually defined chains whose maximum number of hydrophobic non-local bonds is known a priori and length varying from 20 to 85 residues. The results were compared to two other implementations available in the literature. In the second, 7 proteins with globular traits were taken from PDB and translated to the HP model. Their lengths vary from 288 to 842 residues. The results were presented and discussed, since no comparison could be done. For both test cases, the conformations found can be considered good folds.

A rotatividade de pessoal é um dos principais desafios para muitas empresas de desenvolvimento de software. Neste trabalho é apresentado um estudo para identificar as principais causas e efeitos da rotatividade de pessoal entre profissionais de empresas brasileiras de desenvolvimento de software. As estratégias empregadas para minimizar a rotatividade de pessoal e seus efeitos também foram investigadas. A metodologia de levantamento, também conhecida como survey, foi utilizada para obter informações dos profissionais de desenvolvimento de software. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio da técnica de questionário com questões em escala Likert de cinco pontos e questões de múltipla escolha. O Coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach foi aplicado para verificar a confiabilidade das respostas. A análise dos dados de 67 foi realizada por meio de estatística descritiva e estatística inferencial. Os resultados indicaram que o estilo gerencial inadequado, expectativa pessoal não alcançada na empresa, falta de reconhecimento profissional e falta de comprometimento organizacional influenciam a decisão dos profissionais de sair da empresa. Esses fatores podem contribuir decisivamente nas taxas de rotatividade de pessoal. Os resultados também indicaram outros aspectos, relacionados a recursos humanos, que são importantes para a intenção de rotatividade. A empresa deve se preocupar com fatores que podem motivar a permanência do funcionário, como comunicação, plano de carreira, ambiente de trabalho, promoção por desempenho e treinamento periódico. / Employee turnover is one of the major challenges for many software development companies. This work presents a study to identify the main causes and effects of employee turnover among professionals of Brazilian software development companies. Strategies applied to minimize employee turnover and its effects were also investigated. A survey methodology was used to collect data from software development professionals. Data collection was performed using the technique of questionnaire with closed questions using five-point Likert scale and multiple choice questions. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was applied to check the reliability of the answers. The analysis of data from 67 respondents was conducted through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results indicate that inappropriate management style, personal expectation not achieved within the company, lack of professional recognition, and lack of organizational involvement influences the decision of professionals to leave the company. These factors can contribute decisively in rates of employee turnover. The results also indicate other aspects, related to the employee, which are important for turnover intention. The company must be concerned with factors that can motivate the employee to stay with the company, such as communication, career plan, work environment, promotion for performance, and periodic training.

No description available.

This thesis describes the design, development and implementation of the core hardware and software of a modular data acquisition system for geophysical data collection. The primary application for this system is the acquisition and realtime processing of seismic data captured in mines. This system will be used by a commercial supplier of seismic instrumentation, ISS International, as a base architecture for the development of future products. The hardware and software has been designed to be extendable and support distributed processing. The IEEE-1394 High Performance Serial Bus is used to communicate with other CPU modules or peripherals. The software includes a pre-emptive multitasking microkernel, an asynchronous mailbox-based message passing communications system, and a functional IEEE-1394 protocol stack. The reasons for the end design and implementation decisions are given, and the problems encountered in the development of this system are described. A critical assessment of the match between the requirements for the project and the functionality of the implementation is made.

