Traditional Engineering Disciplines Research Articles

Principles of aspect-oriented programming languages, design dimensions and the composition filters approach

In traditional engineering disciplines, design is a problem solving process. It aims at mapping problems to realizable solutions, expressed using the artifacts in the corresponding engineering domain. Traditional engineering disciplines have introduced the concepts of canonical component models, systemic models, system construction rules and multiple (simultaneous) models. The emerging phenomena of the aspect-oriented software development techniques can be explained and motivated within this context. The concepts of component models, systemic models, system construction rules, multiple models as defined in traditional engineering disciplines correspond respectively to the concepts of base-level models, aspect models, join point models and multi-dimensional separation of concerns of aspect-oriented languages. Aspect-oriented languages can model the natural systemic properties of problem domains. This allows them to be a better representation than conventional object-oriented languages. This talk will explain the principles of aspect-oriented programming languages from the problem solving perspective. Based on this conceptual framework, aspect-oriented language design dimensions will be outlined. In the second part of the talk, the approach taken by the composition filters model will be explained. The talk will end by comparing filters with other approaches, advantages and shortcomings.

Integrating formalism into undergraduate software engineering

This paper describes an approach and rational for using logic and formal methods in undergraduate software engineering education. Formal methods and logic provide a mathematical basis for modeling software analogous to the role of continuous mathematics in traditional engineering disciplines. Traditional software engineering techniques provide means for modeling software development processes and structuring specifications. Neither formal methods nor traditional approaches subsume the other, but are complimentary in software engineering education and practice. The course described here was a part of the standard Computer Engineering curriculum at The University of Cincinnati from 1993 through 1999. This paper reports on the course and observations over six years of teaching the course to undergraduate and graduate students.

6.5.2 The Role of Systems Engineering in Intelligent Transportation Systems

AbstractThis paper explores how systems engineering is being applied to meet the growing need for an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). There are similarities between the approaches that civil engineers take to design highways and that systems engineers take to solve complex system development problems. The process of developing a highway design can be directly correlated to the system development life cycle used in systems engineering. The progression of highway development is demonstrated to be an evolution of technologies, inventions, organizational creations, and legislative acts that has supported the development of a national interstate transportation system in the United States. The ITS is a global phenomena and is being pursued in Europe, Australia, and Japan as well as the United States. Until now, highway development has been the domain of civil engineers concerned with highway structures, materials loading, traffic patterns, and supporting facilities. However, the growing need for ITS or intelligent‐vehicle highway systems (IVHSs) requires that traditional civil engineering disciplines be integrated with computers, communications, and eventually fully automated vehicles. This paper's thesis suggests that the complex highway transportation of the 21st century can benefit from the collaboration of systems engineers and civil engineers.

Review of Sensor technologies and data requirements for ITS by Lawrence A. Klein

This is an instructive reference book that draws together in one place the technical details of nonintrusive traffic sensors, their deployment, and the fusion of their data into useful information within the traffic control center. One can quickly locate a specific topic by using the book’s index and table of contents and then be presented with a well written, technically robust treatise on the topic. The stated goal of the book is to allow practitioners, students, and managers develop an understanding of nonintrusive, surface-mounted, and subsurface sensor technologies, including their operation, utilization, calibration, and installation. This goal is attained, in no small part, by the liberal use of figures, drawings, and photographs. This book has an important place on the reference shelf of all practitioners dealing with traffic data collection and its use. Most engineers, including this reviewer, enter the transportation field through classic civil engineering educations. Some come from industrial and systems engineering programs. Traditionally, the technology developed slowly and was simply an extension of one’s undergraduate college course work. However, in recent years, technology developments in traffic sensors have rapidly emerged from scientific fields far removed from the traditional transportation engineering disciplines. While other technical disciplines develop the tools, it is still the civil and systems engineers who typically apply them in the field and manage the transportation systems. This has increased our need for state-ofthe-art reference manuals to aid in our understanding of the new technologies and how to evaluate, select, and deploy them. Dr. Klein is well qualified by training and experience to address his subject. An electrical engineer, he came to the transportation field after many years of work on sensors in the aerospace and defense communities. He was one of the primary authors and contributors to the Federal Highway Administration’s ~FHWA! Intelligent Vehicle Highway System ~IVHS! detection technology program, which resulted in a series of task reports under the general title Report for Detection Technology for IVHS ~FHWA DTFH61-91-C-0076, Washington, D.C., US DOT, FHWA, 1992– 1995!. This book grew out of that effort and provides a comprehensive synthesis on the various emerging detection technologies. The book is organized into 9 chapters and 12 appendices. The first chapter is small but makes the case for optimizing the existing transportation network through information gathering and dissemination. It concludes by carving out the role that sensors and Traffic Management Centers ~TMCs! play in this scheme. Chapter 2 provides an excellent summary of the characterization of traffic flow, in a compact 50 pages. Standing alone, this chapter will be useful as a primer or refresher for university students, TMC operators, or anyone in the field.

