Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Genetic improvement of software'
To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Genetic improvement of software.
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Genetic improvement of software.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Wu, F. "Mutation-based genetic improvement of software." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2017. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1561361/.
Full textAbstract:
Genetic Improvement (GI) of software is a recent field that has drawn much attention from Software Engineering researchers. It aims to use search techniques to automatically modify and improve existing software. The drawback in previous GI approaches is scalability of these approaches, due to the large search space formed by the code base in real-world systems. To overcome the scalability challenge, more recent studies have confined the granularity of code modification at the statement level and applied a prior sensitivity analysis to further reduce the search space. However, some software improvements may require code changes at a finer level of granularity. This thesis demonstrates that, by combining with Mutation Testing techniques, GI can operate at this finer granularity while preserving scalability. The thesis applies Mutation Operators to automatically modify the source code of the target software. After a prior sensitivity analysis on First Order Mutants, "deep" (previously unavailable) parameters are exposed from the most sensitive locations, followed by a bi-objective optimisation process to fine tune them together with existing ("shallow") parameters. The objective is to improve both time and memory resources required by the computation. Since this approach relies on the selection of Mutation Operators and traditional Mutation Operators are not concerned with memory performance, the thesis proposes and evaluates Memory Mutation Operators in the Mutation Testing context. Using both traditional and Memory Mutation Operators, the thesis further seeks to improve the target software by searching for Higher Order Mutants (HOMs). The thesis presents the result of a code analysis study, which reveals that, among all the code modifications that contribute to the improvement, more than half of them require a finer control of the code, which our approach is better at than previous GI approaches.
2
Husa, Jakub. "Genetické vylepšení software pro kartézské genetické programování." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta informačních technologií, 2016. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-255458.
Full textAbstract:
Genetic programming is a nature-inspired method of programming that allows an automated creation and adaptation of programs. For nearly two decades, this method has been able to provide human-comparable results across many fields. This work gives an introduction to the problems of evolutionary algorithms, genetic programming and the way they can be used to improve already existing software. This work then proposes a program able to use these methods to improve an implementation of cartesian genetic programming (CGP). This program is then tested on a CGP implementation created specifically for this project, and its functionality is then verified on other already existing implementations of CGP.
3
Haraldsson, Saemundur Oskar. "Genetic improvement of software : from program landscapes to the automatic improvement of a live system." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/26007.
Full textAbstract:
In today’s technology driven society, software is becoming increasingly important in more areas of our lives. The domain of software extends beyond the obvious domain of computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Smart devices and the internet-of-things have inspired the integra- tion of digital and computational technology into objects that some of us would never have guessed could be possible or even necessary. Fridges and freezers connected to social media sites, a toaster activated with a mobile phone, physical buttons for shopping, and verbally asking smart speakers to order a meal to be delivered. This is the world we live in and it is an exciting time for software engineers and computer scientists. The sheer volume of code that is currently in use has long since outgrown beyond the point of any hope for proper manual maintenance. The rate of which mobile application stores such as Google’s and Apple’s have expanded is astounding. The research presented here aims to shed a light on an emerging field of research, called Genetic Improvement ( GI ) of software. It is a methodology to change program code to improve existing software. This thesis details a framework for GI that is then applied to explore fitness landscape of bug fixing Python software, reduce execution time in a C ++ program, and integrated into a live system. We show that software is generally not fragile and although fitness landscapes for GI are flat they are not impossible to search in. This conclusion applies equally to bug fixing in small programs as well as execution time improvements. The framework’s application is shown to be transportable between programming languages with minimal effort. Additionally, it can be easily integrated into a system that runs a live web service.
4
Bruce, Bobby R. "The blind software engineer : improving the non-functional properties of software by means of genetic improvement." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2018. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10052290/.
Full textAbstract:
Life, even in its most basic of forms, continues to amaze mankind with the complexity of its design. When analysing this complexity it is easy to see why the idea of a grand designer has been such a prevalent idea in human history. If it is assumed intelligence is required to undertake a complex engineering feat, such as developing a modern computer system, then it is logical to assume a creature, even as basic as an earthworm, is the product of an even greater intelligence. Yet, as Darwin observed, intelligence is not a requirement for the creation of complex systems. Evolution, a phenomenon without consciousness or intellect can, over time, create systems of grand complexity and order. From this observation a question arises - is it possible to develop techniques inspired by Darwinian evolution to solve engineering problems without engineers? The first to ask such a question was Alan Turing, a person considered by many to be the father of computer science. In 1948 Turing proposed three approaches he believed could solve complex problems without the need for human intervention. The first was a purely logicdriven search. This arose a decade later in the form of general problem-solving algorithms. Though successful in solving toy problems which could be sufficiently formalised, solving real-world problems was found to be infeasible. The second approach Turing called 'cultural search'. This approach would store libraries of information to then reference and provide solutions to particular problems in accordance to this information. This is similar to what we would now refer to as an expert system. Though the first expert system is hard to date due to differences in definition, the development is normally attributed to Feigenbaum, Bachanan, Lederberg, and Sutherland for their work, originating in the 1960s, on the DENRAL system. Turing's last proposal was an iterative, evolutionary technique which he later expanded on stating: "We cannot expect to find a good child-machine at the first attempt. One must experiment with teaching one machine and see how well it learns. One can then try another and see if it is better or worse. There is an obvious connection between this process and evolution". Though a primitive proposal in comparison to modern techniques, Turing clearly identified the foundation of what we now refer to as Evolutionary Computation (EC). EC borrows principles from biological evolution and adapts them for use in computer systems. Despite EC initially appearing to be an awkward melding between the two perpendicular disciplines of biology and computer science, useful ideas from evolutionary theory can be utilised in engineering processes. Just as man dreamt of flight from watching birds, EC researchers dream of self-improving systems from observing evolutionary processes. Despite these similarities, evolutionary inspired techniques in computer science have yet to build complex software systems from scratch. Though they have been successfully utilised to solve complex problems, such as classification and clustering, there is a general acceptance that, as in nature, these evolutionary processes take vast amounts of time to create complex structures from simple starting points. Even the best computer systems cannot compete with nature's ability to evaluate many millions of variants in parallel over the course of millennia. It is for this reason research into modifying and optimising already existing software, a process known as Genetic Improvement, has blossomed. Genetic Improvement (commonly referred to as 'GI') modifies existing software using search-based techniques with respect to some objective. These search-based techniques are typically evolutionary and, if not, are based on iterative improvement which we may view as a form of evolution. GI sets out to solve the 'last mile' problems of software development; problems that arise in software engineering close to completion, such as bugs or sub-optimal performance. It is the genetic improvement of non-functional properties, such as execution time and energy consumption, which we concern ourselves with in this thesis, as we find it to be the area of research which is the most interesting, and the most exciting. It is hoped that those referencing this thesis may share the same vision: that the genetic improvement of non-functional properties has the potential to transform software development, and that the work presented here is a step towards that goal. The thesis is divided into six chapters (inclusive of this 'Introduction' chapter). In Chapter 2 we explain the background material necessary to understand the content discussed later in the following chapters. From this, in Chapter 3, we highlight our investigations into the novel nonfunctional property of energy consumption which, in part, includes a study in how energy may be reduced via the approximation of output. We then expand on this in Chapter 4 by discussing our investigations into the applicability of GI in the domain of approximate computing, which covers a study into optimising the non-functional properties of software running on novel hardware - in this case, Android tablet devices. We then show, in Chapter 5, early research into how GI may be used to specialise software for specific hardware targets; in particular, how GI may automatically modify sequential code to run on GPUs. Finally, in Chapter 6 we discuss what relevant work is currently being undertaken by using the area of genetic improvement, and provide the reader with clear and concise take-away messages from this thesis.
