Construction of a taxonomy for requirements engineering commercial-off-the-shelf components

This article presents a procedure for constructing a taxonomy of COTS products in the field of Requirements Engineering (RE). The taxonomy and the obtained information reach transcendental benefits to the selection of systems and tools that aid to RE-related actors to simplify and facilitate their work. This taxonomy is performed by means of a goal-oriented methodology inspired in GBRAM (Goal-Based Requirements Analysis Method), called GBTCM (Goal-Based Taxonomy Construction Method), that provides a guide to analyze sources of information and modeling requirements and domains, as well as gathering and organizing the knowledge in any segment of the COTS market. GBTCM claims to promote the use of standards and the reuse of requirements in order to support different processes of selection and integration of components.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Leadership Behaviour and Worker Performance in the Nigerian Construction Industry

Leadership is a dynamic process in which an individual influence other to contribute to the achievement of an assigned task. This paper investigates leadership behaviour and its impact on construction workers’ performance in Lagos, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select 50 site-supervisors and 250 construction-workers involved in simple construction works. An investigation was carried out using a questionnaire survey method. The leadership variables investigated were ranked, regressed and correlated to workers performance. From the primary data analysis, leadership behaviour exhibited by supervisors were found to influence the site workers commitment to achieving the goal of the construction projects. The most exhibited leadership behaviour on the studied construction site is transformational leadership behaviour with an overall mean score of 4.09. There also exists a positive linear correlation of transactional leadership behaviour with construction workers performance. Findings revealed that the adoption of laissez-faire leadership behaviour results in negative correlation with construction workers performance. The study concludes that the success of construction projects depends on the project manager and its employees, therefore leadership qualities is an important skill that everyone in the construction industry should possess as it enhances the timely delivery of construction works

A Pickands type estimator of the extreme value index

One of the main goal of extreme value analysis is to estimate the probability of rare events given a sample from an unknown distribution. The upper tail behavior of this distribution is described by the extreme value index. We present a new estimator of the extreme value index adapted to any domain of attraction. Its construction is similar to the one of Pickands' estimator. its weak consistency and its asymptotic distribution are established and a bias reduction method is proposed. Our estimator is compared with classical extreme value index estimators through a simulation study

Goal-oriented sensitivity analysis for lattice kinetic Monte Carlo simulations

In this paper we propose a new class of coupling methods for the sensitivity analysis of high dimensional stochastic systems and in particular for lattice Kinetic Monte Carlo. Sensitivity analysis for stochastic systems is typically based on approximating continuous derivatives with respect to model parameters by the mean value of samples from a finite difference scheme. Instead of using independent samples the proposed algorithm reduces the variance of the estimator by developing a strongly correlated-"coupled"- stochastic process for both the perturbed and unperturbed stochastic processes, defined in a common state space. The novelty of our construction is that the new coupled process depends on the targeted observables, e.g. coverage, Hamiltonian, spatial correlations, surface roughness, etc., hence we refer to the proposed method as em goal-oriented sensitivity analysis. In particular, the rates of the coupled Continuous Time Markov Chain are obtained as solutions to a goal-oriented optimization problem, depending on the observable of interest, by considering the minimization functional of the corresponding variance. We show that this functional can be used as a diagnostic tool for the design and evaluation of different classes of couplings. Furthermore the resulting KMC sensitivity algorithm has an easy implementation that is based on the Bortz-Kalos-Lebowitz algorithm's philosophy, where here events are divided in classes depending on level sets of the observable of interest. Finally, we demonstrate in several examples including adsorption, desorption and diffusion Kinetic Monte Carlo that for the same confidence interval and observable, the proposed goal-oriented algorithm can be two orders of magnitude faster than existing coupling algorithms for spatial KMC such as the Common Random Number approach

Strategic knowledge for the identification and construction of goal states

There is widespread recognition that goal recognition strategies, in the context of structural analysis and cognitive (user) models, represent a major field of contemporary research into discourse understanding. This thesis reports a goal interpretation paradigm that embraces both a novel goal structure formalism and strategic knowledge. The goal interpretation processes involve the identification of goal primitives and the construction of goal states. The mechanisms developed for goal interpretation rely on explicit goal recognition (selection) and confirmation of feasibility. A goal state contains all the information required by the planner. By constructing a goal state, the chance of failure in planning is greatly reduced and the efficiency of the planning system is vastly improved. These mechanisms are not limited to inference. Other mechanisms are reported include goal structure processing, goal primitives identification and searching strategies, extended heuristic classification method and a new conceptual graph operation (i.e. SPLIT)

A HYBRID LBWA - IR-MAIRCA MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION-MAKING MODEL FOR DETERMINATION OF CONSTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS OF WEAPONS

The paper demonstrates a model whose goal is to define the construction elements of weapons necessary to meet minimum requirements of users. The complexity of the problem, conditioned by different construction elements of weapons and specific situations of their use, is the reason for using methods of multi-criteria decision-making. In the paper we used the hybrid LBWA – IR-MAIRCA model. With this model, one can conduct an analysis of characteristics of the existing weapons, based on which we define the construction elements for modifying the existing and manufacturing new weapons. Regarding a large number of different types of weapons, the paper is limited to the analysis of close-quarters combat weapons. The LBWA method was used to calculate weight coefficients of the criteria. The MAIRCA method, which was modified by interval rough numbers, was used to select the best close-quarters combat weapon that has the best characteristics in accordance with the requests of the users. Based on the analysis, the users have the option to clearly and precisely define requests for improvement of the existing, and manufacturing new weapons

A Novel Risk Assessment Model for Prefabricated Building Construction Based on Combination Weight and Catastrophe Progression Method

To reduce the construction risk of prefabricated building projects, a prefabricated building construction risk assessment index system with five first-level indicators and 21 second-level indicators was established based on human, machine, material, management, and environmental factors. By combining the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), CRiteria Importance through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC), and catastrophe theory, a risk assessment model of prefabricated building construction based on a combination weighting and catastrophe progression method was constructed. The effectiveness of the assessment model using the combination weighting and catastrophe progression method was verified through case analysis. The results show the following: (1) The quality of the prefabricated components, the standardization degree of the prefabricated components, and the environment of the installation working space in the construction risk assessment indicators of prefabricated buildings obtained by the AHP-CRITIC weighting method have higher weights. (2) Four prefabricated construction enterprises under China State Construction Corporation are evaluated, and the evaluation results effectively evaluate the project risk situation before an accident occurred, achieving the goal of improving the risk management efficiency. (3) The AHP-CRITIC weighting method can reflect the fuzziness of the construction risk of the evaluated project, effectively reduce information loss, and thus make the evaluation results more accurate. The conclusions have important practical significance for improving the construction risk management of prefabricated buildings

Construction of a taxonomy for requirements engineering commercial-off-the-shelf components

This article presents a procedure for constructing a taxonomy of COTS products in the field of Requirements Engineering (RE). The taxonomy and the obtained information reach transcendental benefits to the selection of systems and tools that aid to RE-related actors to simplify and facilitate their work. This taxonomy is performed by means of a goal-oriented methodology inspired in GBRAM (Goal-Based Requirements Analysis Method), called GBTCM (Goal-Based Taxonomy Construction Method), that provides a guide to analyze sources of information and modeling requirements and domains, as well as gathering and organizing the knowledge in any segment of the COTS market. GBTCM claims to promote the use of standards and the reuse of requirements in order to support different processes of selection and integration of components.Facultad de Informátic