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The progress of Information and Communication Technologies has significantly promoted the relationships among people of different geographical regions. Under this novel context, new settings of software development teams arise, known as virtual teams. The objective is to identify, evaluate and synthesize reported research about the measurement of interpersonal trust (IpT) in virtual software teams (VST). We conducted a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature published in the research area until July 2019. We reviewed 747 papers, of which 11 primary studies were considered relevant for the investigation. Most studies (8 of 11) use instruments of direct measurements (interviews and questionnaires) to measure interpersonal trust. Studies that use indirect measurements focus on different characteristics of the virtual software team (agreeableness, affective lexicon, delegation, positive tone, acceptance of knowledge, etcand others). Recomiendo: Most studies (10 of 11) report that interpersonal trust measurements improve performance aspects of virtual software teams. Among them the willingness to share information, goodwill towards others, motivation, collaboration, and effectiveness. Most studies use questionnaires or interviews, but we believe that software repository mining to obtain IpT levels will be an auspicious research trend in the future. The attribute more used to assess IpT is the developer opinion. Other attributes used are emotions, interactions between developers, biography, acceptance of knowledge, and assignment of tasks. IpT measurement is a useful tool for decision-making in VTS management, especially in agile software processes, but there is little evidence of its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State machines are a popular way of modelling the behaviour of systems, including process control systems. However, there are also some problems with their use in this domain, in particular in the sub-domains of the control of continuous or batch processes. The problems originate from the fact that the continuous and batch processes are, in most cases, slow in their reaction; consequently, their control sequences should have a corresponding duration. However, at present, all state machine models are based on instantaneous sequences, with only the loop (or do) sequence having a duration. This paper presents a new state machine behaviour model for procedural control entities in industrial process control systems. The main feature of the new concept of state machine processing is the durability of all action sequences and not only the "do" or "loop" sequence, as is the case in the existing state machine formalisms. The new concept enables modelling of control software for slow continuous or batch industrial processes in a more straightforward manner and, at the same time, on a higher level of abstraction than with using traditional state machine formalisms. The new concept is demonstrated and validated by means of a case study, which addresses a control problem from a real industrial project. The validation demonstrates that the proposed concept has a significant advantage. The concept is applicable to other classes of slow response real time systems as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless Sensor Networks is a promising technology for industrial monitoring and process control. In industry the sensory measures should be delivered to control room in predefined deadline time. The reliable delivery of sensory measure degrades as the focus shift from wired domain to wireless domain. This happens due to unreliability of sensor node and communication link. Therefore, the adverse industrial environment condition posed great stress towards designing of an efficient and effective routing protocol that can ensure the quality of service by reliable and timeliness delivery of real-time data. This paper presents a new geographical routing protocol that works on the basis of two-hop neighbor information. This improves end-to-end packet delivery by minimizing the path setup and recovery latency to ensure the reliability and timeliness. It selects the reliable relay node by mapping packet deadline time to link velocity in such a way that the smaller deadline time packets follow the shorter path over the high speed, reliable links and larger deadline time packets follow path over energy efficient nodes. This process enhances the network life and maintains the shorter path for time critical data routing. This real-time data routing suffers when a forwarding node fails to access the potential relay node. Here, the transmission energy regulation mechanism support to accessing the potential relay node for improving the reliability and timeliness data delivery. The simulation results validate the claim that the proposed routing protocol achieves significant improvement in end-to-end deadline packet delivery ratio with the higher energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive and timely inspection of quality issues is critical for reducing rework and delays in infrastructure projects. Enabling a real-time quality checking guidance system to be used in practice requires formal data exchange methods and inspection process control. This, however, remains an on-going challenge, as information is often expressed in different data representations and stored in disparate locations and formats. There have been a limited number of studies that have examined the relationship among physical objects, schedule, and quality management information related to the process of inspection as well as the difficulties associated with enabling real-time monitoring and control of quality. In addressing this issue, a design science research approach is used to develop and apply an Industrial Foundation Classes-based Inspection Process Model (IFC-IPM) to enable information exchange requirements for quality-related information to occur in real-time during construction. Within the IFC-IPM schema and extension that is developed, a physical, schedule, and quality management model exist. The IFC-IPM extension defines the dynamic property sets that form part of quality management system. The dynamic property set of the schedule can identify inspection codes, time, and its content. This provides inspectors with the ability to undertake real-time quality monitoring and control. The IFC-IPM that is developed is applied to a real-life subway infrastructure project. It is demonstrated that the developed IFC-IPM provides an effective platform for data sharing and exchange of quality related information and other IFC-compliant applications. The model can be used to streamline the quality management process as it reduces the time to attend to undertake rework and increases the accuracy and timeliness of inspections and the acceptance of activities and products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software process assessment plays a fundamental role in software quality assurance. In view of the great diversity of