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The use of unmanned aerial vehicles in situations where physical access to terrain is limited or hazardous has borne great success. A new and growing domain for applying this technology is in situations where remote control is not applicable, i.e. communication link between the unmanned vehicle and a control base is not possible. Such unmanned vehicles then need to operate autonomously; making flight operation and payload task completion independent of external stimuli. The work documented in this report outlines an undergraduate course project in developing the unmanned aerial vehicle, and specifically the software system to facilitate the autonomous operation of the vehicle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case-based pedagogy is well-established in the legal, medical, and business disciplines of higher education. The success of this approach to teaching can be realized in other disciplines, but it requires a paradigm-shift that has to be strategically applied in the new academic discipline. This report documents the effort of a case-based approach to teaching a graduate-level course in software development formal specification methods at a USA university. A unique approach taken is that of having the students compile their effort in the course as a required course outcome and present it in this report. The course curriculum has the goal of producing a working tool for verification of software system design and developing a model for case-based teaching in software engineering. Students develop skills in formal specification definition and analysis and software system design and implementation. This course was taught as a sixteen-week semester that included assessment instruments in the form of project milestone deliverables and assignments on the theories covered. Future work on this project will seek to assess the difference in learning outcomes between the traditional theory-focused teaching approach and a casebased approach, by way of surveys and comparison of student learning evaluations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case-based teaching or corollary case-based learning is a pedagogical paradigm that is intended to excite interest in teaching and learning by the use of real-world scenarios as topics in a course or program. The rationale for this approach is that the student will be more receptive to teaching by being immersed in "living" the learning experience versus being lectured on the topic from an academic or theoretical point of view. Case-based teaching/learning have many flavors and may be incorporated in a course as a set of cases for a corresponding set of topics, or a single case for a set of topics. The common theme is directed-focused discussions by groups of students on a real-world scenario that leads to implicit learning through engagement in problem solving. In this paper, a case is made for this pedagogy by describing the experience in an upper-level undergraduate course in software engineering at a United States public university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of the computer age brought significant change to businesses. The professional use of the computer for industry accelerated innovation. The lone individual with a desktop computer has given way to networks uniting computers and users for greater efficiency. The combination of hardware, software, and networking technologies has enabled us to meet the day-to-day business needs in an integrated and effective way. As consumers, the underlying current of change that ensues as businesses strive to provide products and services is not seen. Automotive garages still repair and maintain vehicles; phones, both landlines and cellular are still used for telecommunication needs; hotels still provide accommodations to travelers. Generally, businesses do not change their core practices frequently. However, innovation can play a role in businesses bringing new products to market or devising new ways to attain more consumers while maintaining their core business. This report documents the use of SOA 3.0 in providing security for Cloud gateway services for Big Data, as used by many of today businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big Data is the reality of our time, the velocity with which this Big Data is being accumulated can be optimized by using Cloud Computing. This has increased the use of service-oriented architecture (SOA) for the development of services later deployed in the Cloud. This paper presents a Cloud Computing Monitoring Gateway using SO A 3.0 for secured transactions on Big Data, which is to introduce a novel secured way for big enterprises to conduct Big Data Analytics for their required transaction processing. In this paper, we describe a novel algorithm and corresponding cloud service as Cloud Monitoring Gateway (CMG). The current service prototype simulates the behavior of actual Cloud Security Gateway Application (CSGA) using the algorithm called as TPALM (The Privacy Authentication Latency Management). This simulation is coarse-grained, but is capable of measuring the privacy authentication on the given variables of a legit user. We also present an evaluation of this service utilization on Big Data transaction processing sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data centers have massive servers that support cloud computing by making sure that data coming in with any velocity is available to all internal and external stakeholders on indistinguishable basis. It is vital that the data center is to be physically secured against any unauthorized access or any unexpected natural or any other disasters. Big Data is the reality of our time, the velocity with which this Big Data is being accumulated can be optimized by using Cloud Computing. This has increased the use of service-oriented architecture (SOA) for the development of services later deployed in the Cloud. This paper presents a Cloud Computing Monitoring Gateway using SOA 3.0 for secured session management protocol for distributed and Big Data using high performance computing, which is to introduce a novel secured way for