External Software Research Articles

The effects of test driven development on internal quality, external quality and productivity: A systematic review

Context: Test Driven Development (TDD) is an agile practice that has gained popularity when it was defined as a fundamental part in eXtreme Programming (XP).Objective: This study analyzed the conclusions of previously published articles on the effects of TDD on internal and external software quality and productivity, comparing TDD with Test Last Development (TLD).Method: In this study, a systematic literature review has been conducted considering articles published between 1999 and 2014.Results: In about 57% of the analyzed studies, the results were validated through experiments and in 32% of them, validation was performed through a case study. The results of this analysis show that 76% of the studies have identified a significant increase in internal software quality while 88% of the studies identified a meaningful increase in external software quality. There was an increase in productivity in the academic environment, while in the industrial scenario there was a decrease in productivity. Overall, about 44% of the studies indicated lower productivity when using TDD compared to TLD.Conclusion: According to our findings, TDD yields more benefits than TLD for internal and external software quality, but it results in lower developer productivity than TLD.

An integrated GIS-based tool for aquifer test analysis

The quantification of the hydraulic parameters is important to support decision making in environmental impact assessment, water resources evaluation or groundwater contamination remediation, among others. These kind of parameters derived from aquifer tests usually encompasses a vast amount of data (spatial and non-spatial) for management and analysis. To achieve this in a clear and understandable manner, the GIS environment is a useful instrument. Development of innovative software to analyze pumping tests in a GIS platform environment to support the hydraulic parameterization of groundwater flow and transport models is presented in this paper. This new platform provides three interconnected modules to improve (a) pumping test interpretation code through a user-friendly interface, (b) pumping test data visualization supported by a set of tools that perform spatiotemporal queries in a GIS environment and (c) the storage and management of hydrogeological information. Additionally, within the GIS platform, it is possible to process the hydraulic parameters obtained from the pumping test and to create spatial distribution maps, perform geostatistical analysis and export the information to an external software platform. Finally, a real-world application in the area of Barcelona (Spain) has shown the usefulness of the tools developed in support of hydrogeological analysis.

A Complete Overhaul of the Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy and X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Database: eelsdb.eu.

The electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) database has been completely rewritten, with an improved design, user interface, and a number of new tools. The database is accessible at https://eelsdb.eu/ and can now be used without registration. The submission process has been streamlined to encourage spectrum submissions and the new design gives greater emphasis on contributors' original work by highlighting their papers. With numerous new filters and a powerful search function, it is now simple to explore the database of several hundred EELS and XAS spectra. Interactive plots allow spectra to be overlaid, facilitating online comparison. An application-programming interface has been created, allowing external tools and software to easily access the information held within the database. In addition to the database itself, users can post and manage job adverts and read the latest news and events regarding the EELS and XAS communities. In accordance with the ongoing drive toward open access data increasingly demanded by funding bodies, the database will facilitate open access data sharing of EELS and XAS spectra.

Cuby: An integrative framework for computational chemistry.

Cuby is a computational chemistry framework written in the Ruby programming language. It provides unified access to a wide range of computational methods by interfacing external software and it implements various protocols that operate on their results. Using structured input files, elementary calculations can be combined into complex workflows. For users, Cuby provides a unified and userfriendly way to automate their work, seamlessly integrating calculations carried out in different computational chemistry programs. For example, the QM/MM module allows combining methods across the interfaced programs and the builtin molecular dynamics engine makes it possible to run a simulation on the resulting potential. For programmers, it provides high-level, object-oriented environment that allows rapid development and testing of new methods and computational protocols. The Cuby framework is available for download at http://cuby4.molecular.cz. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

SPEL – SOFTWARE PLATFORM FOR ELECTRODES LOCALIZATION. A TOOL TO AUTOMATICALLY LOCALIZE SUBDURAL ELECTRODES IN THE PRE-SURGICAL EVALUATION OF EPILEPSY PATIENTS

SPEL – SOFTWARE PLATFORM FOR ELECTRODES LOCALIZATION. A TOOL TO AUTOMATICALLY LOCALIZE SUBDURAL ELECTRODES IN THE PRE-SURGICAL EVALUATION OF EPILEPSY PATIENTS

Metallic TIM Testing and Selection for Harsh Environment Applications for GaN RF Semiconductors

