Advanced and natural interaction system for motion-impaired users

Human-computer interaction is an important area that searches for better and more comfortable systems to promote communication between humans and machines. Vision-based interfaces can offer a more natural and appealing way of communication. Moreover, it can help in the e-accessibility component of the e-inclusion. The aim is to develop a usable system, that is, the end-user must consider the use of this device effective, efficient and satisfactory. The research's main contribution is SINA, a hands-free interface based on computer vision techniques for motion impaired users. This interface does not require the user to use his upper body limbs, as only nose motion is considered. Besides the technical aspect, user's satisfaction when using an interface is a critical issue. The approach that we have adopted is to integrate usability evaluation at relevant points of the software developmen

Designing security into software

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-92).When people talk about software security, they usually refer to security applications such as antivirus software, firewalls and intrusion detection systems. There is little emphasis on the security in the software itself. Therefore the thesis sets out to investigate if we can develop secure software in the first place. It first starts with a survey of the software security field, including the definition of software security, its current state and the research having been carried out in this aspect. Then the development processes of two products known for their security: Microsoft IIS 6.0 and Apache HTTP Web Server are examined. Although their approaches to tackle security are seemingly quite different, the analysis and comparisons identify they share a common framework to address the software security problem - designing security early into the software development lifecycle. In the end the thesis gives recommendations as to how to design security into software development process based upon the principles from the research and the actual practices from the two cases. Finally it describes other remaining open issues in this field.by Chang Tony Zhang.S.M

Software Engineering is not Enough

Abstract—Much of the software engineering literature begins with an admonition that what practitioners are doing isn’t enough—that the state-of-the-practice is creating bad software. This paper does not dispute this fact. However, we believe that what the software engineering literature offers as solutions is also not enough. Books on the subject favor the “light ” side of the discipline: project management, software process improvement, schedule and cost estimation and so forth. The real technology necessary to actually build software is often described abstractly, given as obvious or ignored altogether. But software development is a fundamentally technical problem for which management solutions can only be partially effective. This paper argues this point and then describes a basic set of technology that real software developers apply before, during and after designing real software, often against unrealistic schedule and budgetary constraints