Software development is highly dependent on the use of tools. These tools support and automate activities performed in different sub-domains of software development. However, they don&lsquo / t adequately provide or support integration facilities, and act as &amp / #8213 / islands of automation&amp / #8214 / . This restricts their benefits to only specific parts of the process. To reap the benefits of integration, this thesis provides a process modeling based method named PLETIN to identify and implement software development tool integration-tuples. The method aims to present solutions for issues observed in tool integration for software development organizations by delivering an integrated tool set. The proposed solution approach is based on the idea that if there were no integrations between tools at all, users would perform the necessary actions to cooperate different tools. PLETIN is a method for the identification of the candidate integration situations (integration-tuples) from the interactions of users with the tools. These tuples constitute the requirements used to develop integration facilities. The software development process definitions are used as inputs to create process models and provide actual implementations. The research is supported with case-study work to identify the significance of the problems and the applicability of the method as a solution to issues in tool integration.

Background: The development of bioinformatics databases, algorithms, and tools throughout the last years has lead to a highly distributedworld of bioinformatics services. Without adequatemanagement and development support, in silico researchers are hardly able to exploit the potential of building complex, specialized analysis processes from these services. The Semantic Web aims at thoroughly equipping individual data and services with machine-processable meta-information, while workflow systems support the construction of service compositions. However, even in this combination, in silico researchers currently would have to deal manually with the service interfaces, the adequacy of the semantic annotations, type incompatibilities, and the consistency of service compositions. Results: In this paper, we demonstrate by means of two examples how Semantic Web technology together with an adequate domain modelling frees in silico researchers from dealing with interfaces, types, and inconsistencies. In Bio-jETI, bioinformatics services can be graphically combined to complex services without worrying about details of their interfaces or about type mismatches of the composition. These issues are taken care of at the semantic level by Bio-jETI’s model checking and synthesis features. Whenever possible, they automatically resolve type mismatches in the considered service setting. Otherwise, they graphically indicate impossible/incorrect service combinations. In the latter case, the workflow developermay either modify his service composition using semantically similar services, or ask for help in developing the missing mediator that correctly bridges the detected type gap. Newly developed mediators should then be adequately annotated semantically, and added to the service library for later reuse in similar situations. Conclusion: We show the power of semantic annotations in an adequately modelled and semantically enabled domain setting. Using model checking and synthesis methods, users may orchestrate complex processes from a wealth of heterogeneous services without worrying about interfaces and (type) consistency. The success of this method strongly depends on a careful semantic annotation of the provided services and on its consequent exploitation for analysis, validation, and synthesis. We are convinced that these annotations will become standard, as they will become preconditions for the success and widespread use of (preferred) services in the Semantic Web

Low-pressure, low-producing natural gas wells commonly encounter liquid loading during production. Because of the decline in the reservoir pressure and the flow capacity, wells can fall below terminal velocity. Identifying and predicting the onset of liquid loading allows the operators to plan and prepare for combating the liquid loading hence saving valuable reserves and downtime. The present industrial applications of artificial lift, wellhead pressure reduction by compressor installation at the wellheads and reduction in tubing size are costly and often intermittent. The thesis examines the above aspects to generate a workflow for identifying and predicting the liquid loading conclusively and also assessing the application of Auger Tool and foam combination towards achieving a cost effective and more efficient solution for liquid unloading. In chapters I-IV, I describe the process of using production surveillance software of Halliburton Digital Consulting Services, named DSS (Dynamic Surveillance Software), to create a workflow of identifying the liquid loaded wells based on well data on daily basis for field personnel and engineers. This workflow also decides the most cost effective solution to handle it. Moreover, it can perform decline analysis to predict the conditions of liquid loading. In chapters V-VIII of the thesis, I describe the effort of handling the problem of liquid loading in a cost effective manner by introduction of an inexpensive Auger Tool in the bottomhole assembly and using WhiteMax surfactant soapstick from J&J Solutions. Four different combinations of well completion and fluid were tested for performance in respect to liquid hold up, pressure loss in the tubing, unloading efficiency and critical flow requirement. The test facilities and instruments, along with the operational methods, are discussed in chapter VI. Except for the reduction of the operational envelope with the inclusion of Auger Tool, the performance improved with the insertion of Auger Tool. The best combination of Auger and foam system could be a result of flow modification by the Auger Tool caused by reduced pressure loss and increase in drag coefficient and also by reduced density and surface tension of foam.