5
Oliveira, Vinícius Paulo Lopes de. "Uma proposta de representação e operadores genéticos para algoritmos evolucionários aplicados no reparo automatizado de software." Universidade Federal de Goiás, 2017. http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tede/7767.
Full textAbstract:
Submitted by JÚLIO HEBER SILVA (julioheber@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-09-13T17:19:44Z
No. of bitstreams: 2
Dissertação - Vinícius Paulo Lopes de Oliveira - 2017.pdf: 2066886 bytes, checksum: c610d8e21e23795d1cea6eeca17b5e5e (MD5)
license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-09-19T13:58:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Vinícius Paulo Lopes de Oliveira - 2017.pdf: 2066886 bytes, checksum: c610d8e21e23795d1cea6eeca17b5e5e (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-19T13:58:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Vinícius Paulo Lopes de Oliveira - 2017.pdf: 2066886 bytes, checksum: c610d8e21e23795d1cea6eeca17b5e5e (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-14
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
Maintenance and software repair are responsible for most of the cost of a software in the course of its life. Software repair through genetic evolution may repair errors and improve software, reducing its high cost. GenProg is a technique that uses this approach and through patches evolution it is capable to fix errors in large and small softwares. A patch composed by low-granularity operations compromise the manipulation of these operations. These operations consist of three subspaces: operation, location of application of the operation and what the operation will apply at the location of the fault (operator, fault and fix, respectively). The recombination and mutation operators applied to a low granulation representation limits the ability of the technique to navigate in search space efficiently. It is proposed the reformulation of the representation, in order to allow greater search capability. Theoretical analysis of the representation showed that the new representation has a greater locality than the original one. Through experimentation, validation and genotypic analysis it is shown that the proposed changes have led to a better performance with respect to the original operators and parameters in terms of efficiency, in the first experiments the operator UnifSingle with memorization was 48.88% more effective than the Original operator and then the operator OPSingle_V2 was 26% more effective than the operator UnifSingle with memorization. Some characteristics of these cross-operators were observed through a genotype distance analysis and their influence on the automatic software reapair problem. The proposed mutation operator shown superior results if compared to original. Combination between operator UniSingle with memorization showed the best efficacy among all combinations of operators and parameters (28.29% superior to the best result of the original GenProg).
Manutenção e reparo de software é responsável pela maior parte do custo de um software no decorrer de sua vida. O reparo de software por meio de evolução genética pode reparar erros e/ou melhorar softwares, diminuindo seu alto custo. GenProg é uma técnica em desenvolvimento que utiliza esta abordagem e por meio de evolução de patches é capaz de reparar erros em grandes e pequenos softwares. Um patch é composto por operações de edições de baixa granularidade o que compromete a separação e edição dessas operações. Essas operações são formadas por três subespaços: operação, local da aplicação da operação e o que a operação irá aplicar no local da falha (operator, fault, fix, respectivamente). Os operadores de recombinação e mutação aplicados às representações de baixa granularidade limita a habilidade da técnica de navegar no espaço de busca de forma eficiente. É proposto neste estudo, a reformulação da representação, do operador de cruzamento e mutação a fim de permitir uma maior capacidade de busca. Análises teóricas da representação demonstraram que a nova representação possui localidade maior que a original. Por meio de experimentações, validações e análises genotípicas é mostrado que as mudanças propostas levaram a uma melhoria em relação aos operadores e parâmetros originais em termos de eficácia, sendo que nos experimentos iniciais o operador UnifSingle com memorização apresentou eficácia 45,88% superior ao melhor caso do operador Original e em seguida o operador posteriormente proposto OPSingle_V2 apresentou eficácia 26% superior ao UnifSingle com memorização. Foram observadas algumas características desses operadores de cruzamento por meio de uma análise por distância genotípica e suas influências no problema de reparo automatizado de software. O operador de mutação proposto apresentou resultados superiores ao operador de mutação original e combinado com operador UnifSingle com memorização, apresentou a melhor eficácia entre todas as combinações de operadores e parâmetros.
6
Elalmis, Mert Erkan. "Software Process Improvement." Master's thesis, METU, 2007. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12609042/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
In this thesis the software development process and in particular, the requirements management processes in a major software development company have been investigated. The current problems related to requirements quality and process performances have been identified. Process improvement measures have been proposed based on the suggestions found in the relevant literature. The current process and the improved version have been compared with respect to the process evaluation metrics proposed particularly for software process improvement.
7
Pourkomeylian, Pouya. "Software practice improvement /." Göteborg : Göteborg university, 2002. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb399559644.
Full text
8
Sezer, Bulent. "Software Engineering Process Improvement." Master's thesis, METU, 2007. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12608338/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis presents a software engineering process improvement study. The literature on software process improvement is reviewed. Then the current design verification process at one of the Software Engineering Departments of
the X Company, Ankara, Türkiye (SED) is analyzed. Static software development process metrics have been calculated for the SED based on a recently proposed approach. Some improvement suggestions have been made based on the metric values calculated according to the proposals of that study. Besides, the author'
s improvement suggestions have been discussed with the senior staff at the department and then final version of the improvements has been gathered. Then, a discussion has been made comparing these two approaches. Finally, a new software design verification process model has been proposed. Some of the suggestions have already been applied and preliminary results have been obtained.
9
Nikitina, Natalja. "Software Process Improvement Framework." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Programvaruteknik och Datorsystem, SCS, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-141272.
Full textAbstract:
Many software development organizations today are keen on improving their software development processes in order to develop software products faster, cheaper or better. For that reason, Software Process Improvement (SPI) has received significant attention from the research community over the last few decades. Process maturity models have become widely known for benchmarking software processes against predefined practices and for identifying processes to be improved or implemented, whereas process improvement approaches were developed for guiding the actual process improvement process. However, despite a wide number of provided guidelines on how to standardize the processes and how to run process improvement efforts, only a few SPI initiatives have succeeded. About 70% of the SPI initiatives fail and a significant number do not even get started. Many studies argue that the success of the SPI initiatives is dependent on the organizational, social and managerial aspects of process improvement. Those aspects however are not sufficiently covered by the existing SPI approaches and models. The little knowledge on organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI that is available is mostly scattered across the domain. Hence, there is lack of a holistic overview of the current SPI domain that provides sufficient coverage of organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI. This thesis has explored the organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI and placed them into the context of the SPI domain. Its main research result is Software Process Improvement Framework (SPIF). The framework provides an overview of the SPI domain and positions theories representing organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI in the context of existing SPI approaches, models, methods and practices. SPIF is based on the existing theoretical framework for SPI environment proposed by Sami Zahran. The SPIF framework has been additionally complimented with four additional outcomes of this study. Those are: 1) a list of organizational, social and managerial factors facilitating SPI effort, 2) a list of contextual factors impacting process change, 3) a process model for guiding software method adoption, and 4) a checklist representing the properties of successful and sustainable SPI projects. The research was based on a strong industrial cooperation. As many as thirty software development organizations were involved in this research. Methodologically, the research was conducted in line with the inductive reasoning, which guided the research into building the knowledge from empirical studies. However, at some stages of this research, literature studies were incorporated. The main research methods of this study are action research and case studies, whereas data collection methods are primarily structured interviews, participatory observations and surveys. The thesis concludes that implementing a recommended software development processes or practices using well defined SPI approaches is not enough. In order to implement successful and lasting process improvement, organizations also need to consider organizational, social and managerial aspects of SPI. The SPIF framework and other results of this thesis may significantly benefit software development organizations that plan to conduct software process change, or have already done it. These organizations may use SPIF for getting an overview of the process improvement process and the theories, methods and tools that should support it. The other results of this thesis can be used for: 1) incorporating organizational, social and managerial aspects in process changes, 2) for adapting process improvements in various organizational contexts, 3) for guiding adoptions of new software development methods, and finally 4) for evaluating and improving process improvement efforts.QC 20140213
10
Konuralp, Zeynep. "Software Process Improvement In A Software Development Environment." Master's thesis, METU, 2007. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12609059/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
A software process improvement study is presented. The literature on software
development processes and their improvement is reviewed. The current peer review
process at Software Engineering Directorate of the X Company, Ankara, Türkiye (XCOM) is studied and the static software development metrics based on a recent proposal have been evaluated. The static software metrics based improvement suggestions and the author&rsquo
s improvement suggestions discussed with the senior staff are compared. An improved peer review process is proposed. The static software development metrics have been evaluated on the improved process to see the impacts of the improvements. The improved process has been already implemented at XCOM and preliminary results have been obtained.