entities and difficult quantification of software process, metrics and evaluation methods must be designed in a consistent and integrated way to facilitate the management of software process control. An integrated metrics mothed of the software process control is presented. Experiments show that the model can effectively improve the degree of control of the software process to ensure the reliability of the infrastructure software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ad-minister is the property of Universidad EAFIT and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Business process work-arounds are specific forms of incompliant behavior, where employees intentionally decide to deviate from the required procedures although they are aware of them. Detecting and understanding the work-arounds performed can guide organizations in redesigning and improving their processes and support systems. Existing process mining techniques for compliance checking and diagnosis of incompliant behavior rely on the available information in event logs and emphasize technological capabilities for analyzing this information. They do not distinguish intentional incompliance and do not address the sources of this behavior. In contrast, the paper builds on a list of generic types of work-arounds found in practice and explores whether and how they can be detected by process mining techniques. Results obtained for four work-around types in five real-life processes are reported. The remaining two types are not reflected in events logs and cannot be currently detected by process mining. The detected work-around data are further analyzed for identifying correlations between the frequency of specific work-around types and properties of the processes and of specific activities. The analysis results promote the understanding of work-around situations and sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the operational effectiveness and efficiency of processes is a fundamental task of business process management (BPM). There exist many proposals of process improvement patterns (PIPs) as practices that aim at supporting this goal. Selecting and implementing relevant PIPs are therefore an important prerequisite for establishing process-aware information systems in enterprises. Nevertheless, there is still a gap regarding the validation of PIPs with respect to their actual business value for a specific application scenario before implementation investments are incurred. Based on empirical research as well as experiences from BPM projects, this paper proposes a method to tackle this challenge. Our approach toward the assessment of process improvement patterns considers real-world constraints such as the role of senior stakeholders or the cost of adapting available IT systems. In addition, it outlines process improvement potentials that arise from the information technology infrastructure available to organizations, particularly regarding the combination of enterprise resource planning with business process intelligence. Our approach is illustrated along a real-world business process from human resource management. The latter covers a transactional volume of about 29,000 process instances over a period of 1 year. Overall, our approach enables both practitioners and researchers to reasonably assess PIPs before taking any process implementation decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Automatisierungstechnik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To improve the online performance of the process control computer of tandem cold rolling mills, a new multi-objective load distribution optimisation model is presented, which is based on the cost function, and takes into account the limit rolling force, the rolling force balance, the front and back tension, the reduction ratio, the power balance and strip shape control. Then, with less strict restriction on initial iterative calculation values for convergence, the Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm (NMS) is adopted to accomplish these membership functions optimisation during operation, which can obtain a good optimal solution set. In comparison with the empirical load distribution solution, the optimal solution can achieve a better performance, which demonstrates the effectiveness and robustness of the multi-objective load distribution optimisation model. The actual application result shows that the level-2 process control system with the new multi-objective load distribution optimisation model has stable operation and high accuracy, and the performance of the optimal rolling schedule given by the proposed approach is reasonable and satisfactory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software applications are becoming increasingly important in automation and control systems. This has forced control system vendors and integrators to pursue new, more effective software development practices. One of the promising research paths has been the utilization of Unified Modeling Language and model-driven development. However, integration of simulations to the existing model-driven development approaches still has not been sufficiently described in the literature. This is surprising as advanced mathematical simulation tools are already in use in the domain to facilitate control algorithm development. In this paper, this issue is addressed by extending a tool-supported model-driven development process with object-oriented, component-based simulation capabilities. To demonstrate the proposed technique, a control system model for a crane system is developed and the technique then used to create a Modelica simulation of the controlled crane. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Motivated by the huge effort for adapting discrete field level automation software in case of (even minor) modifications of the technical system, this paper presents an approach to support the engineering and re-engineering of open-loop control software. In contrast to implement what a plant has to do, we suggest a novel modelling approach which enables describing what a plant is able to do. Based on an extension of the Unified Modelling Language meta model, an object-oriented approach for describing a manufacturing system's state space in a consolidated way is proposed. The strict, declarative semantics of ontologies is utilized to automatically reason about this model for determining the manufacturing system's state space and deriving an optimal operation sequence to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a computer-aided design (CAD) module able to analyze different manufacturing configurations of tubes used in mechanical assemblies, such as exhaust system manifolds. It can be included in the knowledge-based expert system category and has been implemented into a CAD platform as a dedicated module able to take into account manufacturing requirements related to tube bending, hydroforming, and cutting. The expert's knowledge, in terms of set of rules and criteria, has been implemented by means of the automation tools of CATIAV5R10 according to the so-called methodological formal approach. The resulting module is able to join different tubes starting from their geometrical models, obtaining a set of manufacturing alternatives. Each of them is verified with respect to collisions with a bending machine and also in terms of hydroforming process feasibility. Only those solutions that satisfy these checks are accepted as feasible and ranked according to three evaluation criteria related to manufacturing cost and easiness. The system is completely automatic and able to analyze more than 100 different configurations in Keywords: design to manufacturing, knowledge based expert system, tube bending, tube hydroforming, CAE

