Rapid Application Development Tools Research Articles

Expert System Development for the Prevention of Hoof Pathologies Applied to the Intensive Swine Production

Claw lameness can be associated with biomechanical factors caused by imbalances of the pressure distribution under the hooves when swine are confined in modern facilities with hard concrete flooring. Comparing hoof pressure distribution data of swine boars walking over two different types of floors (standard concrete vs. 3mm rubber mattress) in previous research, it was found a great advantage favoring the rubber mat flooring showing that it was capable of reducing pressures under the claws as the pressure became more evenly distributed under this treatment resulting in balanced weight-bearing surfaces. The objective of this study was to develop an expert system based on Fuzzy logic algorithm for the prevention of hoof pathologies applied to the intensive swine production by estimating occurrence of claw lesions based on the association of knowledge gathered on pressure distribution from previous research as well as the influences of nutrition, friction coefficients found on different types of available flooring, hoof sizes and animal weight on the welfare of the swine’s locomotory system. The data were correlated initially using Matlab® platform associating expert’s knowledge and literature through a knowledge system that weights the variables according to their impact on claw health. The final user interface was coded using Microsoft Visual Studio Rapid Application Development tool and the resulting system was validated in several different laboratory scenarios and its performance was considered to be satisfactory according to findings in the literature. The expert system was coded and the authors concluded that the system could be a great contribution and advance in the swine’s industry, nonetheless, its performance still requires field testing for fine adjustments which should be encouraged to be carried out in further researches.

Could rapid application development tools be used as icebreakers in programming education?

Today, learning how to program or coding is an important issue even for children. So, pre-service Information Technology (IT) teachers are expected to have gained necessary skills for teaching programming. Considering that learning programming is not an easy process, we need icebreakers in order to change pre-service teachers’ perceptions of programming positively. This study focused on an implementation of a training of rapid application development (RAD). The aim of the study was to come up with an answer to the question; “can RAD be used as an icebreaker in order to change Turkish pre-service IT teachers’ perceptions towards programming positively?” The findings revealed that RAD tools can be used as icebreakers in the context of the study. In this respect, it is recommended that these tools be included in the higher education programs providing informatics education.

Harvest: an open platform for developing web-based biomedical data discovery and reporting applications

Biomedical researchers share a common challenge of making complex data understandable and accessible as they seek inherent relationships between attributes in disparate data types. Data discovery in this context is limited by a lack of query systems that efficiently show relationships between individual variables, but without the need to navigate underlying data models. We have addressed this need by developing Harvest, an open-source framework of modular components, and using it for the rapid development and deployment of custom data discovery software applications. Harvest incorporates visualizations of highly dimensional data in a web-based interface that promotes rapid exploration and export of any type of biomedical information, without exposing researchers to underlying data models. We evaluated Harvest with two cases: clinical data from pediatric cardiology and demonstration data from the OpenMRS project. Harvest's architecture and public open-source code offer a set of rapid application development tools to build data discovery applications for domain-specific biomedical data repositories. All resources, including the OpenMRS demonstration, can be found at http://harvest.research.chop.edu

PENERAPAN SISTEM INFORMASI UNTUK MANAJEMEN DATA MINERAL

Mineral Information System (SIM) is an added value and integrated database system for mineral in Indonesia concerning with the availability of mineral resources, which encompasses the entire aspects of mineral commodity such as geology, mining, geography, exploration, exploitation, processing technology,statistics and its developments. The technologies used in the SIM development are appropriate technology, open platform, Visual Programming using Rapid Application Development tools, and Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). The SIM technology enables users to illustrate and display someinformations regarding to mineral resources easily and rapidly, i.e. local governments, investors, or persons who are interested in mining or mineral development. The SIM technology is benefit for decision makers to support a regulation or urban planning. In this paper, it will be described about visualization model of SIM in application desktop form.

RAD and Other Innovative Approaches to Facilitate Superior Project Management

Rapid Application Development (RAD) is promising to bring many benefits and state-of-the-art uses to the discipline of software engineering. The plethora of low cost RAD tools, together with the claims made by advocates of this methodology, has lead to an explosion in the use of this technique across the field. Unfortunately, however, there has been comparatively little regard in context to the project management issues of adopting RAD methodologies on which this paper will focus.

The critical success factors in the management of projects using innovative approaches

Rapid Application Development (RAD) promises to bring many benefits to the discipline of software engineering. The plethora of low-cost RAD tools, together with the claims made by advocates of this methodology, has led to an explosion in the use of this technique. However, comparatively little regard has been given to the project management issues of adopting RAD methodologies, upon which this paper will focus.