11
Dessotti, Cássio. "Comparação de rols classificatórios de tratamentos e de estimativas de componentes de variância em grupos de experimentos." Universidade de São Paulo, 2010. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/11/11134/tde-19022010-100820/.
Full textAbstract:
As análises de grupos de experimentos, de grande importância em melhoramento genético, são indispensáveis quando se pretende investigar o comportamento de alguns tratamentos em diversos locais de interesse do pesquisador. Nestes casos, parte-se das analises de variância individuais em cada local, para o agrupamento de todos os ensaios em uma única analise. Verifica-se então a veracidade da significância da interação tratamentos versus locais - TL, sendo esta não-significativa, pode-se obter conclusões generalizados a respeito do comportamento dos tratamentos. No entanto, o grande interesse esta nos casos de interação significativa, em que dois caminhos de destaque surgem para que se conclua a analise, o primeiro, permite que se considerem os resultados e conclusões das analises individuais, com o resíduo específico de cada local, enquanto o segundo aconselha que se desdobrem os graus de liberdade relativos a tratamentos + interação significativa, visando a interpretação dos tratamentos em estudo dentro de cada um dos locais, utilizando o resíduo médio como testador. Partindo do fato de que componentes de variância são variâncias associadas aos efeitos aleatórios de um modelo matemático, que permitem quantificar a variabilidade de tais efeitos, tem-se por objetivo neste trabalho, em grupos de experimentos reais com interação TL significativa, comparar os componentes de variância obtidos nas analises individuais utilizando os quadrados médios residuais - QMRes de cada ensaio versus os obtidos pós-desdobramento da interação em questão utilizando o quadrado médio do resíduo médio - QMRM. Tal confronto será fundamentado nas estimativas de variâncias das estimativas destes componentes. Finalmente, em grupos de ensaios reais e simulados, o objetivo será voltado para a comparação de rols classificatórios de tratamentos nas analises individuais versus os rols classificatórios de tratamentos obtidos pós-desdobramento da interação em questão. A montagem destes rols será possível a partir do uso do teste de Tukey, ao nível de 5% de significância, para os cálculos das diferenças mínimas significativas - dms ora com resíduos de analises individuais, ora de conjunta. Todos os cálculos deste trabalho serão realizados no software estatístico R.The experimental groups analysis, of great importance in genetic improvement, are essential when intends to investigate the treatments behaviour in many places from researcher interest. In these cases, starts by the individual variance analysis in each place, to the grouping of all experiments in a single analysis. Examine the truth of the signicant treatments vs. places interaction - TL, being this no-signicant, is possible to obtain generalized conclusions about the treatments behaviour. However, the interest is in the cases when signi cant interaction is found, because two eminence ways appear for the analysis conclusions, the rst one allow that the individual analysis results and conclusions be considered, with the specic residue from each place, while the second one advise, that the degrees of freedom relative to treatments + signicant interaction be unfound, looking at the interpretation of the treatments in study inside each place, using the mean residue how testator. Starting with the fact that variance components are variances associated to the aleatory eects of a mathematical model, that allow the quantifying of such eects, this work objective, in real experimental groups, with signicant interaction TL, is to compare the variance components obtained in individual analysis using the residual mean square - QMRes from each experiment against the obtained after unfolding the interaction in question using the mean residual mean square - QMRM. This confrontation will be based in variance estimations of these components estimations. Finally, in real and simulate experimental groups, the objective will be directed to the comparison of treatments classicatory rankings in individual analysis vs. the treatments classi catory rankings obtained after unfolding of the interaction in question. The construction of these rankings will be possible using the Tukey test, with 5% of signicance, for the calculation of the signicants minimum dierences - dms, a time with individual analysis residual, othertime, conjunct. All the calculations from this work will be realized in the R statistical software.
12
Naiken-Ó, Lochlainn Karmeswaree Govinthan. "Genetic improvement of underutlised legumes." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2011. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14279/.
Full textAbstract:
In today's world of rapidly changing climates, ever-increasing human population growth and increased competition for space, the production of energy and high quality food to meet increasing demands presents an enormous challenge to the related industries. It has been predicted that global food production alone, must increase by 70% by 2050 to prevent worldwide starvation. The application of plant biotechnology offers a promising alternative over classical crop improvement techniques in the development of breeding programmes that could respond rapidly to future demands for high-yielding and nutritionally-enhanced crops. Adopting such strategies to underutilised legume crops represents a viable avenue for crop improvement, especially in developing countries with a high incidence of poverty and malnutrition, where local environmental conditions frequently prove too challenging for effective cultivation of commercial cultivars. The main objective of this thesis was to generate fundamental data regarding the adoption of tissue culture-based transformation strategies for the genetic improvement of two such crops, jicama [Pachyrhizus erosus (L.) Urban] and Bambara groundnut [Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.]. The work carried out on jicama investigated the regeneration potential of this plant in vitro as a basis for future biotechnological techniques. Preliminary tissue culture experiments identified explant types and plant growth regulator (PGR) matrices and concentrations that produced optimal regenerative responses in vitro. Histological analysis of regenerated tissue revealed that shoot formation occurred via somatic embryogenesis. Possible avenues for further optimisation of the explant-to-plant regeneration protocol, for downstream molecular genetic applications, were explored and discussed. For Bambara groundnut, this study initially focused on developing a novel explant-to-plant regeneration system, previously not reported for landraces DipC, Uniswa-Red and S 19-3, through the adoption and modification of techniques specific for distinct Bambara landraces. This micropropagation protocol employed whole zygotic embryos as starting explants, which formed the basis for subsequent transformation studies. Genetic transformation was attempted via biolistic- and Agrobacterium-mediated approaches, using transformation vectors pVDH65, pB1l21, harbouring the nptII selectable marker and uidA (gus) reporter genes, while pBIl21-LeB4-Ber e I additionally carried the methionine-rich ber el gene. T-DNA transfer in transformed explants was confirmed via histochemical GUS analyses, while peR assays identified putatively transformed regenerated shoots. Explant viability was significantly compromised following bombardment or inoculation, resulting in reduced shoot regeneration, and thus limited the production of transgenic plants. Improvements in transformation efficiency and regeneration frequency were made following protocol optimisation, and the potential for further improvements to efficiently produce well-developed, healthy transgenic shoots were explored and discussed. The results presented in this thesis describe the optimisation of innovative tissue culture and regeneration protocols, which form a fundamental prerequisite to future transformation-based experiments for jicama and Bambara groundnut. Additionally, previously unpublished data generated from transformation studies in Bambara groundnut has revealed its potential for genetic manipulation. These results have established the foundation of novel micropropagation and transformation systems with the potential to be further optimised to genetically enhance and exploit the enormous agronomic potential of these underutilised legume crops.
