Software Tool Evaluation Methodology

The recent development of parallel and distributed computing software has introduced a variety of software tools that support several programming paradigms and languages. This variety of tools makes the selection of the best tool to run a given class of applications on a parallel or distributed system a non-trivial task that requires some investigation. We expect tool evaluation to receive more attention as the deployment and usage of distributed systems increases. In this paper, we present a multi-level evaluation methodology for parallel/distributed tools in which tools are evaluated from different perspectives. We apply our evaluation methodology to three message passing tools viz Express, p4, and PVM. The approach covers several important distributed systems platforms consisting of different computers (e.g., IBM-SP1, Alpha cluster, SUN workstations) interconnected by different types of networks (e.g., Ethernet, FDDI, ATM)

Performance requirements verification during software systems development

Requirements verification refers to the assurance that the implemented system reflects the specified requirements. Requirement verification is a process that continues through the life cycle of the software system. When the software crisis hit in 1960, a great deal of attention was placed on the verification of functional requirements, which were considered to be of crucial importance. Over the last decade, researchers have addressed the importance of integrating non-functional requirement in the verification process. An important non-functional requirement for software is performance. Performance requirement verification is known as Software Performance Evaluation. This thesis will look at performance evaluation of software systems. The performance evaluation of software systems is a hugely valuable task, especially in the early stages of a software project development. Many methods for integrating performance analysis into the software development process have been proposed. These methodologies work by utilising the software architectural models known in the software engineering field by transforming these into performance models, which can be analysed to gain the expected performance characteristics of the projected system. This thesis aims to bridge the knowledge gap between performance and software engineering domains by introducing semi-automated transformation methodologies. These are designed to be generic in order for them to be integrated into any software engineering development process. The goal of these methodologies is to provide performance related design guidance during the system development. This thesis introduces two model transformation methodologies. These are the improved state marking methodology and the UML-EQN methodology. It will also introduce the UML-JMT tool which was built to realise the UML-EQN methodology. With the help of automatic design models to performance model algorithms introduced in the UML-EQN methodology, a software engineer with basic knowledge of performance modelling paradigm can conduct a performance study on a software system design. This was proved in a qualitative study where the methodology and the tool deploying this methodology were tested by software engineers with varying levels of background, experience and from different sectors of the software development industry. The study results showed an acceptance for this methodology and the UML-JMT tool. As performance verification is a part of any software engineering methodology, we have to define frame works that would deploy performance requirements validation in the context of software engineering. Agile development paradigm was the result of changes in the overall environment of the IT and business worlds. These techniques are based on iterative development, where requirements, designs and developed programmes evolve continually. At present, the majority of literature discussing the role of requirements engineering in agile development processes seems to indicate that non-functional requirements verification is an unchartered territory. CPASA (Continuous Performance Assessment of Software Architecture) was designed to work in software projects where the performance can be affected by changes in the requirements and matches the main practices of agile modelling and development. The UML-JMT tool was designed to deploy the CPASA Performance evaluation tests

Techniques and software tool for 3D multimodality medical image segmentation

The era of noninvasive diagnostic radiology and image-guided radiotherapy has witnessed burgeoning interest in applying different imaging modalities to stage and localize complex diseases such as atherosclerosis or cancer. It has been observed that using complementary information from multimodality images often significantly improves the robustness and accuracy of target volume definitions in radiotherapy treatment of cancer. In this work, we present techniques and an interactive software tool to support this new framework for 3D multimodality medical image segmentation. To demonstrate this methodology, we have designed and developed a dedicated open source software tool for multimodality image analysis MIASYS. The software tool aims to provide a needed solution for 3D image segmentation by integrating automatic algorithms, manual contouring methods, image preprocessing filters, post-processing procedures, user interactive features and evaluation metrics. The presented methods and the accompanying software tool have been successfully evaluated for different radiation therapy and diagnostic radiology applications

AN ARGUMENTATION-BASED DESIGN RATIONALE APPLICATION FOR REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

This study presents an argumentation-based design rationale application for supporting communication and reflection in design. The study employs a design science research methodology and contributes to research by investigating the design and evaluation of a software artefact, namely the Rationale Browser. Preliminary evaluation of the software artefact in an experiment indicates its usefulness and usability. We conclude that the artefact can be of particular relevance to both researchers and practitioners, by serving as a reflection and documentation tool in valu-sensitive, ethical or reflective design projects

Customization Of Requirements Modeling Tool For Software Engineering Education

In the developing a software, there is a part of modeling the requirements. Modeling the requirements usefully to communicate all stakeholders and as a blueprint. There are modeling tools used to model the requirements such as Rational Rose, Enterprise Architect, Magic Draw, StarUML, ArgoUML, UML Designer, etc. Modeling tools that available gets more complicated to use and when compared majority tools more emphasis on modeling for industrial rather than education. In this study perform the customization tool for software engineering education and evaluate effectiveness the custom tool. The research methodology in this study is questionnaire, interview and literature review related with the study. The custom tool focus only on use case diagram including use case elements and use case description. Development the system start with elicited the requirements of the system, hardware requirements, and software requirements. The testing stage performed to get evaluation from the system developed. In the testing performed test the functional of the system. Evaluation obtained that the system usefulness, easy to use, and easy to learning. Besides, software engineering students are involved satisfied with the system

Accessibility of websites of the European national tourism boards

Purpose: The aim is to find out the current state of accessibility of the websites of European national tourism boards. Furthermore, the identification of the most common errors in terms of accessibility as well as recommendations leading to their correction is aimed for. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on methods of testing the availability of web systems. The testing included automated tools, namely AChecker and Accessibility Evaluation Tool, as well as the WCAG 2.1 checklist developed by WebAIM initiative. Findings: The research has shown a relatively high accessibility of those websites. Nevertheless, some accessibility violations have been identified that can significantly complicate the accessibility of those websites for users using various assistive devices or other alternative hardware or software means. The most commonly identified errors include: failure to use alternative text for content-relevant images, the absence of text or audio transcripts for videos shared via Youtube, missing descriptions for text form elements and missing label for search form. Practical implications: The results of the research can be used in the evaluation of web presentations at the level of tourism boards and destination management. Originality/Value: The main output of this article is the application of web testing methodology on a comprehensive set of national tourist boards.peer-reviewe