The multimod application framework: A rapid application development tool for computer aided medicine

This paper describes a new application framework (OpenMAF) for rapid development of multimodal applications in computer-aided medicine. MAF applications are multimodal in data, in representation, and in interaction. The framework supports almost any type of biomedical data, including DICOM datasets, motion-capture recordings, or data from computer simulations (e.g. finite element modeling). The interactive visualization approach (multimodal display) helps the user interpret complex datasets, providing multiple representations of the same data. In addition, the framework allows multimodal interaction by supporting the simultaneous use of different input–output devices like 3D trackers, stereoscopic displays, haptics hardware and speech recognition/synthesis systems. The Framework has been designed to run smoothly even on limited power computers, but it can take advantage of all hardware capabilities. The Framework is based on a collection of portable libraries and it can be compiled on any platform that supports OpenGL, including Windows, MacOS X and any flavor of Unix/linux.

Learning object-oriented design by creating games

Playing computer games is a popular recreational activity for young people. Creating a state-of-the-art commercial computer game is an incredibly difficult task. Writing a game like Pac-Man from scratch in a modern programming language is still difficult. Fortunately, several currently available tools make game creation easier. These tools can be used to create more complex games, but they offer only limited programming possibilities. Many similar packages exist. One such program is Game Maker, which is a rapid-application development tool. The Game Maker interface uses an object-oriented, event-driven approach. With Game Maker's drag-and-drop techniques, users can create games without writing a single line of code. But the program also includes an interpreted programming language. The program produces stand-alone games that can be distributed freely: a version of Game Maker, itself, is available for free as well.

Risks of rapid application development

Proliferating information systems (IS) application development backlogs and everescalating business demands for applications software have resulted in a constant search by IS organizations for paradigms and tools that accelerate the pace of software development. Along with rapid application development (RAD), technologies such as CASE, object-oriented development, client/server computing, and flexible middleware are being hailed as potential solutions to the software crisis [11]. Although industry experience with these paradigms is mixed, the benefits of such technologies are acknowledged—at least with regard to improvements in development productivity and application delivery times [3]. While no universal definition of RAD exists, it can be characterized in two ways: as a methodology prescribing certain phases in software development (similar in principle to the spiral, iterative models of software construction), and as a class of tools that allow for speedy object development, graphical user interfaces, and reusable code for client/server applications. Indeed, the tools and methodology are inextricably linked: the tools enable the methodology and circumscribe what is accomplished during a development project. In a world dominated by deadlines and irate users, where competitive advantage can depend on how quickly software is developed to support new business, RAD is certainly appealing. The popular press extols its virtues with adjectives like “evolutionary,” “iterative,” “interactive,” and “dynamic,” emphasizing the delivery rate increases facilitated by RAD, which range from 25% to 1,000% [4]. But software development does not conclude with speedy application delivery. For the true benefits of the technology to be realized, the applications must exhibit reusability and maintainability so that total life-cycle costs are reduced. Surprisingly little time has been spent determining if the value of RAD tools to business extends beyond the

Flexible systems for changing organizations: implementing RAD

Rapid application development (RAD) promises to deliver high quality applications quickly. But the approach relies on close partnerships between IT staff and business users which may not be easy to achieve in the current climate of rapidly fragmenting organizations and, like all major innovations, RAD implementation must be managed carefully over an extended time period in order to become fully instutionalised. In this paper RAD implementation at two large UK organizations is described. One has failed to institutionalise RAD, the other has succeeded. The key lessons from this work are that even basic RAD tools and techniques can deliver benefits; that RAD implementors need to be given time to learn through experience of use; that a permanent methods group can help to stimulate RAD learning and act as a linking mechanism between successive information system (IS) development projects; that a RAD framework should be prescriptive and that an education programme which explains both the role of the information technology (IT) specialist and the business user should be pursued vigorously.

Flexible systems for changing organizations: implementing RAD

Rapid application development (RAD) promises to deliver high quality applications quickly. But the approach relies on close partnerships between IT staff and business users which may not be easy to achieve in the current climate of rapidly fragmenting organizations and, like all major innovations, RAD implementation must be managed carefully over an extended time period in order to become fully instutionalised. In this paper RAD implementation at two large UK organizations is described. One has failed to institutionalise RAD, the other has succeeded. The key lessons from this work are that even basic RAD tools and techniques can deliver benefits; that RAD implementors need to be given time to learn through experience of use; that a permanent methods group can help to stimulate RAD learning and act as a linking mechanism between successive information system (IS) development projects; that a RAD framework should be prescriptive and that an education programme which explains both the role of the information technology (IT) specialist and the business user should be pursued vigorously.