13
Ener, Aysun. "Measurement Based Software Process Improvement." Master's thesis, METU, 2007. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12609107/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is a study on improving the software requirements management processes of embedded software department of a company. The literature on software process improvement and requirements engineering is reviewed. After determining the problems related to the current requirements management processes of the department, an improved process is proposed addressing these problems. The static process descriptions and the models of the current and improved requirements management processes are formed. A recently proposed pre-enactment model for measuring process quality is used for measuring the quality of the current and improved requirements management processes. Finally, the results of the process quality measurements are compared and evaluated.
14
Turnas, Daniel. "Next generation software process improvement." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 2003. http://library.nps.navy.mil/uhtbin/hyperion-image/03Jun%5FTurnas.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.S. in Software Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2003.Thesis advisor(s): Mikhail Auguston, Christopher D. Miles. Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-61). Also available online.
15
Guo, Hong. "Software quality and software process improvement in teleworking environments." Thesis, Southampton Solent University, 2001. http://ssudl.solent.ac.uk/823/.
Full textAbstract:
Telework as a swift developing business has attracted great attention from government, company and organisation due to its large benefits for out society. A study was accordingly conducted to investigate its application in the IT industry. Results show that teleworking is widely accepted by and plays an important role in software industry. With the rapid development in computer and telecommunications technology, telework has become increasingly populat and can not be avoided in IT industry. the benefits and problems brought by teleworking in IT industry are then reported in the study. It is found that the big obstruction for telework development in software engineering is still product quality problems. As many researchers have revealed, our society has entered the information society. The demand for more and more software products with better and better quality is increasing. However problems of software quality hinder the development of the IT industry. The recognised reason for this is the inability to manage the software process. Hence, many software process assessment and improvement models have been developed and used successfully in the management of software development in order to acquire improvements in software quality. However, the problem considered here is whether they are suitable for telework software development. To build the necessary ground knowledge for carrying out this project, an extensive analysis of the fundamental methodology and principles of existing software process assessment and improvement models was conducted. The strengths and weaknesses of these models are derived from the analysis. The applicability and adaptability of the models for teleworking environments are also explored. It is found that the existing models are designed for centralised software development. They are not fully suitable but the same functions are applicable for teleworking environments. The results of above discussion lead to the selection and recommendation of SPICE to be used as a baseline for the development of a process approach which meets the need of teleworking software environments. To lay a solid foundation for the development of such approach, two surveys were carried out. Their aims are investigate the current state of telework in IT industry and the applicability of the present models in teleworking environments, and to identify the specific issues which arise in telework. It can be observed from the survey that there are significant differences in software process and management methodologies between telework and conventional single-site work. Special technologies are needed to support telework software development. To provide valuable input in the development of such approach, an in-depth analysis of the specific requirements identified from the survey results in the creation of a set of processes and base practices, which are particularly required by teleworking environments. The SPITE approach, which is a SPICE extension model, is therefore developed as a major contribution to the software industry that fills an important gap in the software process modelling. Good comments have been obtained from a small range of organisations.
16
Kirkham, Jennifer Ann. "The genetic improvement of brewing yeast." Thesis, Cranfield University, 1989. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/10382.
Full textAbstract:
Brewing yeast strains are usually aneuploid or polyploid with no true mating type. Thus
many of the techniques which can be used to genetically modify laboratory yeast strains
cannot be
applied to them. This study was aimed at developing the technology for the
genetic modification of brewing yeasts towards producing genetically improved brewing
strains, suitable for use in large scale beer production.
A
system has been developed which can produce brewing yeast transformants with high
genetic stability and unimpaired brewing performance. Such transformants contain only the
required extra genetic material and no superfluous vector DNA. This system has also been
demonstrated to have
potential for the genetic labelling of yeast strains as a means of
accurate identification which could also be used towards the
patent protection of commercially
important yeast strains. _
A method for the stabilisation of
heterologous proteins produced in yeast has been
investigated. The hypothesis that the glycosylation of heterologous proteins can improve their
stability in yeast was tested by mutating the Escherichia coli ß-lactamase gene to produce
N-linked
glycosylation substrates. Two of the modified proteins were glycosylated when
expressed in yeast, one of which had improved thermal stability.
A wheat
11-amylase gene yeast expression cassette has been constructed using the
wheat secretion
signal and yeast gene control sequences. Expression of the cassette in
yeast results in efficient starch-degrading activity both in liquid and on solid media. The
enzyme is efficíently secreted and approximately 90% of the activity is found in yeast culture
supernatants.
17
Bjørnson, Finn Olav. "Knowledge Management in Software Process Improvement." Doctoral thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-1693.
Full textAbstract:
Reports of software a development projects that miss schedule, exceeds budget and deliver products with poor quality are abundant in the literature. Both researchers and the industry are seeking methods to counter these trends and improve software quality.
Software Process Improvement is a systematic approach to improve the capabilities and performance of software organizations. One basic idea is to assess the organizations’ current practice and improve their software process on the basis of the competencies and experiences of the practitioners working in the organization. A major challenge is to create strategies and mechanisms for managing relevant and updated knowledge about software development and maintenance. Insights from the field of knowledge management are therefore potentially useful in software process improvement efforts to facilitate the creation, modification, and sharing of software processes in any organization.
In the work presented in this thesis, we have made an overview of empirical studies on the effect of knowledge management in software engineering. We have categorized these studies according to a framework and we report findings on the major concepts that have been investigated empirically, as well as the research methods applied within the field. We have also investigated two main strategies for knowledge management, codification and personalization, through the application of four concrete methods in a software process improvement setting: Mentoring, Rational Unified Process, Process Workshops and Post Mortem Analysis.
We have classified the work in this thesis within three main themes:
RT1: Previous research on knowledge management in software engineering.
RT2: Application of knowledge management to improve the software process through codification of knowledge.
RT3: Application of knowledge management to improve the software process through personalization of knowledge.
The main contributions are:
C1: An overview of the research literature on empirical studies of knowledge management in software engineering.
C2: A method for tailoring the Rational Unified Process to the development process of a software consulting company.
C3: Improvements of the Process Workshops method by contextualization.
C4: Improvement of the root-cause analysis phase of the lightweight Post Mortem Analysis for more effective project retrospectives.
C5: Proposed methods to increase the learning effect of mentor programs in software engineering.
18
Chamley, Théo. "Improvement of a software development workflow." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för informations- och kommunikationsteknik (ICT), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-127855.
Full textAbstract:
Organizing the work Wow in a software development project is not an easy task. How is the work distributed? How is a coding policy enforced? How can one be sure of the quality of the code produced? Those are non-trivial questions whose answers usually lie in the use of several development tools and practices. Code reviewing and analysis as well as automatic building are, for instance, meant to improve the overall quality of a software project’s code. However, if those tools are not properly con Vgured and if the work Wow has not been thoroughly thought, they can be completely counter-productive. Based on the installation of a complete software development chain in a governmental institution (the french ANSSI), this document aims at giving a solution to some of the problems that can arise during such an installation.
19
Saks, Craig Sheldon. "Expanding software process improvement models beyond the software process itself." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16844.