Current advances in the software development industry are growing more ubiquitous by the day. This has caused for security, not only in the broader sense, but specifically within the design and overall development of software itself, to become all the more important. An evidently prevalent problem in the domain of software development is that software security is not consistently addressed during design, which undermines core security concerns, and leads to the development of insecure software. This research seeks to address this issue via a model for secure software design, which is based on a software design pattern, namely, the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern. The use of a pattern to convey knowledge is not a new notion. However, the ability of software design patterns to convey secure software design is an idea worth investigating. Following identification of secure software design principles and concepts, as well as software design patterns, specifically those relating to the MVC pattern, a model was designed and developed. With the MVC pattern argued as being a suitable foundation for the model, the security conscious MVC (SecMVC) combines secure software design principles and concepts into the MVC pattern. Together herewith, the MVC pattern’s components in the MVC Compound pattern, namely: the Observer pattern, the Strategy pattern, and the Composite pattern, have provided further sub-models for less abstraction and greater detail. These sub-models were developed, as a result of the SecMVC model’s evaluation in the validation for this study, an expert review. Argued in the light of similar research methods, the expert review was chosen – along with a process that included the use of two expert participants to validate the SecMVC model. It was determined through the expert review that the SecMVC model is of sufficient utility, quality, and efficacy to constitute research value. The research methodology process followed was design science, in which the SecMVC model, which includes its related sub-models, serves as the artefact and research output of this study. This research study contributes evidence of the feasibility for integrating knowledge into software design patterns. This includes the SecMVC model itself. In addition, it argues for the use of an expert review, as an evaluative research method for such an artifact.

No description available.

Virtual teams in industry are increasingly being used to develop software, create products, and accomplish tasks. However, analyzing those collaborations under same-time/different-place conditions is well-known to be difficult. In order to overcome some of these challenges, this research was concerned with the study of collaboration-based, content-based and temporal measures and their ability to predict cohesion within global software development projects. Messages were collected from three software development projects that involved students from two different countries. The similarities and quantities of these interactions were computed and analyzed at individual and group levels. Results of interaction-based metrics showed that the collaboration variables most related to Task Cohesion were Linguistic Style Matching and Information Exchange. The study also found that Information Exchange rate and Reply rate have a significant and positive correlation to Task Cohesion, a factor used to describe participants' engagement in the global software development process. This relation was also found at the Group level. All these results suggest that metrics based on rate can be very useful for predicting cohesion in virtual groups. Similarly, content features based on communication categories were used to improve the identification of Task Cohesion levels. This model showed mixed results, since only Work similarity and Social rate were found to be correlated with Task Cohesion. This result can be explained by how a group's cohesiveness is often associated with fairness and trust, and that these two factors are often achieved by increased social and work communications. Also, at a group-level, all models were found correlated to Task Cohesion, specifically, Similarity+Rate, which suggests that models that include social and work communication categories are also good predictors of team cohesiveness. Finally, temporal interaction similarity measures were calculated to assess their prediction capabilities in a global setting. Results showed a significant negative correlation between the Pacing Rate and Task Cohesion, which suggests that frequent communications increases the cohesion between team members. The study also found a positive correlation between Coherence Similarity and Task Cohesion, which indicates the importance of establishing a rhythm within a team. In addition, the temporal models at individual and group-levels were found to be good predictors of Task Cohesion, which indicates the existence of a strong effect of frequent and rhythmic communications on cohesion related to the task. The contributions in this dissertation are three fold. 1) Novel use of Temporal measures to describe a team's rhythmic interactions, 2) Development of new, quantifiable factors for analyzing different characteristics of a team's communications, 3) Identification of interesting factors for predicting Task Cohesion levels among global teams.

Dependent type theory is a proven technology for verified functional programming in which programs and their correctness proofs may be developed using the same rules in a single formal system. In practice, large portions of programs developed in this way have no computational relevance to the ultimate result of the program and should therefore be removed prior to program execution. In previous work on identifying and removing irrelevant portions of programs, computational irrelevance is usually treated as an intrinsic property of program expressions. We find that such an approach forces programmers to maintain two copies of commonly used datatypes: a computationally relevant one and a computationally irrelevant one. We instead develop an extrinsic notion of computational irrelevance and find that it yields several benefits including (1) avoidance of the above mentioned code duplication problem; (2) an identification of computational irrelevance with a highly general form of parametric polymorphism; and (3) an elective (i.e., user-directed) notion of proof irrelevance. We also develop a program analysis for identifying irrelevant expressions and show how previously studied types embodying computational irrelevance (including subset types and squash types) are expressible in the extension of type theory developed herein.