Mechatronics and smart structures: emerging engineering disciplines for the third millennium

This paper tackles the impact that Mechatronics and Smart Structures disciplines have on the engineering education in the new millennium. Mechatronics is an emerging engineering area that will likely alter the fundamental nature of engineering education in the disciplines of electrical and mechanical engineering. It can provide an academic model for developing multi-disciplinary programs within the engineering college departmental structure that is historically based on the traditional engineering disciplines. Mechatronics integrates the classical fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, and information technology to establish basic principles for a contemporary engineering design methodology. A mechatronics concentration area in the engineering curriculum would support the synergistic integration of precision mechanical engineering, electronics control, and systems thinking into the design of intelligent products and processes. Smart Structures, a. k. a. Adaptive Structures, a. k. a. Adaptronics, is an emerging engineering field with multiple defining paradigms. One definition is based upon a technology paradigm: “the integration of actuators, sensors, and controls with a material or structural component”. Multi-functional elements form a complete regulator circuit resulting in a novel structure displaying reduced complexity, low weight, high functional density, as well as economic efficiency. Another definition is based upon a science paradigm in an attempt to capture the essence of biologically inspired materials by addressing the goal as creating material systems with intelligence and life-like features integrated in the microstructure of the material system to reduce mass and energy and produce adaptive functionality. Their basic characteristics of efficiency, functionality, precision, self-repair, and durability continue to fascinate designers of engineering structures today.

Traditional engineering in the biological century: the biotraditional engineer.

The increasing importance of life science in all engineering is prompting departments in the traditional engineering disciplines to offer life science as part of their curricula. Students who take advantage of this opportunity--"biotraditional engineers"--will be well positioned for careers in their discipline and in related areas of bioengineering. The founder engineering societies, such as the Bioengineering Division of ASME, are responding to this trend by broadening their scope and working increasingly across interdisciplinary borders.

Sustainable development of refrigerator systems using replacement

Environmental considerations have led to the phase out of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants from the domestic refrigeration industry. One intriguing aspect is that the chlorine in CFCs is a good lubricating agent and any deterioration of system performance may adversely influence other environmental considerations. Based on the above, the aim of this research is to address the sustainable development of domestic refrigeration systems using the replacement refrigerant HFC-134a. The work focuses on the emissions that may arise if the electrical consumption of the product deteriorates or its durability is curtailed. Tribological characteristics on compressor components influence both of these product attributes and therefore a thorough system analysis was carried out. An in-house built experimental test rig, which monitored slight variations in the electrical power drawn by a reciprocating hermetic compressor, was used under different experimental conditions. Furthermore, a detailed life cycle assessment on a domestic refrigerator was performed to help quantify the ensuing environmental burdens. In this way, a relation between tribological characteristics, power consumption and environmental impact was studied. Results have shown that the CFC substitute will increase friction and wear characteristics on the aluminium alloy connecting rod and the steel gudgeon pin. These characteristics led to an increase in the electrical energy consumption of the compressor such that the indirect global warming implications are set to rise with HFC-134a. If the sustainable development of this product is to be ascertained then a change in refrigerants alone will not suffice. New design considerations, primarily aimed at servicing and extending the life of the hermetic compressor itself, are considered. This work helps stimulate new ideas to address environmental issues influenced by traditional engineering disciplines. For this reason additional future research work, which will help determine these implications further, is outlined.