Full textAbstract:
Bibliography: pages 182-188.The problems besetting software development and maintenance are well recorded and numerous strategies have been adopted over the years to overcome the so-called "software crisis". One increasingly popular strategy focuses on managing the processes by which software is built, maintained and managed. As such, many software organisations see software process improvement initiatives as an important strategy to help them improve their software development and maintenance performance. Two of the more popular software process improvement (SPI) models used by the software industry to help them in this endeavour are the Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM) from the Software Engineering Institute and the Software Process Improvement and Capability determination (SPICE) model from the International Standards Organisation. This research begins with the supposition that, although these SPI models have added significant value to many organisations, they have a potential shortcoming in that they tend to focus almost exclusively on the software process itself and seem to neglect other organisational aspects that could contribute to improved software development and maintenance performance. This research is concerned with exploring this potential shortcoming and identifying complementary improvement areas that the SW -CMM and SPICE models fail to address adequately. A theoretical framework for extending the SW-CMM and SPICE models is proposed. Thereafter complementary improvement areas are identified and integrated with the SW-CMM and SPICE models to develop an Extended SPI Model. This Extended SPI Model adopts a systemic view of software process and IS organisational improvement by addressing a wide range of complementary improvement considerations. A case study of an SPI project is described, with the specific objective of testing and refining the Extended SPI Model. The results seem to indicate that the framework and Extended SPI Model are largely valid, although a few changes were made in light of the findings of the case study. Finally, the implications of the research for both theory and practice are discussed.
20
McMeekin, David Andrew. "A software inspection methodology for cognitive improvement in software engineering." Thesis, Curtin University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/400.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines software inspections application in a non-traditional use through examining the cognitive levels developers demonstrate while carrying out software inspection tasks. These levels are examined in order to assist in increasing developers’ ability to understand, maintain and evolve software systems.The results from several empirical studies carried out are presented. These indicate several important findings: student software developers find structured reading techniques more helpful as an aid than less structured reading techniques, while professional developers find the more structured techniques do not allow their experience to be applied to the problem at hand; there is a correlation between the effectiveness of a software inspection and an inspector’s ability to successfully add new functionality to the inspected software artefact; the cognitive levels that student developers functioned at while carrying out software inspection tasks were at higher orders of thinking when structured inspection techniques were implemented than when unstructured techniques were applied.From the empirical results a mapping has been created of several software inspection techniques to the cognitive process models they support and the cognitive levels, as measured using Bloom’s Taxonomy that they facilitate. This mapping is to understand the impact carrying out a software inspection has upon a developer’s cognitive understanding of the inspected system.The knowledge and understanding of the findings of this research has culminated in the creation of a code reading methodology to increase the cognitive level software developers operate at while reading software code. The reading methodology distinguishes where in undergraduate and software developer training courses different software inspection reading techniques are to be implemented in order to maximise a software developer’s code reading ability dependent upon their experience level.
21
Naeem, Qaiser. "Impact of Meetings in Software Process Improvement." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, PELAB - Laboratoriet för programmeringsomgivningar, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-76685.
Full textAbstract:
In this thesis we have described the role of meetings in software development and their impact on process improvement. We have investigated some factors; which could be used to improve organization process e.g. strategic management, understanding of business and its processes, learning and evaluation of resources. A survey has been conducted with the help of a questionnaire to analyze the meeting practices in the small and medium scale software companies. A process model and a simulation have been designed to measure the impacts of meetings on the productivity of organizations which claim the utilization of agile process. The designed model is an extension of Hamid & Madnick’s process model and the simulation is a newly developed web based application that performs meeting scheduling. The application is developed with the concept of Software As A Service (SAAS) by using the Framework Symfony and programming languages PHP and MySQL.
22
Nordenskjöld, Gustav, and Harm Andries Kingma. "Software Process Improvement Using Groupware : Supporting Distributed Cooperation in Software Development." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för programvaruteknik och datavetenskap, 2003. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-3915.
Full textAbstract:
This master thesis describes our work with Team Sweden and how we have attempted to perform a Software Process Improvement using groupware. Team Sweden is a distributed academic software development organization doing research on artificial intelligence and robotics. Such an organization has a lot to gain from the introduction of a more structured process model. We have investigated the possibility of supporting the development processes of a small software development organization by introducing groupware. Only introducing a groupware tool or technique is not enough to improve the processes of an organization. Process improvement requires an infrastructure and groupware could be a useful tool for establishing it. Improved communication and knowledge sharing through groupware can be beneficial for establishing a process infrastructure. Groupware should be used in conjunction with other process improvement measures in order to be effective and improve the capability of the targeted organization.This master thesis describes our work with Team Sweden and how we have attempted to perform a Software Process Improvement using groupware.
gustav@nordenskjold.com hakingma@hotmail.com
23
Bondesson, Tobias. "Software Engineering Education Improvement : An Assessment of a Software Engineering Programme." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Avdelningen för programvarusystem, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-5891.
Full textAbstract:
An assessment of a software engineering program has been carried out by reviewing state-of-the-art literature pertaining to software engineering education. Six surveys have been adopted and the result implies that the balance of the curriculum should be revised, and that software engineering education ought to expand the technical oriented knowledge areas somewhat. Relevant curriculum data have been derived hereby, which also confirms other studies in the area. This data, along with a benchmark of the software engineering program to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK), is very constructive to universities as it assists educators, trainers, and software engineering practitioners in evaluating, designing, and recommending existing and proposed curricula.This is the final revision of the thesis. Author may be contacted on +464458038. See also paper at the 18th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T), Ottawa, Canada.
24
Zhou, Yao. "Study on genetic algorithm improvement and application." Link to electronic thesis, 2006. http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/ETD/Available/etd-050306-211907/.
Full text
25
Mandegaran, Zohreh. "Genetic improvement of roses by protoplast fusion." Thesis, University of East London, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.339583.
Full text
26
Usha, A. P. "Microsatellite markers in genetic improvement of livestock." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/11490.
Full textAbstract:
Genome mapping is in the forefront of interest among both plant and animal breeders, enabling the relationship between genes, genome structure and function to be investigated in addition to identifying the location of genes. The prerequisite of a linkage map of the genome is the availability of a large number of highly polymorphic and informative marker loci which are evenly distributed throughout the genome. Microsatellite loci provide the unique class of markers which overcome many of the difficulties associated with the other market types. The availability of a detailed genetic map of the bovine genome could enhance the genetic progress in cattle breeding programmes through the identification of loci affecting traits of economic importance. Other potential applications of genetic markers include their use in confirmation of parentage, individual identification, germplasm evaluation and identification of disease loci. In this thesis, microsatellite markers are investigated in three areas, a) parentage verification and individual identification b) study of phylogenetic relationship and c) mapping a lethal defect in Dexter cattle. a) Five highly polymorphic microsatellite markers CYP21, DRB3, FSHB, ETH131 and HEL6 were evaluated for parentage verification using 275 animals belonging to 15 breeds of cattle. Some breeds were found not be in Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE), the deviation being greatest in those breeds which had an excess of homozygotes. A new approach was developed for calculating the Probability of RAndom Sire Exclusion (PRASE) taking into account the deviation from HWE and linkage between markers, using observed genotype frequencies. Taken together, the linked markers, DRB3 and CYP1 gave a PRASE of 0.88 in all breeds with success ranging from 0.75-0.96. Including a third marker the PRASE was increased to 0.97, and with all five markers 0.99 or better was achieved for all the 15 breeds.
27
Prenger, Karen D. "Costs and benefits of software process improvement." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 1997. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA346053.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.S. in Software Engineering) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1997."December 1997." Thesis advisor(s): James Emery, Elizabeth M .Gramoy. Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-92). Also available online.
28
Carleson, Hannes, and Marcus Lyth. "Evaluation of Problem Driven Software Process Improvement." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för informations- och kommunikationsteknik (ICT), 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-189216.
