Does OO sync with the way we think?

Given that corrective-maintenance costs already dominate the software life cycle and look set to increase significantly, reliability in the form of reducing such costs should be the most important software improvement goal. Yet the results are not promising when we review recent corrective-maintenance data for big systems in general and for OO in particular-possibly because of mismatches between the OO paradigm and how we think

ANWB automates and improves repair men dispatching

ANWB, the Dutch automobile association, provides assistance, car repair andreplacement services to its nearly 4 million members. ANWB services around 1.3 millionrequests per year in The Netherlands. Historically, the operational planning process ofassigning requests to service men was regionally organized, and human planners solvedthe sometimes large and hectic planning situations in real time. At a national level, some50 planners were required to do the job, and the quality of the planning and operationswere largely unknown. In a large business process reengineering project, ANWBredesigned the planning processes, leveraging state of the art IT and operations researchtechniques. As a result, the 24/7 planning processes are smoothened, can be executed byas few as 14 planners who work at a national level, and the operational planning andperformance have improved. As new competitors entered the market, ANWB has beenable to sustain its extraordinary high customer ratings and market share, while adaptingits proposition to the competitive prices dictated by the market.Economics (Jel: A)

Shape-based defect classification for Non Destructive Testing

The aim of this work is to classify the aerospace structure defects detected by eddy current non-destructive testing. The proposed method is based on the assumption that the defect is bound to the reaction of the probe coil impedance during the test. Impedance plane analysis is used to extract a feature vector from the shape of the coil impedance in the complex plane, through the use of some geometric parameters. Shape recognition is tested with three different machine-learning based classifiers: decision trees, neural networks and Naive Bayes. The performance of the proposed detection system are measured in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision and Matthews correlation coefficient. Several experiments are performed on dataset of eddy current signal samples for aircraft structures. The obtained results demonstrate the usefulness of our approach and the competiveness against existing descriptors.Comment: 5 pages, IEEE International Worksho

Information-Sharing and Privacy in Social Networks

We present a new model for reasoning about the way information is shared among friends in a social network, and the resulting ways in which it spreads. Our model formalizes the intuition that revealing personal information in social settings involves a trade-off between the benefits of sharing information with friends, and the risks that additional gossiping will propagate it to people with whom one is not on friendly terms. We study the behavior of rational agents in such a situation, and we characterize the existence and computability of stable information-sharing networks, in which agents do not have an incentive to change the partners with whom they share information. We analyze the implications of these stable networks for social welfare, and the resulting fragmentation of the social network

Towards building information modelling for existing structures

The transformation of cities from the industrial age (unsustainable) to the knowledge age (sustainable) is essentially a ‘whole life cycle’ process consisting of; planning, development, operation, reuse and renewal. During this transformation, a multi-disciplinary knowledge base, created from studies and research about the built environment aspects is fundamental: historical, architectural, archeologically, environmental, social, economic, etc is critical. Although there are a growing number of applications of 3D VR modelling applications, some built environment applications such as disaster management, environmental simulations, computer aided architectural design and planning require more sophisticated models beyond 3D graphical visualization such as multifunctional, interoperable, intelligent, and multi-representational. Advanced digital mapping technologies such as 3D laser scanner technologies can be are enablers for effective e-planning, consultation and communication of users’ views during the planning, design, construction and lifecycle process of the built environment. For example, the 3D laser scanner enables digital documentation of buildings, sites and physical objects for reconstruction and restoration. It also facilitates the creation of educational resources within the built environment, as well as the reconstruction of the built environment. These technologies can be used to drive the productivity gains by promoting a free-flow of information between departments, divisions, offices, and sites; and between themselves, their contractors and partners when the data captured via those technologies are processed and modelled into BIM (Building Information Modelling). The use of these technologies is key enablers to the creation of new approaches to the ‘Whole Life Cycle’ process within the built and human environment for the 21st century. The paper describes the research towards Building Information Modelling for existing structures via the point cloud data captured by the 3D laser scanner technology. A case study building is elaborated to demonstrate how to produce 3D CAD models and BIM models of existing structures based on designated technique