Software engineering education: issues and alternatives

Postgraduate degree programs in “software engineering” have been in existence for some time and now undergraduate degree programs with this title are beginning to appear. A number of questions and issues of only moderate importance with respect to the postgraduate programs now become critical and of overriding importance. While one could (and did) by and large gloss over these issues earlier, this will be much more difficult, and probably impossible, in the future. These issues must be resolved in a wider context than that in which they have been dealt with before, involving engineering in the universities and professional engineering societies in the larger social context. Much of the disagreement regarding these issues can, ultimately, be traced back to differing fundamental views and definitions of the term “engineering” and whether “software engineering” should be treated as “just” another engineering discipline or in a significantly and fundamentally different way. After examining two different definitions and views of “engineering,” this paper states and discusses a number of the questions and issues which planners of new undergraduate software engineering degree programs must deal with. Some pros and cons of various alternative answers are presented and a few answers suggested. The issues discussed here begin with questions of general policy and concept (e.g., which culture – that of the traditional engineering disciplines or that of computer science – should be instilled in the students in these new degree programs), include organizational matters (e.g., the position of the new degree program in the university hierarchy) and end with selected, more detailed questions regarding the curriculum (e.g., how to deal with programming, design and management topics). It is conjectured that, although the scientific foundation for the undergraduate software engineering degree programs must and will come from computer science, their culture and orientation must come from engineering if they and their graduates are to be successful in satisfying society’s needs in the long term.

Mining Near‐Earth Resources

ABSTRACT: Mining the potentially vast storehouse of natural resources contained within near‐Earth objects (NEOs) could assist mitigation of the danger that a threatening object presents to life on Earth. Properly planned, NEO mining could provide a substantial basis for the exploration and development of space, in addition to providing important tools and opportunities for mitigating impact hazards.The key to successful NEO mining is the appropriate modification of tried‐and‐true terrestrial mining techniques for the very unfamiliar and dangerous environment of space. Mining engineering is unlike traditional engineering disciplines in that, as a whole, it is less easily quantified; the practitioner must retain flexibility and resilience in the face of wide and unknown variations in material properties. This unique element of mining engineering will be an asset in space operations. Understanding of the basics of mining and processing will improve the planning and designing of NEO mitigation missions.Space possesses many properties that are unique in human experience. Some of these can provide efficient new means of accomplishing old tasks. Others will prove to be obstacles that must be overcome. Mining and processing techniques that are inefficient curiosities on Earth may form the basis of powerful new methodologies in space. On the other hand, some vital processes will demand innovative engineering for success. This paper discusses the effects of the space environment on the application to NEO resources of mining methodologies developed over more than a thousand years on Earth. It will focus on the four mechanical classifications of NEOs described in Gertsch et al. (this volume).

Comparison of electrical "engineering" of Heaviside's times and software "engineering" of our times

In previous centuries, several technical fields that are now engineering disciplines exhibited problems analogous to those frequently observed in software development today. This paper presents selected examples of experiences from some of those fields, especially electrical telegraphy and telephony during the second half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries, and compares them with difficulties, major mistakes, and so on, arising in software development today. It is the thesis of this paper that software development today is in a pre-engineering phase, analogous in many respects to the pre-engineering phases of the now traditional engineering disciplines. From observations regarding similarities between experiences in those fields in the past and software development today, questions are raised regarding lessons that software developers might learn from those earlier experiences of others-in particular, from the solutions they found to their problems. Some answers are suggested.

A SYSTEM CONCEPT FOR AN ADVANCED VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM

AbstractThis paper explores a system concept for an Advanced Vehicle Control System (AVCS). The progression of highway design and construction has resulted from an evolution of technologies, inventions, organizational creations, and legislative acts supporting the development of a national interstate transportation system (Mackey, 1994). Until now, highway design and construction has been the domain of civil engineers concerned with highway structures, materials loading, traffic patterns, and supporting facilities. However, the growing need for intelligent vehicle‐highway systems (IVHS) requires that traditional civil engineering disciplines be integrated with computers, communications, and eventually fully automated vehicles. This paper's thesis suggests that the complex highway transportation of the late 20th century and the 21st century can benefit from the collaboration of systems engineers and civil engineers. This paper identifies and prototypes an AVCS concept with roadside computers controlling the lateral and longitudinal movements of a vehicle.