Full textAbstract:
Software development is constantly growing in complexity and several newtools have been created with the aim to manage this. However, even with thisever evolving range of tools and methodology, organizations often struggle withhow to implement a new development-process, especially when implementingagile methods. The most common reason for this is because teams implementagile tools in an ad-hoc manner, without fully considering the effects this cancause. This leads to teams trying to correct their choice of methodologysomewhere during the post-planning phase, which can be devastating for aproject as it adds further complexity to the project by introducing new problemsduring the transition process. Moreover, with an existing range of tools aimedat managing this process transition, none of them have been thoroughlyevaluated, which in turn forms the problem that this thesis is centred around.This thesis explores a method transition scenario and evaluates a SoftwareProcess Improvement method oriented around the problems that theimprovement process is aiming to solve. The goal with this is to establish ifproblem oriented Software Process Improvement is viable as well as to providefurther data for the extensive research that is being done in this field. We wishto prove that the overall productivity of a software development team can beincreased even during a project by carefully managing the transition to newmethods using a problem driven approach.The research method used is of qualitative and inductive character. Data iscollected by performing a case study, via action research, and literature studies.The case study consists of iteratively managing a transition over to newmethods, at an organization in the middle of a project, using a problem drivenapproach to Software Process Improvement. Three iterations of methodimprovement are applied on the project and each iteration acts as an evaluationon how well Problem Driven Software Process Improvement works.By using the evaluation model created for this degree project, the researchershave found that problem driven Software Process Improvement is an effectivetool for managing and improving the processes of a development team.Productivity has increased with focus on tasks with highest priority beingfinished first. Transparency has increased with both development team andcompany having a clearer idea of work in progress and what is planned.Communication has grown with developers talking more freely about userstories and tasks during planning and stand-up meetings. The researchersacknowledge that the results of the study are of a limited scope and alsorecognize that further evaluation in form of more iterations are needed for acomplete evaluation.
29
Rodríguez, Jessica. "Software Process Improvement for SMEs using OMM." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för datavetenskap och kommunikation, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-3328.
Full textAbstract:
Software Process Improvement initiatives have been implemented by many companies in order to achieve quality of products and practices. Many models like CMMI and IDEAL have been adopted as a means to gain competitive advantages among competitors and trustworthiness of customers. Although these models have proved successful results, the inherent characteristics of SMEs make it difficult and in many cases unfeasible to implement such models, without meaning that those companies are less capable of producing quality products or adopting well-defined practices. This research presents a model to guide Software Process Improvement (SPI) according to the context of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) using the Open Maturity Model (OMM) elaborated by the QualiPSo consortium. Different literature reviews, a survey and a focus group were done in order to build the theoretical foundations that support the structure of the proposed SPI model, validate the findings and evaluate the resulting SPI model. SPI in SMEs, CMMI implementations in SMEs, issues affecting SPI programs, and Knowledge Management approaches supporting improvement of software processes and practices are the four main pillars of the theoretical background supporting the design of the proposed SPI model, which is the major outcome of this thesis project and is aimed to guide SPI programs considering OMM assessment results. The proposed SPI model was subject of a preliminary evaluation with researchers and a validation with practitioners. The results have confirmed that SPI outcomes are more valuable when business requirements and SPI objectives are chosen to drive the improvement actions. The importance of organizational awareness and the value of knowledge management strategies to mitigate potential problems faced when implementing SPI has also been highlighted when evaluating the model.
30
Stefanovic, Milorad. "Advanced software engineering models for quality improvement." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/MQ60501.pdf.
Full text
31
Thomson, Helen E. "Aspects of software process assessment and improvement." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.481439.
Full text
32
Kinnula, A. (Atte). "Software process engineering in a multi-site environment:an architectural design of a software process engineering system." Doctoral thesis, University of Oulu, 1999. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9514253035.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract
A fundamental problem in the software engineering community
is how to achieve a state of continuous improvement. Over the last
ten years a number of studies have been made concerning various
tools, methods and software process improvement project life-cycle models,
but the problem persists and in many cases the software process
improvement program dies off within a year.
This thesis takes the assumption that the answer cannot be
reduced to a single tool or method, as there are no silver bullets
to complex problems. Instead the entire Software Process Engineering
system should be studied to find out what elements are necessary
for sustaining improvement activity on a long-term basis. Through
understanding the fundamental elements of a Software Process Engineering
system, the organization can manage and improve the system, tune
it up to the environment and make it efficient and effective. When
the system is operational, the software process improvement program,
which is a part of the system, can be sustained.
This research studies a case in which the Software Process
Engineering system of a large, multi-site telecommunications company
was successfully revised to meet the increasing improvement challenges.
The revised system has proven to be capable of sustaining continuous
improvement and case is used here to derive architectural design
models of a Software Process Engineering system.
Two such models are established here. One is a system model
that is independent of implementation and identifies the main elements
of a Software Process Engineering system. With the help of this
model, those responsible for process improvement in their organizations
can design, evaluate, and revise complete Software Process Engineering
systems. The other model is a design of a multi-site Software Process
Engineering organization, and identifies not only the operative
part of the organization but also the key non-operative elements
that a Software Process Engineering system needs to work with. With the
help of this model a multi-site organization can set up the operative
Software Process Engineering organization and plan for strategies
for managing the cooperation with the interfacing entities up front,
rather than ending up managing such contacts on a reactive fashion.
33
Williams, Francis M. K. "The genetic improvement of chicory, lettuce and spinach." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.416389.
Full text
34
Veerkamp, Roel Franciscus. "Genetic improvement of economic performance in dairy cattle." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/11503.
Full textAbstract:
The aims in this thesis were to investigate more comprehensive breeding goals in dairy cattle, to investigate the possible importance of genotype by environment interaction and to identify possible sources of genetic variation in feed utilisation. On the basis of a literature review, longevity was examined as component of the breeding goal, and four linear type traits (foot angle, udder depth, teat length and angularity) with the closest genetic association with longevity were used as index measurements. Economic values were derived for protein, fat and milk yield and for longevity using dynamic programming. The derived values were in genetic standard deviations relative to protein yield 1.0, 0.2, -0.2 and 0.8, respectively. Three completely additive indices were derived, assuming that the breeding goal was for: (i) yield only (YIN), (ii) longevity only (LIN) or (iii) yield and longevity, hence profit (PIN). Selection on PIN was expected to give a 5% higher annual rate of genetic progress in economic merit compared with selection on YIN, and PIN was robust to most assumptions made in the calculation. Genotype by environment interaction was investigated for a range of traits. Selection (S) and Control line (C) cows, housed and managed at the Langhill Dairy Cattle Research Centre, have been offered ad libitum complete mixed diets, with proportions (in total DM) of concentrates, silage, brewers' gains of either 20:5:75 (LC; 1.0 ton concentrate per annum) or 45:5:50 (HC; 2.5 ton concentrate), over a full lactation. No diet x genetic line interactions were observed for a number of traits, describing milk production, feed intake, efficiency and body tissue mobilisation. However, regression coefficients of milk yield and condition score on pedigree index for fat plus protein yield were significantly different between LC and HC. Phenotypic and genetic variances were generally larger on HC than on LC, but difficulties in separating the permanent environmental variance from the additive genetic variance might have obscured some of the comparisons.
35
Zheng, Yongqi. "Genetic studies and improvement of Pinus caribaea morelet." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/10674.