Magnetic resonance (MR) has been developed and applied to clinical analysis studies due to its non-invasive properties. Because of the increasing interest of applying magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging (MRSI) to clinical application, some post-processing softwares, like LCModel, provide a graphical user interface for convenient and efficient analysis. However, the features of combining MR imaging (MRI) with MRS information and browsing all analyzed results are not provided by LCModel. Our study proposed a method to implement the architecture for processing General Electric (GE), Siemens MRSI data sets and provides features including interactive display, selection and analysis of full 2D slices. For multi-console analysis, our tool also provides the combination of MRS, MRI, and data sets generated by LCModel, such as the projection of three planes and metabolite/spectra map, and therefore the three formats of data sets could be obtained from scanners of various manufactures. Especially, it is more complicated when processing GE data sets, so some mechanisms for processing are proposed, like the transformation, the three plane loc images detection and MRSI detection, etc. Additionally, our tool also has the advantage of the compatibility of further extended functionalities, which would be more flexible and useful for clinical applications.

Selection of the right machine tools is an important decision for most manufacturing companies. The quality and efficiency of manufacture are affected by the correct adoption of machine and equipment, and it will result in reducing the cost, increasing the production, and enhancing the flexibility for the diverse type of machining parts in this competitive globalized environment. On the contrary, an incorrect selection can retard the productivity of company. This research presents the procedures of AHP method for selecting 4-axis CNC machining centers including searching the literature of selecting machines, consulting experts with abundant experience of machine tool, translating the unstructured and biased commercial specification to the objective and hierarchical evaluation criteria for selecting machines. In order to experiment the applicability of the AHP model as well as to realize the relative importance of the criteria for the mold design and manufacturing company, a company was invited as the survey objective. This method proposed in this research is general in form and can be applied to the selections of other machine tools for other manufacturing industries. Also, it is hoped that the results of this experimental study will provide a reference for the domestic machinery manufacturing company to develop 4-axis CNC machining centers.

Today, unified modeling language (UML) has become a standard modeling language in object-oriented systems analysis and design. Specifying the business logic constraint with object constraint language (OCL) and transforming the specification into code has become a main trend in this area. This research presents a classification of OCL expressions to specify the attribute, operation and relationship constraint on Class diagram. A sample case and a CASE tool are used to test the usability (including the concepts, application, and advantages) of the proposed method. With this approach, the system developer can specify the constraints easily and transform them into code automatically and thereby enhance the efficiency and reusability of system development.

Using a qualitative multiple case study methodology, this study explores the relationship between government funding and INGO autonomy in three INGOs through resource dependence and tool choice frameworks. Adapting Verhoest, Peters et al.'s (2004) conceptualization of organizational autonomy as the extent of an organization's decision making capacity in matters concerning agency operations and human resource and financial management; this research regards the authors second definition of financial, structural, legal, and interventional constraints not as types of autonomy per se, but as the mechanisms through which INGOs' actual use of their decision making competencies is constrained. The findings in this research suggest that relative to other funding sources, government funding disproportionately impacts INGOs' operational and managerial autonomy. This is largely accomplished through various ex ante and ex post constraints such as, rules and regulations on inputs allocation and use, performance controls and evaluation requirements attached to government funding. This research also finds that the tool of choice used by government to finance INGO activities also steer, direct and influence INGO grantees' decisions thus positioning INGOs to incorporate government policy interests, preferences and priorities. However, INGOs can exercise their autonomy through various strategies ranging from program design, contract negotiation, and participation in advisory groups.

<p>This work is a research in the field of systems science, emphasising the importance of applying models and theories that have been developed in this area. This work studies the possibility of using James Miller's living systems theory (LST) as a diagnostic tool. The application area was project management processes used when developing computerised information systems. The focus on the analyses was on the critical subsystems that process information. Based on this study it was found that LST function as a diagnostic tool according to the following criteria: it was possible to identify the critical subsystems in the application, the critical subsystems covered relevant information flows in the application and LST could make a unique contribution in the analyses of the application.</p>

