An agile based integrated framework for software development.

Doctor of Philosophy in Management. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban, 2018.Software development practice has been guided by practitioners and academics along an evolutionary path that extends from a Waterfall approach, characterised as highly prescriptive, to an approach that is agile, embracing the dynamic context in which software is developed. Agile Methodology is informed by a set of generic principles and agile methods that are customised by practitioners to meet the requirements of the environment in which it is used. Insight into the customisation of agile methods is pivotal to uphold the evolutionary trajectory of software development methodology. The study adopted a ‘socio-technical’ orientation to enhance the implementation of Agile Methodology. The social component of the study was aligned to the role played by organisational culture in the adoption of software development methodology. The amorphous concept of organisational culture has been operationalised by implementing the Competing Values Framework to develop a model that aligns organisational culture to an optimal methodology for software development. The technical component of the study has a software engineering focus. The study leveraged experiential knowledge of software development by South African software practitioners to develop a customised version of a prominent agile software development method. The model has been developed so that it is compatible with a variant of organisational culture that is aligned with agile methodology. The study implemented a sequential research design strategy consisting of two phases. The first phase was qualitative consisting of a phenomenological approach to develop the study’s main models. The second phase was quantitative, underpinned by technology acceptance theory, consisting of a survey based approach to determine South African software practitioners’ acceptance of the agile-oriented technical model that was developed in the study. The results from the survey indicated an 80% acceptance of the model proposed in study. Structural Equation Modelling was used to demonstrate that the inclusion of organisational culture as an independent construct improved the predictive capacity of technology acceptance theory in the context of software development methodology adoption. The study’s overall theoretical contribution was to highlight the significance of organisational culture in the implementation of agile methodology and to extend the evolutionary path of software development methodology by proposing an agile oriented model that scales the software process to an organisational infrastructure level

Reliability training

Discussed here is failure physics, the study of how products, hardware, software, and systems fail and what can be done about it. The intent is to impart useful information, to extend the limits of production capability, and to assist in achieving low cost reliable products. A review of reliability for the years 1940 to 2000 is given. Next, a review of mathematics is given as well as a description of what elements contribute to product failures. Basic reliability theory and the disciplines that allow us to control and eliminate failures are elucidated

Design of equipment safety & reliability for an aseptic liquid food packaging line through maintenance engineering

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The organisation of maintenance, in the Aseptic Liquid Food (ALF) industry, represents an important management task that enables a company to pursue higher manufacturing effectiveness and improved market share. This research is concerned with the process to design and implement maintenance tasks. These two complementary processes (design and implementation) have been thought and designed to answer the particular needs of food industry regarding product safety and equipment reliability. Numerous maintenance engineering researchers have focused on maintenance engineering and reliability techniques highlighting the contribution of maintenance in achieving world class manufacturing and competitive advantage. Their outcome emphasizes that maintenance is not a “necessary evil” because of costs associated, but it can be considered an “investment” that produces an added value which generates a real company profit. The existing maintenance engineering techniques pursue equipment reliability at minimum cost; but in food industry, food safety represents the most critical issue to address and solve. The research methodology chosen is based on case studies coming from ALF industries. These show that low maintenance effectiveness could have dramatic effects on final consumers and on the company’s image and underline the need of a maintenance design and implementation process that takes into consideration all critical factors relevant to liquid food industry. The analysis of measurable indicators available, represents a tool necessary to show the status of critical performance indicators and reveals the urgency of a research necessary to address and solve the maintenance problems in food industry. The literature review underlines the increasing regulations in place in food industry and that no literature is available to define a maintenance design and implementation process for ALF and in general for food industry. The literature review enabled also the gap existing between theory and real maintenance status, in the ALF, to be identified and the aim of the research was to explore this gap. The analysis of case studies and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) available highlights the problem and the literature review provides the knowledge necessary to identify the process to design and implement maintenance procedures for ALF industry. The research findings provide a useful guide to identify the process to design maintenance tasks able to put under control food safety and equipment reliability issues. Company’s restraining forces and cultural inertia, that work against new maintenance procedures, have been analysed and a maintenance implementation process have been designed to avoid losing the benefits produced by the design phase. The analysis of condition monitoring systems shows devices and techniques useful to improve product safety, equipment reliability, and then maintenance effectiveness. This research aimed to fill the gap in the existing literature showing the solution to manage both food safety and production effectiveness issues in food industry. It identifies a maintenance design process able to capture all conceivable critical factors in food industry and to provide the solution to design reliable task lists. Furthermore, the maintenance implementation process shows the way to maximize the maintenance design outcome through the empowerment of equipment operators and close cooperation with maintenance and quality specialists. The new maintenance design and implementation process represents the answer to the research problem and a reliable solution that allows the food industry to improve food safety and production effectiveness