A SYSTEMS ENGINEERING APPROACH TO HIGHWAY DESIGN

AbstractThis paper explores some of the similarities between the approaches that civil engineers take to design highways and that systems engineers take to solve complex system development problems. The process of developing a highway design can be directly correlated to the system development life cycle used in systems engineering. The progression of highway design is demonstrated to be an evolution of technologies, inventions, organizational creations, and legislative acts supporting the development of a national interstate transportation system. Until now, highway design has been the domain of civil engineers concerned with highway structures, materials loading, traffic patterns, and supporting facilities. However, the growing need for intelligent vehicle‐highway systems (IVHSs) requires that traditional civil engineering disciplines be integrated with computers, communications, and eventually fully automated vehicles. This paper's thesis suggests that the complex highway transportation of the late 20th century and the 21st century can benefit from the collaboration of systems engineers and civil engineers.

Computer science is a new engineering discipline

Hartmanis calls computer science “a new species among the sciences,” whose science and engineering aspects are particularly close. I have argued that it would be more accurate to call computer science a new species of engineering [Loui 1987]. Let me summarize the argument. The goal of engineering is the production of useful things, economically, for the benefit of society. These things include artifacts such as steel bridges, electronic circuits, automobile engines, and jet aircraft. Engineers also design manufacturing and chemical processes. A process is similar to a computational algorithm, which is a method for processing information. (Whether a process or an algorithm is patentable is a legalistic matter,) Like traditional engineering disciplines, computer science is concerned with producing useful things such as microprocessors, software, and databases. Furthermore, economic constraints require engineers to seek efficient solutions to technical problems in the design and manufacture of products. An emphasis on efficiency is also a distinguishing characteristic of computer science. Unlike other creative arts, engineering disciplines have a scientific basis—the engineering sciences: statics, dynamics, mechanics of solids, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and so on. Since World War II, all engineering disciplines have matured by incorporating their scientific foundations. The scientific fundamentals of computer science include Boolean algebra, computability theory, and automata and formal languages. The fundamental concepts and principles of computer science are rooted not in the physical phenomena of force, heat, and electricity, but in mathematics. Computer science is therefore a new kind of engineering. I agree with Hartmanis that attempts to distinguish computer science from computer engineering are futile. One conventional view—espoused by computer engineers-is that computer science comprises only theory and computer engineering comprises everything else. But excluding theory of computation from computer engineering would be as inconceivable as excluding circuit theory, linear system theory, communication theory, control theory, electromagnetic theory, and semiconductor theory from modern electrical engineering. A fortiori, the role of automata theory in computer science is analogous to the role of linear system theory in electrical engineering: the theories provide effective models for the design, analysis, and understanding of programs and circuits.

A taxonomy for combining software engineering and human-computer interaction measurement approaches: towards a common framework

The rapid development of any field of knowledge brings with it unavoidable fragmentation and proliferation of new disciplines. The development of computer science is no exception. Software engineering (SE) and human-computer interaction (HCI) are both relatively new disciplines of computer science. Furthermore, as both names suggest, they each have strong connections with other subjects. SE is concerned with methods and tools for general software development based on engineering principles. This discipline has its roots not only in computer science but also in a number of traditional engineering disciplines. HCI is concerned with methods and tools for the development of human-computer interfaces, assessing the usability of computer systems and with broader issues about how people interact with computers. It is based on theories about how humans process information and interact with computers, other objects and other people in the organizational and social contexts in which computers are used. HCI draws on knowledge and skills from psychology, anthropology and sociology in addition to computer science. Both disciplines need ways of measuring how well their products and development processes fulfil their intended requirements. Traditionally, SE has been concerned with "how software is constructed" and HCI with "how people use software". Given the different histories of the disciplines and their different objectives, it is not surprising that they take different approaches to measurement, Thus, each has its own distinct "measurement culture". In this paper we analyse the differences and the commonalities of the two cultures by examining the measurement approaches used by each. We then argue the need for a common measurement taxonomy and framework, which is derived from our analyses of the two disciplines. Next we demonstrate the usefulness of the taxonomy and framework via specific example studies drawn from our own work and that of others and show that, in fact, the two disciplines have many important similarities as well as differences and that there is some evidence to suggest that they are growing closer. Finally, we discuss the role of the taxonomy as a framework to support: reuse, planning future studies, guiding practice and facilitating communication between the two disciplines.