Full textAbstract:
Pinus caribaea is a tropical pine that is widely planted as an exotic. It is an important plantation species for industrial purposes in China. The objectives of this thesis was to collect basic information on genetic variation, breeding system and performance of a range of seed sources which have potential for incorporation into the Chinese breeding programme. Isozyme variation was studied in natural populations of two geographically separated varieties P. caribaea var. caribaea and P. caribaea var. bahamensis, and in exotic populations of the varieties from China and Australia respectively. There was significant genetic differentiation between the two varieties. Within the varieties, populations of var. bahamensis were more differentiated than those of var. caribaea. Exotic populations for both varieties experience higher inbreeding than natural populations. With var. bahamensis, the Australian population was genetically similar to natural populations. However there were large genetic differences between the Chinese population and the natural population of both var. caribaea and var. bahamensis. The Chinese material was identified as a distinct species by the use of chloroplast DNA variation. Mating systems in natural populations and seed orchard populations of var. caribaea were analysed using isozyme markers. Both single and multi locus estimates of outcrossing rate were significantly smaller than 1.0 (complete outcrossing) in the island population, but were not significantly less than 1.0 in mainland populations and the seed orchard population, indicating that stronger inbreeding exists in the island population. The small differences between single and multi locus estimates suggest that the inbreeding detected within the variety is caused by true selfing rather than consanguineous mating. The selfing rates ranged from 10.6% in the island population to 1.5% in the seed orchard based on 5 loci assayed.
36
Poompuang, Supawadee. "Toward genetic marker-assisted improvement of aquaculture stocks." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40247.
Full textAbstract:
The overall goal of this research project was to determine optimal strategies for applying genomic mapping, quantitative trait loci (QTL) detection and marker-assisted selection (MAS) to genetic improvement of aquaculture species.
Genes affecting aquaculture performance, or quantitative trait loci (QTLs}, can be mapped in relation to naturally-occuring genetic markers. Knowledge of linkages between marker and QTL alleles can be used for marker-assisted selection (MAS), potentially increasing the rate of genetic progress above that for selective breeding alone. QTL detection and MAS have not yet been practiced on an aquaculture species. I reviewed the technical literature on QTL detection and MAS in other species in order to advance critical discussion of how best to pursue QTL detection and MAS in fish. The need for cost-effectively screening markers suggests polymerase chain reaction-based screening of a collection of microsatellite loci or RAPDs (random amplified polymorphic DNAs). Experimental power calculations suggest that because markers will have to be screened within large progeny groups, selective or sequential genotyping or screening of bulked DNA samples will be needed for costeffective detection of QTLs.
DNA amplification fingerprinting (DAF) profiles were generated for brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, in an attempt to identify a genetic marker for the sex determining locus. DNA mixes of nine males and nine females from a group of closely related fish were screened with 100 arbitrary decamer primers to identify candidate markers for more detailed analysis. Upon screening a panel of three male and three female individuals, however, none of the candidate markers proved to be strictly associated with one sex or the other.
Screening of DNA rnicrosatellite loci was used to construct a genomic map for tilapia (Oreochromis sp). A male hybrid between Oreochromis aureus and red O. niloticus was crossed with a female O. mossambicus to produce the 3-way cross mapping family. A panel of DNA samples of 2 grandparents, 2 parents and 60 F2 individuals was screened for microsatellite markers with 133 primer pairs using polymerase chain reaction. The genetic map I produced consists of 22 microsatellite loci placed into two linkage groups, with 17 loci remaining unlinked. The microsatellite data were integrated with amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) data from collaborators to construct the overall linkage map with 191 markers in 25 linkage groups.Ph. D.
37
Dinh, Hung. "Genetic improvement of giant freshwater prawn in Vietnam." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2013. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/61086/1/Hung_Dinh_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
The giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) or GFP is one of the most important freshwater crustacean species in the inland aquaculture sector of many tropical and subtropical countries. Since the 1990’s, there has been rapid global expansion of freshwater prawn farming, especially in Asian countries, with an average annual rate of increase of 48% between 1999 and 2001 (New, 2005). In Vietnam, GFP is cultured in a variety of culture systems, typically in integrated or rotational rice-prawn culture (Phuong et al., 2006) and has become one of the most common farmed aquatic species in the country, due to its ability to grow rapidly and to attract high market price and high demand. Despite potential for expanded production, sustainability of freshwater prawn farming in the region is currently threatened by low production efficiency and vulnerability of farmed stocks to disease. Commercial large scale and small scale GFP farms in Vietnam have experienced relatively low stock productivity, large size and weight variation, a low proportion of edible meat (large head to body ratio), scarcity of good quality seed stock. The current situation highlights the need for a systematic stock improvement program for GFP in Vietnam aimed at improving economically important traits in this species.
This study reports on the breeding program for fast growth employing combined (between and within) family selection in giant freshwater prawn in Vietnam. The base population was synthesized using a complete diallel cross including 9 crosses from two local stocks (DN and MK strains) and a third exotic stock (Malaysian strain - MY). In the next three selection generations, matings were conducted between genetically unrelated brood stock to produce full-sib and (paternal) half-sib families. All families were produced and reared separately until juveniles in each family were tagged as a batch using visible implant elastomer (VIE) at a body size of approximately 2 g. After tags were verified, 60 to 120 juveniles chosen randomly from each family were released into two common earthen ponds of 3,500 m2 pond for a grow-out period of 16 to 18 weeks. Selection applied at harvest on body weight was a combined (between and within) family selection approach. 81, 89, 96 and 114 families were produced for the Selection line in the F0, F1, F2 and F3 generations, respectively. In addition to the Selection line, 17 to 42 families were produced for the Control group in each generation. Results reported here are based on a data set consisting of 18,387 body and 1,730 carcass records, as well as full pedigree information collected over four generations. Variance and covariance components were estimated by restricted maximum likelihood fitting a multi-trait animal model.
Experiments assessed performance of VIE tags in juvenile GFP of different size classes and individuals tagged with different numbers of tags showed that juvenile GFP at 2 g were of suitable size for VIE tags with no negative effects evident on growth or survival. Tag retention rates were above 97.8% and tag readability rates were 100% with a correct assignment rate of 95% through to mature animal size of up to 170 g. Across generations, estimates of heritability for body traits (body weight, body length, cephalothorax length, abdominal length, cephalothorax width and abdominal width) and carcass weight traits (abdominal weight, skeleton-off weight and telson-off weight) were moderate and ranged from 0.14 to 0.19 and 0.17 to 0.21, respectively.
Body trait heritabilities estimated for females were significantly higher than for males whereas carcass weight trait heritabilities estimated for females and males were not significantly different (P > 0.05). Maternal and common environmental effects for body traits accounted for 4 to 5% of the total variance and were greater in females (7 to 10%) than in males (4 to 5%). Genetic correlations among body traits were generally high in both sexes. Genetic correlations between body and carcass weight traits were also high in the mixed sexes. Average selection response (% per generation) for body weight (transformed to square root) estimated as the difference between the Selection and the Control group was 7.4% calculated from least squares means (LSMs), 7.0% from estimated breeding values (EBVs) and 4.4% calculated from EBVs between two consecutive generations. Favourable correlated selection responses (estimated from LSMs) were detected for other body traits (12.1%, 14.5%, 10.4%, 15.5% and 13.3% for body length, cephalothorax length, abdominal length, cephalothorax width and abdominal width, respectively) over three selection generations. Data in the second selection generation showed positive correlated responses for carcass weight traits (8.8%, 8.6% and 8.8% for abdominal weight, skeleton-off weight and telson-off weight, respectively). Data in the third selection generation showed that heritability for body traits were moderate and ranged from 0.06 to 0.11 and 0.11 to 0.22 at weeks 10 and 18, respectively. Body trait heritabilities estimated at week 10 were not significantly lower than at week 18. Genetic correlations between body traits within age and genetic correlations for body traits between ages were generally high. Overall our results suggest that growth rate responds well to the application of family selection and carcass weight traits can also be improved in parallel, using this approach. Moreover, selection for high growth rate in GFP can be undertaken successfully before full market size has been reached. The outcome of this study was production of an improved culture strain of GFP for the Vietnamese culture industry that will be trialed in real farm production environments to confirm the genetic gains identified in the experimental stock improvement program.