Summary An important determinant of device reliability is operating temperature control. Maintaining a semiconductor device at or below the maximum rated junction temperature (Tj) is accomplished through careful thermal management design and selection of well-performing thermal interface materials (TIM) that minimize efficiency losses in packaging and between the semiconductor device package and a heat sink or liquid cold plate. Thermal management design is increasingly important in harsh operating environments, especially where higher operating temperatures are specified. Minimizing thermal resistances through each semiconductor package material stack and at the external case or package surface of the device are important aspects of maintaining operating temperatures within specified maximum values. In addition, certain semiconductor devices require an electrical path from the semiconductor case to an external component. Maximizing electrical performance of gallium nitride (GaN) RF semiconductors is critical to system performance, as a primary example. The on-going transition within RF and microwave systems from silicon to GaN devices has increased the need for thermal interface materials which offer both improved thermal performance and electrical conductivity. Additionally, GaN semiconductor die are typically smaller in footprint and, even with equivalent power dissipation values, therefore may operate with higher heat flux values that require greater attention to proper thermal solution design. To address such needs, recently-developed forms of metallic TIM preforms are available for integrated circuits, power semiconductors, and RF devices. Understanding how these materials may be tested and selected for specific application requirements is the subject of this discussion.

Defectiveness Evolution in Open Source Software Systems

One of the essential objectives of the software engineering is to develop techniques and tools for high-quality software solutions that are stable and maintainable. Software managers and developers use several measures to measure and improve the quality of a software solution throughout the development process. These measures assess the quality of different software attributes, such as product size, cohesion, coupling, and complexity. Researchers and practitioners use software metrics to understand and improve software solutions and the processes used to develop them. Determining the relationship between software metrics aids in clarifying practical issues with regard to the relationship between the quality of internal and external software attributes. We conducted an empirical study on two open source systems (JEDIT and ANT) to study the defectiveness Evolution in Open Source Software Systems. The result reveals that a good designed software has lesser defects and have high cohesion. Moreover the study also revealed that defects are higher in initial versions and most corrected errors are from major classes in initial version. Removal of defects also reveals that a good software is consistently improved and feed backs are important part of open source systems.

A Topic Modeling Based Solution for Confirming Software Documentation Quality

this paper presents an approach for evaluating and confirming the quality of the external software documentation using topic modeling. Typically, the quality of the external documentation has to mirror precisely the organization of the source code. Therefore, the elements of such documentation should be strongly written, associated, and presented. In this paper, we use Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and HELLINGER DISTANCE to compute the similarities between the fragments of source code and the external documentation topics. These similarities are used in this paper to improve and advance the existing external documentation. Furthermore, these similarities can also be used for evaluating the new documenting process during the evolution phase of the software. The results show that the new approach yields state-of-the-art performance in evaluating and confirming the existing external documentations quality and superiority.

RAGE Architecture for Reusable Serious Gaming Technology Components

For seizing the potential of serious games, the RAGE project—funded by the Horizon-2020 Programme of the European Commission—will make available an interoperable set of advanced technology components (software assets) that support game studios at serious game development. This paper describes the overall software architecture and design conditions that are needed for the easy integration and reuse of such software assets in existing game platforms. Based on the component-based software engineering paradigm the RAGE architecture takes into account the portability of assets to different operating systems, different programming languages, and different game engines. It avoids dependencies on external software frameworks and minimises code that may hinder integration with game engine code. Furthermore it relies on a limited set of standard software patterns and well-established coding practices. The RAGE architecture has been successfully validated by implementing and testing basic software assets in four major programming languages (C#, C++, Java, and TypeScript/JavaScript, resp.). Demonstrator implementation of asset integration with an existing game engine was created and validated. The presented RAGE architecture paves the way for large scale development and application of cross-engine reusable software assets for enhancing the quality and diversity of serious gaming.

A non-invasive heuristic approach to shape optimization in forming

The aim is to determine--relating to a given forming process--the optimal material (undeformed) configuration of a workpiece when knowing the target spatial (deformed) configuration. Therefore, the nodal positions of a discretized setting based on the finite element method (FEM) are the discrete free parameters of the form finding problem. As a verification, inputting the determined optimal material nodal positions, a subsequent re-computation of the forming process should then result in exactly the target spatial nodal positions. A new, non-invasive iterative algorithm, which is purely based on the nodal data of each iteration, is proposed to determine the discretized optimal material configuration. Specifically, the $$L^2$$L2-smoothed deformation gradient at each discretization node is used to update the discretized material configuration by a transformation of the difference vectors between the currently computed and the target spatial nodal positions. The iterative strategy can be easily coupled in a non-invasive fashion via subroutines with arbitrary external FEM software. Since only the computed positions of the discretization nodes are required for an update step within the form finding algorithm, the procedure does not depend on the specific material modelling and is moreover applicable to arbitrary element types, e. g. solid- or solid-shell-elements. Furthermore the convergence rate for solving the form finding problem is nearly linear. This is demonstrated by examples that are realized by a coupling of Matlab (iterative update procedure) and MSC.Marc (external FEM software). Solving the form finding problem to determine an optimum workpiece design is of great interest especially for metal forming applications.