Digital flight control actuation system study

Flight control actuators and feedback sensors suitable for use in a redundant digital flight control system were examined. The most appropriate design approach for an advanced digital flight control actuation system for development and use in a fly-by-wire system was selected. The concept which was selected consisted of a PM torque motor direct drive. The selected system is compatible with concurrent and independent development efforts on the computer system and the control law mechanizations

Digital System Design - Use of Microcontroller

Embedded systems are today, widely deployed in just about every piece of machinery from toasters to spacecraft. Embedded system designers face many challenges. They are asked to produce increasingly complex systems using the latest technologies, but these technologies are changing faster than ever. They are asked to produce better quality designs with a shorter time-to-market. They are asked to implement increasingly complex functionality but more importantly to satisfy numerous other constraints. To achieve the current goals of design, the designer must be aware with such design constraints and more importantly, the factors that have a direct effect on them.One of the challenges facing embedded system designers is the selection of the optimum processor for the application in hand; single-purpose, general-purpose or application specific. Microcontrollers are one member of the family of the application specific processors.The book concentrates on the use of microcontroller as the embedded system?s processor, and how to use it in many embedded system applications. The book covers both the hardware and software aspects needed to design using microcontroller.The book is ideal for undergraduate students and also the engineers that are working in the field of digital system design.Contents• Preface;• Process design metrics;• A systems approach to digital system design;• Introduction to microcontrollers and microprocessors;• Instructions and Instruction sets;• Machine language and assembly language;• System memory; Timers, counters and watchdog timer;• Interfacing to local devices / peripherals;• Analogue data and the analogue I/O subsystem;• Multiprocessor communications;• Serial Communications and Network-based interfaces

Digital System Design - Use of Microcontroller

Embedded systems are today, widely deployed in just about every piece of machinery from toasters to spacecraft. Embedded system designers face many challenges. They are asked to produce increasingly complex systems using the latest technologies, but these technologies are changing faster than ever. They are asked to produce better quality designs with a shorter time-to-market. They are asked to implement increasingly complex functionality but more importantly to satisfy numerous other constraints. To achieve the current goals of design, the designer must be aware with such design constraints and more importantly, the factors that have a direct effect on them.One of the challenges facing embedded system designers is the selection of the optimum processor for the application in hand; single-purpose, general-purpose or application specific. Microcontrollers are one member of the family of the application specific processors.The book concentrates on the use of microcontroller as the embedded system?s processor, and how to use it in many embedded system applications. The book covers both the hardware and software aspects needed to design using microcontroller.The book is ideal for undergraduate students and also the engineers that are working in the field of digital system design.Contents• Preface;• Process design metrics;• A systems approach to digital system design;• Introduction to microcontrollers and microprocessors;• Instructions and Instruction sets;• Machine language and assembly language;• System memory; Timers, counters and watchdog timer;• Interfacing to local devices / peripherals;• Analogue data and the analogue I/O subsystem;• Multiprocessor communications;• Serial Communications and Network-based interfaces