Business process management systems (BPMS) belong to a class of enterprise information systems that are characterized by the dependence on explicitly modeled process logic. Through the process logic, it is relatively easy to manage explicitly the routing and allocation of work items along a business process through the system. Inspired by the DeLone and McLean framework, we theorize that these process-aware system features are important attributes of system quality, which in turn will elevate key user evaluations such as perceived usefulness, and usage satisfaction. We examine this theoretical model using data collected from four different, mostly mature BPM system projects. Our findings validate the importance of input quality as well as allocation and routing attributes as antecedents of system quality, which, in turn, determines both usefulness and satisfaction with the system. We further demonstrate how service quality and workflow dependency are significant precursors to perceived usefulness. Our results suggest the appropriateness of a multi-dimensional conception of system quality for future research, and provide important design-oriented advice for the design and configuration of BPMSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a new, two-level, model-driven engineering approach to industrial process control software. The first level (infrastructure engineering) is concerned with the following: the definition of the development process and guidelines, the definition of a domain-specific modeling language, the specification of the model transformations, and the development of a tool suite. This tool suite enables modeling of the process control software and the automatic code generation for programmable logic controllers. In the second level (application engineering), the process control software is engineered using the results of the infrastructure level. The approach is demonstrated on excerpts from an industrial project. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mission-critical software (MCS) must provide continuous, online services to ensure the successful accomplishment of critical missions. Self-adaptation is particularly desirable for assuring the quality of service (QoS) and availability of MCS under uncertainty. Few techniques have insofar addressed the issue of MCS self-adaptation, and most existing approaches to software self-adaptation fail to take into account uncertainty in the self-adaptation loop. To tackle this problem, we propose a fuzzy control based approach, i.e., Software Fuzzy Self-Adaptation (SFSA), with a view to deal with the challenge of MCS self-adaptation under uncertainty. First, we present the SFSA conceptual framework, consisting of sensing, deciding and acting stages, and establish the formal model of SFSA to lay a rigorous and mathematical foundation of our approach. Second, we develop a novel SFSA implementation technology as well as its supporting tool, i.e., the SFSA toolkit, to automate the realization process of SFSA. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through the development of an adaptive MCS application in process control systems. Validation experiments show that the fuzzy control based approach proposed in this work is effective and with low overheads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Exacta is the property of Exacta - Engenharia de Producao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes a computationally efficient nonlinear Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm in which the neural Hammerstein model is used. TheMultiple- Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) dynamic model contains a neural steady-state nonlinear part in series with a linear dynamic part. The model is linearized on-line, as a result the MPC algorithm requires solving a quadratic programming problem, the necessity of nonlinear optimization is avoided. A neutralization process is considered to discuss properties of neural Hammerstein models and to show advantages of the described MPC algorithm. In practice, the algorithm gives control performance similar to that obtained in nonlinear MPC, which hinges on non-convex optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study which presents the superiority of Riber Compact 21 from Riber company over other sophisticated molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems. It notes that the MBE method of growing single-crystal epitaxial film has integrated in various applications like electronics, optoelectronics, and ferro-magnetics. It mentions that Compact 21 has been developed by the European Community project Brite-Eutam III Aniset involved in MBE and nitrogen-based semicondutor materials. It adds that Riber has also created the Crystal process control software for the supervision of its MBE systems.

Abstract: It is always crucial to estimate process capability index (PCI) when the quality characteristic does not follow normal distribution, however skewed distributions come about in many processes. The classical method to estimate process capability is not applicable for non-normal processes. In the existing methods for non-normal processes, probability density function (pdf) of the process or an estimate of it is required. Estimating pdf of the process is a hard work and resulted PCI by estimated pdf may be far from real value of it. In this paper an artificial neural network is proposed to estimate PCI for right skewed distributions without appeal to pdf of the process. The proposed neural network estimates PCI using skewness, kurtosis and upper specification limit as input variables. Performance of proposed method is validated by simulation study for different non-normal distributions. Finally, a case study using the actual data from a manufacturing process is presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the incremental-verification system (Invers) for optimizations of physical synthesis. It states that Invers improves the accuracy of error detection using a new metric called the similarity factor. By pinpointing problems earlier in the digital design process, this equivalence verification solution facilitates debugging and helps engineers improve design quality. The article also describes the two common optimization techniques, physical synthesis and retiming. It explains the verification challenges imposed by the techniques.