<p>Automobile and aero industries have an increasing interestin materials with improved mechanical properties. However, manyof these new materials are classified as difficult-to-cut withconventional tools. It is obvious that tools, cutting processesand cutting models has to be devel-oped parallel to materialsscience. In this thesis rotary cutting tools are tested as analternative toexpensive diamond or cubic bore nitridetools.</p><p>Metal matrix composites mostly consist of a light metalalloy (such as aluminium or titanium) reinforced with hard andabrasive ceramic parti-cles or fibres. On machining, thereinforcement results in a high rate of tool wear. This is themain problem for the machining of MMCs. Many factors affect thelife length of a tool, i.e. matrix alloy, type, size andfraction of the reinforcement, heat treatment, cuttingconditions and tool properties.</p><p>In tests, the Al-SiC MMC formed a deformation layer duringmilling, probably affected by lack of cooling. The dominatingfactor for tool life was the cutting speed. Water jet or CO2cooling of turning did not provide dramatic increase in toollife. With PCD, cutting speeds up to 2000 m/min were usedwithout machining problems and BUE formation. Tool flank wearwas abrasive and crater wear created an "orange-peel type" wearsurface. PCD inserts did not show the typical increase in flankwear rate at the end of its lifetime.</p><p>The use of self-propelled rotary tools seems to be apromising way to increase tool life. No BUE was formed on therotary tool at high cutting data. The measurements indicatethat the rotary tool creates twice as good surface as PCDtools. The longest tool life was gained with an inclinationangle of 10 degrees. Tool costs per component will beapproximately the same, but rotary cutting tool allows higherfeeds and therefore a higher production rate and thus a lowerproduction cost.</p><p>The rotary cutting operation might have a potential toincrease productiv-ity in bar peeling. The lack of BUE withrotary cutting gives hope on higher tool life. The test resultsshow that tool wear was 27% lower with rotary cutting tools.Increase of cutting speed from 22 to 44 m/min did not affectcutting forces. This indicates that the cutting speed canincrease without significant change in tool wear rate.</p><p>Issues related to rotary cutting like cutting models,cutting processes, standards, tools and models have beendiscussed. A tool wear model with kinetic energy has beendiscussed.</p><p><b>KEYWORDS:</b>Difficult-to-Cut material, Metal MatrixComposite (MMC), Machining, Machinability, Rotary Cutting Tool,Acoustic Emission</p>

<p>The development of advanced embedded systems requires a systematic approach as well as advanced tool support in dealing with their increasing complexity. This complexity is due to the increasing functionality that is implemented in embedded systems and stringent (and conflicting) requirements placed upon such systems from various stakeholders. The corresponding system development involves several specialists employing different modeling languages and tools. Integrating their work and the results thereof then becomes a challenge. In order to facilitate system architecting and design integration of different models, an approach that provides dedicated workspaces/views supported by structured information management and information exchange between domain models and tools is required.</p><p>This work is delimited to the context of embedded systems design and taking a model based approach. The goal of the work is to study possible technical solutions for integrating different models and tools, and to develop knowledge, support methods and a prototype tool platform.</p><p>To this end, this thesis examines a number of approaches that focus on the integration of multiple models and tools. Selected approaches are compared and characterized, and the basic mechanisms for integration are identified. Several scenarios are identified and further investigated in case studies. Two case studies have been performed with model transformations as focus. In the first one, integration of Matlab/Simulink® and UML2 are discussed with respect to the motivations, technical possibilities, and challenges. A preliminary mapping strategy, connecting a subset of concepts and constructs of Matlab/Simulink® and UML2, is presented together with a prototype implementation in the Eclipse environment. The second case study aims to enable safety analysis based on system design models in a UML description. A safety analysis tool, HiP-HOPS (Hierarchically Performed Hazard Origin and Propagation Studies), is partially integrated with a UML tool where an EAST-ADL2 based architecture model is developed. The experience and lessons learned from the experiments are reported in this thesis.</p><p>Multiple specific views are involved in the development of embedded systems. This thesis has studied the integration between system architecture design, function development and safety analysis through using UML tools, Matlab/Simulink, and HiP-HOPS. The results indicate that model transformations provide a feasible and promising solution for integrating multiple models and tools. The contributions are believed to be valid for a large class of advanced embedded systems. However, the developed transformations so far are not really scalable. A systematic approach for efficient development of model transformations is desired to standardize the design process and reuse developed transformations. To this end, future studies will be carried out to develop guidelines for model and tool integration and to provide support for structured information at both meta level and instance level.</p>