Variability and Evolution in Systems of Systems

In this position paper (1) we discuss two particular aspects of Systems of Systems, i.e., variability and evolution. (2) We argue that concepts from Product Line Engineering and Software Evolution are relevant to Systems of Systems Engineering. (3) Conversely, concepts from Systems of Systems Engineering can be helpful in Product Line Engineering and Software Evolution. Hence, we argue that an exchange of concepts between the disciplines would be beneficial.Comment: In Proceedings AiSoS 2013, arXiv:1311.319

A study of systems implementation languages for the POCCNET system

The results are presented of a study of systems implementation languages for the Payload Operations Control Center Network (POCCNET). Criteria are developed for evaluating the languages, and fifteen existing languages are evaluated on the basis of these criteria

NYS PROMISE Learning Community Group Concept Mapping: Fall 2016 Case Manager Experience - Final Report

Beginning in 2014, the Federal Government provided funding to New York State as part of an initiative to improve services that lead to sustainable outcomes for youth receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. As part of the NYS PROMISE initiative, Concept Systems, Inc. worked with the Learning Community to develop learning needs frameworks using the Group Concept Mapping methodology (GCM). The GCM projects gather, aggregates, and integrate the specific knowledge and opinions of the Learning Community members. This allows for their guidance and involvement in supporting NYS PROMISE as a viable community of practice. This work also increases the responsiveness of NYS PROMISE to the Learning Community members’ needs by inspiring discussion during the semi-annual in-person meetings. As of the end of year three, three GCM projects have been completed with the PROMISE Learning Community. These projects focused on Outreach and Recruitment Project 1), Case Management and Service Delivery (Project 2), and Case Manager Experience (Project 3). This report discusses the data collection method and participation in the Case Manager Experience GCM project, as well as providing graphics, statistical reports, and a summary of the analysis

From techno-scientific grammar to organizational syntax. New production insights on the nature of the firm

The paper aims at providing the conceptual building blocks of a theory of the firm which addresses its "ontological questions" (existence,boundaries and organization) by placing production at its core. We draw on engineering for a more accurate description of the production process itself, highlighting its inner complexity and potentially chaotic nature, and on computational linguistics for a production-based account of the nature of economic agents and of the mechanisms through which they build ordered production sets. In so doing, we give a "more appropriate" production basis to the crucial issues of how firm's boundaries are set, how its organisational structure is defined, and how it changes over time. In particular, we show how economic agents select some tasks to be performed internally, while leaving some other to external suppliers, on the basis of criteria based on both the different degrees of internal congruence of the tasks to be performed (i.e. the internal environment), and on the outer relationships carried out with other agents (i.e. the external environment)

Small scale software engineering

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In computing, the Software Crisis has arisen because software projects cannot meet their planned timescales, functional capabilities, reliability levels and budgets. This thesis reduces the general problem down to the Small Scale Software Engineering goal of improving the quality and tractability of the designs of individual programs. It is demonstrated that the application of eight abstractions (set, sequence, hierarchy, h-reduction, integration, induction, enumeration, generation) can lead to a reduction in the size and complexity of and an increase in the quality of software designs when expressed via Dimensional Design, a new representational technique which uses the three spatial dimensions to represent set, sequence and hierarchy, whilst special symbols and axioms encode the other abstractions. Dimensional Designs are trees of symbols whose edges perceptually encode the relationships between the nodal symbols. They are easy to draw and manipulate both manually and mechanically. Details are given of real software projects already undertaken using Dimensional Design. Its tool kit, DD/ROOTS, produces high quality, machine drawn, detailed design documentation plus novel quality control information. A run time monitor records and animates execution, measures CPU time and takes snapshots etc; all these results are represented according to Dimensional Design principles to maintain conceptual integrity with the design. These techniques are illustrated by the development of a non-trivial example program. Dimensional Design is axiomatised, compared to existing techniques and evaluated against the stated problem. It has advantages over existing techniques, mainly its clarity of expression and ease of manipulation of individual abstractions due to its graphical basis