Breaking the Silos: The art Documentation Suite

The art event-processing framework is used by almost all new experiments at Fermilab, and by several outside of Fermilab. All use art as an external product in the same sense that the compiler, ROOT, Geant4, CLHEP and boost are external products. The art team has embarked on a campaign to document art and develop training materials for new users. Many new users of art have little or no knowledge of C++, software engineering, build systems or the many external packages used by art or their experiments, such as ROOT, CLHEP, HEPPDT, and boost. To effectively teach art requires that the training materials include appropriate introductions to these topics as they are encountered. Experience has shown that simply referring readers to the existing native documentation does not work; too often a simple idea that they need to understand is described in a context that presumes prerequisites that are unimportant for a beginning user of art. There is the additional complication that the training materials must be presented in a way that does not presume knowledge of any of the experiments using art. Finally, new users of art arrive at random times throughout the year and the training materials must allow them to start to learn art at any time. This presentation will explain the strategies adopted by the art team to develop a documentation suite that complies with these boundary conditions. It will also show the present status of the documentation suite, including feedback the art team has received from pilot users.

Software Management for the NOνAExperiment

The NOvAsoftware (NOνASoft) is written in C++, and built on the Fermilab Computing Division's art framework that uses ROOT analysis software. NOνASoftmakes use of more than 50 external software packages, is developed by more than 50 developers and is used by more than 100 physicists from over 30 universities and laboratories in 3 continents. The software builds are handled by Fermilab's custom version of Software Release Tools (SRT), a UNIX based software management system for large, collaborative projects that is used by several experiments at Fermilab. The system provides software version control with SVN configured in a client-server mode and is based on the code originally developed by the BaBar collaboration. In this paper, we present efforts towards distributing the NOvA software via the CernVM File System distributed file system. We will also describe our recent work to use a CMake build system and Jenkins, the open source continuous integration system, for NOνASoft.

Reliably Detecting Clinically Important Variants Requires Both Combined Variant Calls and Optimized Filtering Strategies.

A diversity of tools is available for identification of variants from genome sequence data. Given the current complexity of incorporating external software into a genome analysis infrastructure, a tendency exists to rely on the results from a single tool alone. The quality of the output variant calls is highly variable however, depending on factors such as sequence library quality as well as the choice of short-read aligner, variant caller, and variant caller filtering strategy. Here we present a two-part study first using the high quality ‘genome in a bottle’ reference set to demonstrate the significant impact the choice of aligner, variant caller, and variant caller filtering strategy has on overall variant call quality and further how certain variant callers outperform others with increased sample contamination, an important consideration when analyzing sequenced cancer samples. This analysis confirms previous work showing that combining variant calls of multiple tools results in the best quality resultant variant set, for either specificity or sensitivity, depending on whether the intersection or union, of all variant calls is used respectively. Second, we analyze a melanoma cell line derived from a control lymphocyte sample to determine whether software choices affect the detection of clinically important melanoma risk-factor variants finding that only one of the three such variants is unanimously detected under all conditions. Finally, we describe a cogent strategy for implementing a clinical variant detection pipeline; a strategy that requires careful software selection, variant caller filtering optimizing, and combined variant calls in order to effectively minimize false negative variants. While implementing such features represents an increase in complexity and computation the results offer indisputable improvements in data quality.

Deterministic versus reliability-based topology optimization of aeronautical structures

Aircraft design is a challenging process which is constantly looking for developing new and lighter structural components. The application of topology optimization techniques is growing widespread in the aeronautical industry as it has proven to be highly useful for saving important weight amounts in recent aircraft designs. The objective of this research is to obtain optimal and novel aeronautical architectures through topology optimization while considering uncertainty in loads and material properties. For this, a methodology that combines the Sequential Optimization and Reliability Assessment (SORA) with external optimization software has been developed in order to perform Reliability-Based Topology Optimization (RBTO). The methodology is then compared against the classical way of obtaining novel architectures in aeronautical industry, which lie in the application of Deterministic Topology Optimization (DTO) considering partial safety factors in some data influencing the structural responses. The comparison draws weight savings of up to 3 % in the examples proposed when applying RBTO which could be highly significant in an aircraft structure. Moreover it has been proven that when performing a RBTO approach the layout of the final design can be different depending on the safety level required, which may influence the next phases of aircraft design process.