Implementing reuse with RAD tools' native objects

Developers and project managers need to understand how to constrain project requirements to reap the reuse advantages that RAD (rapid application development) tools offer. Designing exclusively within the capabilities of RAD Business Objects can stabilize projects, even enough to support larger applications. Four RAD tools are presented which use de facto standard RAD Business Objects, but each represents a different design for RAD tools: Microsoft's Visual Basic; IBM's Lotus Notes; Magic MSE's Magic; and Powersoft/Sybase's Powerbuilder. RAD tools are moving toward innovations in two areas: language based programming alternatives and software design support, and both these areas are discussed.

Product Hierarchy and Brand Strategy Influences on the Order of Entry Effect for Consumer Packaged Goods

Manufacturers focus on becoming more agile, software firms deploy rapid application development tools—everyone is in a hurry. Although we all understand the benefits of being first to market, we understand just as clearly that not all first‐to‐market products enjoy the same, sustainable benefits from being market pioneers. Why do some pioneering products experience a more significant order‐of‐entry effect than others?Roger A. Kerin, Gurumurthy Kalyanaram, and Daniel J. Howard examine two factors–product hierarchy and brand strategy—which may influence the magnitude of this effect for new consumer packaged goods. First, they hypothesize that pioneering a new product class offers a greater advantage than introducing a new form to an existing product class. Second, they predict that the order‐of‐entry effect will be greater for brand extensions than for entirely new brands. Finally, considering both product hierarchy and brand strategy, they expect that the order‐of‐entry advantage for brand extensions over new brands will be significantly greater within new product classes than for new forms of existing products.These hypotheses are tested using data from the Information Resources, Inc. Behaviorscan° data set. Collected from 2,500 household panel members, 75 supermarkets, and 25 drugstores, this database contains weekly measures of brand trial penetration as well as brand distribution, price, and promotion information in eight geographic markets from the period 1983–1988. The models developed in this study explore the relationships among brand trial penetration, product hierarchy, brand strategy, order of entry, lag time between successive brand entrants, and marketing mix variables (i.e., price, promotion, distribution, and advertising).The study strongly supports all three hypotheses. In particular, the analysis clearly demonstrates that the order‐of‐entry effect is greatest for a new product class pioneered by a brand extension. Order of entry has the least effect on a new product form pioneered by an entirely new brand. For a company seeking a competitive advantage from being first to market, innovation in product function offers greater potential benefit than innovation in product form. Such a company can also benefit from building on the name and reputation of its established brands. Although the study finds these order‐of‐entry effects significant, the effects of marketing mix variables such as product price and promotion are consistently stronger.

Product hierarchy and brand strategy influences on the order of entry effect for consumer packaged goods

Manufacturers focus on becoming more agile, software firms deploy rapid application development tools—everyone is in a hurry. Although we all understand the benefits of being first to market, we understand just as clearly that not all first-to-market products enjoy the same, sustainable benefits from being market pioneers. Why do some pioneering products experience a more significant order-of-entry effect than others? Roger A. Kerin, Gurumurthy Kalyanaram, and Daniel J. Howard examine two factors—product hierarchy and brand strategy—which may influence the magnitude of this effect for new consumer packaged goods. First, they hypothesize that pioneering a new product class offers a greater advantage than introducing a new form to an existing product class. Second, they predict that the order-of-entry effect will be greater for brand extensions than for entirely new brands. Finally, considering both product hierarchy and brand strategy, they expect that the order-of-entry advantage for brand extensions over new brands will be significantly greater within new product classes than for new forms of existing products. These hypotheses are tested using data from the Information Resources, Inc. Behaviorscan ® data set. Collected from 2,500 household panel members, 75 supermarkets, and 25 drugstores, this database contains weekly measures of brand trial penetration as well as brand distribution, price, and promotion information in eight geographic markets from the period 1983–1988. The models developed in this study explore the relationships among brand trial penetration, product hierarchy, brand strategy, order of entry, lag time between successive brand entrants, and marketing mix variables (i.e., price, promotion, distribution, and advertising). The study strongly supports all three hypotheses. In particular, the analysis clearly demonstrates that the order-of-entry effect is greatest for a new product class pioneered by a brand extension. Order of entry has the least effect on a new product form pioneered by an entirely new brand. For a company seeking a competitive advantage from being first to market, innovation in product function offers greater potential benefit than innovation in product form. Such a company can also benefit from building on the name and reputation of its established brands. Although the study finds these order-of-entry effects significant, the effects of marketing mix variables such as product price and promotion are consistently stronger.

Using RAD tools to develop secure client/server applications

This paper evaluates the potential vulnerabilities of the client/server model of computing in the context of RAD (rapid application development) environments. It shows that client/server systems can be made secure only if their transaction processing logic is moved to the server, as the possibility of direct execution of SQL statements over a network puts the database integrity at risk. RAD applications can be made secure by accessing a RDBMS through a transaction processing server.