any organization both public and private to conduct Big Data Analytics for their required transaction processing in secured sessions, these can be few, or several thousand depends on one organization or multi-organizational users worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of software systems for space exploration and orbital operation has fueled the development of autonomous systems, chiefly because of the time latency in communicating with such systems. The University of North Dakota has just concluded development and operations of a space orbital system, code named ISSAC (International Space Station Agricultural Camera). This system has two main software components, the Flight Software System (FSS) and the Ground Control System (GCS). This paper chronicles the software engineering experience of developing the Ground Control System with details of the Flight Software System already chronicled in our previous paper []. We also list the lessons learned in applying software engineering principles and models on a project of this importance and complexity. Most of the content in the introduction and ISSAC background sections in this paper is taken from our previous paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to outline a framework and approach for improving the development of curricula in higher learning institutions. It is arguable that this activity is quite ubiquitous in education and any attempt to improve its efficiency and quality is well worth the effort. A curriculum is always a work in progress, and so an approach for the continued development and maintenance of a curriculum in any given domain will be presented. There are inherent attributes of a curriculum that makes it amenable to being modeled and represented in a structurally sound and rigid way and so this concept will be explored in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of general purpose modeling languages (GPMLs) in specifying software applications has given way to the use of domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs). DSMLs offer a vocabulary of terms and concepts that are fundamental to the problem and solution domains, whereas GPMLs constructs are usually too generic to be directly applied in some domains. Many DSMLs are high-level textual programming languages, which offered little support for modeling at the analysis, and design phases of application development. The objective of this work is to develop semi-formal graphical DSMLs, which are to be used at the analysis and design stages of application development. The benefits derived from such DSML are reuse of domain artifacts; reduction in delivering completed products; rigorous analysis of domain applications; and more maintainable applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud computing introduces ways to add capabilities dynamically by increasing the capacity in new infrastructure using service oriented architecture. These investments can include the issuing of new licensing, the training of users, and the provisioning of external user-friendly interfaces. Cloud technology also brought new extensions in the world of social and corporate sectors using resources of available Information Technology. In the last decade, we have seen tremendous growth in cloud computing. This paper introduces security model, which does not negotiate with the required functionalities and capabilities in traditionally available web security models. This new model is called CSM 2.0 or Cloud Security Model 2.0, which is based on Service Oriented Architecture or SOA 3.0 and is targeted at improving security features over traditional model. This is accomplished without affecting features of the current security models. A survey of the different security risks that pose a threat to the use of Cloud technology is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of software systems for space exploration and orbital operation has fueled the development of autonomous systems, chiefly because of the time latency in communicating with such systems. The University of North Dakota has just concluded development and is now operating a space orbital system, code named ISSAC (International Space Station Agricultural Camera). This system has two main software components, the Flight Software System (FSS) and the Ground Control System (GCS). This paper chronicles the software engineering experience of developing one of the multiple systems and the lessons learned in applying software engineering principles and models on a project of this importance and complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is to fuse the use of technology in education in a manner which will prove to be beneficial to all stakeholders involved. The primary motivation surrounds the issue of limited human resources in terms of teachers and expert knowledge as well as available physical resources such as computer equipment or other classroom artifacts. It should be duly noted that it is in many developing countries where the student-teacher ratio is very high and where such a framework will be most useful. However, this work has the potential to benefit not only developing countries, but also developed countries where the available technology is more advanced and where its integration in student learning is more pronounced. The major focus will be on the creation of a framework which will allow for systematic, structured and seamless curriculum development and learning outcome assessment. A major component will be the modeling of a curriculum in a structured and qualitative way to include goals and objectives which will be utilized at later stages in the framework. Another key component is Assessment which will encapsulate various assessment methods which can be viewed as an intermediary between the curriculum and the student learning outcome, essentially allowing for a comparison between actual performance and expectations (objectives/goals). The benefits from this work may prove to be quite immense as the proposed framework may help to standardize the design, delivery and assessment of any curriculum regardless of location and resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of