PHOTOS interface in C++: Technical and physics documentation

For five years now, PHOTOS Monte Carlo for bremsstrahlung in the decay of particles and resonances has been available with an interface to the C++ HepMC event record. The main purpose of the present paper is to document the technical aspects of the PHOTOS Monte Carlo installation and present version use. A multitude of test results and examples are distributed together with the program code.The PHOTOS C++ physics precision is better than its FORTRAN predecessor and more convenient steering options are also available. An algorithm for the event record interface necessary for process dependent photon emission kernel is implemented. It is used in Z and W decays for kernels of complete first order matrix elements of the decays. Additional emission of final state lepton pairs is also available.Physics assumptions used in the program and properties of the solution are reviewed. In particular, it is explained how the second order matrix elements were used in design and validation of the program iteration procedure. Also, it is explained that the phase space parameterization used in the program is exact. Program summaryProgram title: Photos++Catalogue identifier: AEYF_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEYF_v1_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen’s University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 53720No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1297747Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: C++.Computer: PC.Operating system: Linux, MacOS.RAM: Bytes. Libraries take less than 2 MB. Memory complexity is O(n) with around 2–4 MB for events with 10 k particles.Classification: 11.1, 11.2.Nature of problem: Algorithm described in this paper can be used to add final state radiation to the event generated by external software using selected event record format. It can also be used on a sample of events loaded from data file. User can define parts of the decay tree on which algorithm can be invoked. The influence of the next-to-leading-order corrections, along with other options regarding electron–positron pair, muon pair and photon emission, can be studied.Solution method: The event record is traversed and a list of all decaying particles is created. Decays where program is not supposed to act and decays excluded by the user are removed from the list. The photon and pair adding algorithm is invoked separately on each remaining decay. If one or more particle is added to the decay, the kinematic of the whole decay tree is updated.Restrictions: Application of the algorithm strongly depends on the content on the event record. Insufficient precision or missing information may deteriorate quality of the results of the algorithm or prevent algorithm from working on the event or its parts. See Section 2 for more details.Running time: 10-30 s per 100k events for small events (less than 1k particles). The complexity strongly depends on the event content and user selection of excluded decays. The theoretical pessimistic complexity of the algorithm is O(n2). However, such cases are highly unrealistic. In our tests, the average complexity is around O(n1.2).

Integration of the virtual 3D model of a control system with the virtual controller

Nowadays the design process includes simulation analysis of different components of a constructed object. It involves the need for integration of different virtual object to simulate the whole investigated technical system. The paper presents the issues related to the integration of a virtual 3D model of a chosen control system of with a virtual controller. The goal of integration is to verify the operation of an adopted object of in accordance with the established control program. The object of the simulation work is the drive system of a tunneling machine for trenchless work. In the first stage of work was created an interactive visualization of functioning of the 3D virtual model of a tunneling machine. For this purpose, the software of the VR (Virtual Reality) class was applied. In the elaborated interactive application were created adequate procedures allowing controlling the drive system of a translatory motion, a rotary motion and the drive system of a manipulator. Additionally was created the procedure of turning on and off the output crushing head, mounted on the last element of the manipulator. In the elaborated interactive application have been established procedures for receiving input data from external software, on the basis of the dynamic data exchange (DDE), which allow controlling actuators of particular control systems of the considered machine. In the next stage of work, the program on a virtual driver, in the ladder diagram (LD) language, was created. The control program was developed on the basis of the adopted work cycle of the tunneling machine. The element integrating the virtual model of the tunneling machine for trenchless work with the virtual controller is the application written in a high level language (Visual Basic). In the developed application was created procedures responsible for collecting data from the running, in a simulation mode, virtual controller and transferring them to the interactive application, in which is verified the operation of the adopted research object. The carried out work allowed foot the integration of the virtual model of the control system of the tunneling machine with the virtual controller, enabling the verification of its operation.