A SYSTEMS ENGINEERING APPROACH TO HIGHWAY DESIGN

AbstractThis paper explores some of the similarities between the approaches that civil engineers take to design highways and that systems engineers take to solve complex system development problems. The process of developing a highway design can be directly correlated to the system development life cycle used in systems engineering. The progression of highway design is demonstrated to be an evolution of technologies, inventions, organizational creations, and legislative acts supporting the development of a national interstate transportation system. Until now, highway design has been the domain of civil engineers concerned with highway structures, materials loading, traffic patterns, and supporting facilities. However, the growing need for intelligent vehicle‐highway systems (IVHSs) requires that traditional civil engineering disciplines be integrated with computers, communications, and eventually fully automated vehicles. This paper's thesis suggests that the complex highway transportation of the late 20th century and the 21st century can benefit from the collaboration of systems engineers and civil engineers.

Educating System Engineers: What Industry Needs and Expects Universities or Training Programs to Teach

AbstractDo universities provide industry with System Engineers (SEs) that industry expects and wants? Are company sponsored training programs for System Engineers a worthwhile investment? Unlike traditional engineering disciplines, there is no prescribed educational program for Systems Engineering that meets the majority of industry's needs. Consequently, there appears to be no way for an organization to hire graduates who will, with certainty, be qualified to perform the majority of systems engineering functions within that organization. How much of this is due to the lack of standardization within industry, and how much is due to the lack of a standardized academic curriculum? This paper presents results of an empirical study aimed at identifying answers to these and other questions that are extremely important to the development of a close, effective partnership between industry (the customer) and educational/training programs (the producers).

Bioengineering: the fifth traditional engineering discipline?

To begin, I will provide a general definition of BIOENGINEERING; “The Application of Engineering Principles and Fundamentals to Engineering Problems that Require A Basic Understanding of Biology and/or Living Systems”, which will be the basis for the remainder of this paper. After all, if engineering problem analysis or solution does not require a knowledge of biology or living systems then the existing traditional disciplines that deal specifically with non-living systems would be appropriate.KeywordsLiving SystemBiomedical EngineeringBioprocess EngineerTraditional DisciplineBioprocess EngineeringThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The future of biomedical engineering

Biomedical engineering is recognized as having developed an identity distinct from traditional engineering disciplines. The concepts which characterize this identity are outlined. The consequences of these are considered with particular attention to changing attitudes to profesional specialization and work within the clinical environment.

Hydrologic science: A distinct geoscience

Hydrologic science deals with the occurrence, distribution, circulation, and properties of water on Earth. It is clearly a multidisciplinary science, as through the hydrologic cycle water is important to and affected by physical, chemical, and biological processes within all the compartments of the Earth system: atmosphere, glaciers and ice sheets, solid earth, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Because of this geophysical ubiquity, and because water is necessary and limiting for life, concern for issues of hydrologic science has been distributed among the traditional geoscience and engineering disciplines. As a result, an infrastructure of hydrologic science (i.e., a clear identity, with supporting educational programs, research grant programs, and research institutions) has not developed, and a coherent understanding of water's role in the planetary‐scale behavior of the Earth system is missing. The supporting arguments, along with recommended scientific priorities are summarized here as proposed by the National Research Council Committee on Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences (see Table 1 for committee composition).

Experiences of different approaches in logistics

This paper focuses on the problems of logistics from several viewpoints relevant in practice. Empirical observations are extracted from different branches of industry. Based on these observations we classify a set of approaches. We consider that an appropriate approach in future is the integrated paradigm having a basis on traditional industrial engineering discipline supported by information, communication and calculational technologies. This paper is associated with an ongoing Esprit II project 2277-CMSO (CIM for Multisupplier Operations).