This article introduces an educational tool for a switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive system. It is prepared for undergraduate and graduate level students. Classical PI and Genetic PI controllers are used in SRM drive system. The Genetic PI controller was applied to the speed loop, replacing the classical PI controller. The tool software was implemented using C++ Builder on a PC. It has flexible structure and graphical interface. The students can be easily establishing a thorough understanding of both classical PI and genetic PI controller for a SRM drive system. The education tool allowed the student to interact with the SRM drive system and it is using controllers. Then it is responses on a dynamic and instantaneous basis under different operating conditions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 16: 268–279, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae20148 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agile software development is being increasingly accepted worldwide as a cost-effective and time-sensitive methodology for software development. This methodology is being used by organizations that are upgrading their existing software systems to reflect process changes and also by organizations that are developing enterprise-wide software. In both cases, there is usually a need or opportunity to make the business process efficient and effective through the use of Six Sigma and process improvement techniques. This paper proposes a practical model to integrate Agile software development with continuous business process improvement to achieve both optimized processes and high quality software in the least possible time frame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To enable effective cross-organizational collaborations, process providers have to offer external views on their internal processes to their partners. A process view hides details of an internal process that are secret to or irrelevant for the partners. This paper describes a formal two-step approach for constructing customized process views on structured process models. First, a non-customized process view is constructed from an internal structured process model by aggregating internal activities the provider wishes to hide. Second, a customized process view is constructed by hiding and omitting activities from the non-customized view that are not requested by the process consumer. The feasibility of the approach is shown by means of a case study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Temperature is the dominating factor in various physiochemical changes during baking, including starch gelatinization, protein denaturation, enzymatic reactions and browning reactions, which collectively determine the final bread quality. However, often the design and performance of many industrial temperature controllers are not optimized. To circumvent this problem, the possibility of applying a two-dimensional (2D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to the process control design for an industrial continuous bread baking oven was explored in this paper. A feedback control system was incorporated into the CFD model through user-defined functions (UDF). UDF was used to monitor the temperature at specific positions in the oven, and to define the thermal conditions of burner walls according to the control algorithm. A feedback control system with multiple decoupled PI controllers was designed and evaluated. The controller performed satisfactorily in response to disturbances and setpoint changes. With the establishment of the new process control system, the need of a preheating step required in typical industrial operations was re-evaluated. It was found that, under the control system, the elimination of the initial preheating to 550K would not significantly affect the dough/bread top surface temperature profile across all baking zones. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Refinement is reviewed, highlighting in particular the distinction between its use as a specification constructor at a high level, and its use as an implementation mechanism at a low level. Some of its shortcomings as a specification constructor at high levels of abstraction are pointed out, and these are used to motivate the adoption of retrenchment for certain high level development steps. Basic properties of retrenchment are described, including a justification of the operation proof obligation, simple examples, its use in requirements engineering and model evolution, and simulation properties. The interaction of retrenchment with refinement notions of correctness is overviewed, as is a range of other technical issues. Two case study scenarios are presented. One is a simple digital redesign control theory problem, and the other is an overview of the application of retrenchment to the Mondex Purse development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Process modelling refers to the development of a process model that serves to provide the input-output relationship of a process, while process optimisation provides the optimum operating conditions of a process for a high-yield, low cost and robust operation. Normally, process modelling is a starting point of process optimisation. In this paper, a method of integrating artificial neural networks with a gradient search method for process modelling and optimisation is presented. Artificial neural networks are used to develop process models while a gradient search method is used in process optimisation. Application of the method to the modelling and optimisation of epoxy dispensing for microchip encapsulation is described. Results of the validation tests indicate that good quality of encapsulation can be obtained based on the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An enterprise is represented by its process model that is constructed by the integration of smaller processes corresponding to value-added contributors. Replacing the sub-processes can modify the super-process. Component processes are represented in task systems in order to discover how process attributes will be preserved after integration. This approach is especially versatile if virtual enterprises are formed over the Internet through integrating the published processes of core competencies. The virtually constructed super-process can be exercised as a simulation before the real process is enacted. A final process is thus a composition of core-competency processes that is believed to yield an optimal enterprise operation. Core-competency processes from individual organizations are expected to be available to form value-added chains. Once matured, such a market of processes will offer alternatives by different organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the results of applying a component-based control software architecture to robotic workcell applications. Overview of the software architecture; Results and experiences of applying the architecture to seven industrial applications; Software reuse levels.