A global damping factor for a non‐invasive form finding algorithm

AbstractInverse form finding based on the finite element method (FEM) aims in determining the optimal material (undeformed) configuration when knowing the target spatial (deformed) configuration in a discretized setting. The strategy is to iteratively update the material coordinates and recompute the spatial configuration by a FEM simulation until the computed spatial nodal positions are close enough to a priori given spatial nodal positions. A form finding algorithm is utilized, which is purely based on geometrical considerations and can be coupled with arbitrary external FEM software via subroutines in a non‐invasive fashion. At large deformations degenerated elements can occur when updating the material coordinates. Evaluating the mesh quality of the updated material configuration and adjusting a global damping factor before recomputing the next spatial configuration helps to avoid mesh distortions. (© 2015 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Electronic Stroke CarePath: Integrated Approach to Stroke Care.

We describe the development, implementation, and outcomes of the first 2 years of the Electronic Stroke CarePath, an initiative developed for management of ischemic stroke patients in an effort to improve efficiency and quality of care for patients. The CarePath consists of care pathways for ischemic stroke that are integrated within the electronic health record. Patient-reported outcomes are collected using an external software platform. Documentation tools, order sets, and clinical decision support were designed to improve efficiency, optimize process measure adherence, and produce clinical data as a byproduct of care that are available for future analyses. Inpatient mortality and length of stay were compared before and after CarePath implementation in ischemic stroke patients after adjustment for case-mix. Postdischarge functional outcomes of patients with ischemic stroke were compared between the first 3 months of rollout and remainder of the study period. From January 2011 to December 2012, there were 1106 patients with ischemic stroke on the CarePath. There was a decline in inpatient mortality in patients with ischemic stroke, but not in control patients with intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage. Completion rate of patient-reported questionnaires at postdischarge stroke follow-up was 72.9%. There was a trend toward improved functional outcomes at follow-up with CarePath implementation. Implementation of the Electronic Stroke CarePath is feasible and may be associated with a benefit in multiple different outcomes after ischemic stroke. This approach may be an important strategy for optimizing stroke care in the future.

Towards an operationalization of test-driven development skills: An industrial empirical study

Context: The majority of the empirical studies on Test-driven development (TDD) are concerned with verifying or refuting the effectiveness of the technique over a traditional approach, and they tend to neglect whether the subjects possess the necessary skills to apply TDD, though they argue such skills are necessary.Objective: We evaluate a set of minimal, a priori and in process skills necessary to apply TDD. We determine whether variations in external quality (i.e., number of defects) and productivity (i.e., number of features implemented) can be associated with different clusters of the TDD skills’ set.Method: We executed a quasi-experiment involving 30 practitioners from industry. We first grouped the participants according to their TDD skills’ set (consisting of a priori experience on programming and testing as well as in-process TDD conformance) into three levels (Low-Medium-High) using k-means clustering. We then applied ANOVA to compare the clusters in terms of external quality and productivity, and conducted post-hoc pairwise analysis.Results: We did not observe a statistically significant difference between the clusters either for external software quality (F(2,27=1.44,p=.260), or productivity (F(2,27)=3.02,p=.065). However, the analysis of the effect sizes and their confidence intervals shows that the TDD skills’ set is a factor that could account for up to 28% of the external quality, and 38% for productivity.Conclusion: We have reason to conclude that focusing on the improvement of TDD skills’ set investigated in this study could benefit software developers in improving their baseline productivity and the external quality of the code they produce. However, replications are needed to overcome the issues related with the statistical power of this study. We suggest practical insights for future work to investigate the phenomenon further.

Voltage Mode FPN Calibration in the Logarithmic CMOS Imager

The CMOS active pixel sensor (APS) operating in the logarithmic mode is the most common and useful CMOS wide-dynamic-range imager. Notwithstanding, fixed-pattern noise (FPN) between pixels compromises the quality of the image generated by the focal-plane array. Classical techniques as correlated double sampling do not work properly in this mode, and alternative techniques must be applied in order to calibrate FPN. The alternative techniques require either complex pixel circuitry, or external memory and software level calibration. Purposefully to improve image quality at reduced circuitry complexity, a new calibration technique is proposed that can be applied directly to the basic three-FET APS circuit. The efficacy of the proposed technique was experimentally verified with a small pixel array fabricated in a standard 0.35- $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS technology. The experimental results show a steady FPN attenuation within the whole tested illumination range and the improvement of the signal-to-noise and distortion ratio of the array.