the computer age brought significant change into our lives. The professional use of the computer for industry accelerated innovation. The lone individual with a desktop computer has given way to networks uniting computers and users for greater efficiency to produce more results. The combination of hardware, software and networking technologies has enabled us to meet our business needs. As consumers, we do not see the underlying current of changes as businesses strive to provide products and services. We still use phones for our everyday telecommunication needs. Hotels still provide accommodations to travelers. Generally, businesses do not change their core practices very frequently. To survive, industries sometimes have to make vital changes to their core business infrastructure. The introduction of new technology product can be good example of this form of infrastructural change. This paper presents a novel solution of Cloud Security Model with an overview of Cloud computing using SOA 3.0 to elaborate the secured and efficient use of services in the Cloud for the business industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

System validation and verification are fundamental to assuring quality and reliability of safety critical systems. In model-driven software development, semi-formal notations are often used in requirements capture. Semi-formal notations possess advantages, but are imprecise. A technique to eliminate imprecision is transforming semi-formal models into an analyzable representation using formal specification techniques (FSTs). Such an approach to system validation and verification is useful in developing safety critical systems. This work documents early experience of applying FSTs on UML class diagrams as attribute constraints, and pre- post-conditions on procedures. The genesis is with the validation and verification of requirements for a system to monitor unmanned aerial vehicles in unrestricted airspace. The challenge is the development of a system with incomplete specifications; multiple conflicting stakeholders' interests; existence of a prototype system; the need for standardized compliance, where validation and verification are paramount, which necessitates forward and reverse engineering activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental artifact of any academic research is the data used as the basis of that research effort. A group of researchers, from institutions in multiple territories, has embarked on an ambitious research project that is initially aimed at enhancing the teaching of software engineering in four-year undergraduate programs. The research project details a set of workshops, for which the objective is the capture of data that will be the basis of the research effort. The first of these workshops was held in August 2011, and is reported in this paper. The workshop comprised software engineering educators and representatives from the information technology industry. The data collection task sought to identify a set of topics that are considered suitable for teaching software engineering, along with identification of the years and depth at which these topics should be taught. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the ISO Standard for designing graphical models of software systems in both industry and academia. It promotes some of the best software development practices; however, a feature of the UML is its imprecise semantics, which has a disadvantage of producing ambiguous models. In safety critical systems, ambiguity could result in the loss of property or be detrimental to life. With the continuous use of UML in the software industry, there is a need to augment the informality of software models produced. The objective of this research is to use formal specification to enhance the imprecise semantics of UML and analyze its significance to safety critical systems. The outcome of this activity is a systematic process to transform ambiguous UML class diagrams to a formal representation for verification and validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software engineering is viewed as one of the cornerstones of computer science, yet the teaching of the subject is not standardized enough to facilitate a sharing of teaching resources across departments, nor institutions. This problem is exemplified by the diversity of topics, which may be taught in a software engineering courses. If this problem can be solved by the establishment of an open framework for developing software engineering teaching material (lectures, examinations, assignments, and course projects), teaching assessment process, and delivery platforms then there would be an environment for the sharing and structuring of common software engineering curricula in an international context. Towards this goal a workshop was convened to discuss this problem and provide an initial set of concerns to be addressed. This is a report on the workshop and the research that will be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud Computing, software as a service (SaaS), and service-oriented architecture (SOA) are growing phenomena in the business world. In contrast to traditional software systems, where organizations maintain technical staff and enough computer hardware to run their business applications effectively, SaaS and Cloud Computing are beginning to change this traditional way of managing information technology (IT). SaaS has an incentive to release new features as soon as they are completed to the users. This paper looks at these three phenomena from different perspectives. The first is to highlight the effectiveness of SaaS in an organization, and the cost savings that may enhance the organization's goal of increasing their loyal customer base. The second is providing an overview of Cloud Computing along with a comparison of current Cloud Computing providers. The third is the presentation of a novel approach of SOA as SOA 3.0 or Achievable SOA (ASOA), which can be used by organizations as a standard practice to achieve efficient and cost effective solutions to run their business smoothly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]