38
Thennakoon, Mudiyanselage Sakura Dilhani Karunarathne. "Genetic improvement of nitrogen use efficiency in barley." Thesis, Thennakoon Mudiyanselage, Sakura Dilhani Karunarathne (2021) Genetic improvement of nitrogen use efficiency in barley. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2021. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/64211/.
Full textAbstract:
Grain yield is the key target in barley production. A powerful tool to increase yield has been the use of fertilizers of which nitrogen (N) is the main nutrient for the productivity and grain quality. Yet excessive application leads to environmental pollution and high production costs. Therefore, improvement of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is fundamental for sustainable agriculture. Only limited research has been conducted on barley NUE. A few QTLs controlling NUE have been identified, albeit they are not stable across experiments due to low marker density, limited genetic diversity and small population size. Thus, the aims of this project are to investigate the barley tolerance to low-N, propose a candidate gene pool related to NUE and to develop advanced barley materials with improved NUE through CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing.
Hydroponic screening of barley was conducted under low-N for 7 NUE related traits to identify low to moderate NUE commercial cultivars such as Compass with potential for further NUE improvement. 66 significant marker trait associations (MTAs) associated with NUE were identified through a genome wide association study (GWAS) using 282 barley accessions which is a subset of a larger worldwide barley panel. Key genes retrieved from the GWAS mainly belonged to nitrate transporters, asparagine synthetase gene family, several transcription factor families and protein kinases. High-affinity nitrate transporter 2.7 (HvNRT2.7) and a chloroplast envelope membrane protein (HvARE1) on chromosome 7H, protein NRT1/PTR FAMILY 8.3 (HvNRT1) gene on 4H and asparagine synthetase 2 (glutamine hydrolyzing) (HvASN2) on 1H were identified as promising loci for NUE improvement under low-N.
In addition, a part of this research proposes the use of chlorate ions as an analogue to nitrate for rapid and large scale NUE screening of barley using a multiparent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population developed from four commercial barley cultivars Compass, GrangeR, LaTrobe and Lockyer. An independent GWAS identified 9 MTAs and a candidate gene pool with D2H71173319_GA, D2H655480684_ CT and D3H37942201_CT repeatedly identified in both experiments under low-N. MTA4H546806926_TC which exhibits concordance with high NUE phenotype can further be explored under different genetic backgrounds and successfully applied in marker-assisted selection (MAS).
CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing of the HvARE1 gene successfully generated 22 potential mutant lines from barley cv. Golden Promise. Transformation efficiency was 87% based on the Cas9 and CaMV35S promoter specific PCR detection. 18% of T1 and 24% of T2 individuals were mutants based on PCR-RE assay. Missense and frameshift mutations were identified by Sanger sequencing from both T1 and T2 generations. Interestingly, the are1 mutants had a 1.5 to 2.8-fold increase of the chlorophyl content at the grain filling stage and a delayed leaf senescence than that of the wild type. Overall, the are1 mutants had better performance in terms of agronomic and physiological traits related to NUE under both low and optimal N. The results of this research can be successfully adopted to improve commercial barley cultivars for high NUE and yield through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.
39
Seckin, Haldun. "Software Process Improvement Based On Static Process Evaluation." Master's thesis, METU, 2006. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12607155/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This study investigates software development process improvement approaches. In particular, the static process evaluation methodology proposed by S. Güceglioglu is applied on the requirements analysis and validation process applied in Project X in MYCOMPANY and an improved process is proposed. That methodology is an extension of the ISO/IEC 9126 approach for software quality assessment, and is based on evaluating a set of well-defined metrics on the static model of software development processes. The improved process proposed for Project X is evaluated using Gü
ceglioglu&rsquo
s methodology. The applied and improved process measurement results compared to determine if the improved process is successful or not.
40
Yamac, Pinar Isil. "Improvement Proposal For A Software Requirements Management Process." Master's thesis, METU, 2006. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12607268/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis focuses on measurement based software process improvement, especially improvement of requirements change management process. The literature on software measurement is investigated, software process improvement methodologies are studied and requirements change management metrics are examined.
Requirements change management process at a private company working in the defense industry is observed and metrics obtained from various tools have been aggregated. Moreover, an improvement proposal, which also simplifies collecting metrics, is presented for the requirements change management process. A tool is developed for evaluating the performance of the improvement proposal using event driven simulation method.
41
Abrahamsson, P. (Pekka). "The role of commitment in software process improvement." Doctoral thesis, University of Oulu, 2002. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9514267303.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract
Software process improvement (SPI) approaches have been designed to produce changes at many levels, i.e. in the strategies, culture and working practices, of software development. Studies have shown that nearly two thirds of all SPI efforts have failed or fallen short of expectations. It is often stated in SPI-related literature and practice that "commitment" to SPI plays an important part in determining whether an SPI endeavor ultimately becomes a success or a failure. However, it often remains unclear what this concept actually means and how it affects SPI.
This thesis argues for a scientifically grounded concept of commitment and delivers a description and a definition of this concept in the context of software process improvement. The elaboration of the concept is based on a literature study, which makes the research done in behavioral psychology and organizational science applicable in the field of software process improvement. This thesis shows that current thinking relies on practical models of commitment, and the empirically validated analysis conducted within this study reveals a number of common misleading assumptions regarding the notion and development of commitment in SPI. On this basis, this thesis suggests that the commitment phenomenon is better explained through what can be called strategic, operational and personal commitment nets. This framework can be used for analyzing the unfolding and alteration of commitment towards a specific entity, in this case a software process improvement endeavor, through time and changing circumstances.
The viability and usefulness of the commitment nets framework is demonstrated through an analysis of four SPI cases in two software organizations. As a result, it is shown that even though the objective features of SPI in terms of costs and benefits may be dominating in the project initiation phase, their role tends to lose strength later on due to an inability of the SPI effort to produce quick and meaningful results, even if these are explicitly sought for. This phenomenon gives rise to a need for enhancing the role of social and psychological drivers. If this is not achieved, SPI activities are likely to cease to exist.
The empirical analysis demonstrates that the use of the commitment nets model enables a more precise analysis of the various aspects involved in the commitment phenomenon than what would have been possible with current commitment models. Commitment, as conceptualized and operationalized in this thesis, makes a significant contribution to the outcome of the SPI initiative. The empirical evidence shows that, eventually, even well-planned SPI initiatives may fail to reach the goals set for them due to changes in commitment nets.
42
Butt, Asim. "Identifying Factors Affecting Software Process Improvement during Change." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Avdelningen för programvarusystem, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-5848.
Full textAbstract:
Software process improvement is an important activity which starts when an organization plans to enhance/purify the capabilities of its ongoing processes. When improvement or change is planned or started, there are a number of factors which originate and affect the effectiveness of software process improvement. If they are not identified and dealt with proper expertise, they can leave adverse effects in the form of low effectiveness, high cost, low quality etc. Such factors change the intensity or the expected results of software process improvement. It is very important to understand and highlight these factors in order to make the process improvement effective and efficient in an organization during change. This master thesis is written to answer the research questions which elaborate the understanding of software process improvement and factors affecting the software process improvement during change in an organization. Moreover, a systematic review is also performed in identifying and prioritizing the factors which affect the software process improvement activity in change. The outcomes of this research can be helpful in understanding the factors affecting SPI during change.
43
Cheng, Chow Kian, and Rahadian Bayu Permadi. "Towards an Evaluation Framework for Software Process Improvement." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för datavetenskap och kommunikation, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-3625.
Full textAbstract:
Software has gained an essential role in our daily life in the last decades. This condition demands high quality software. To produce high quality software many practitioners and researchers put more attention on the software development process. Large investments are poured to improve the software development process. Software Process Improvement (SPI) is a research area which is aimed to address the assessment and improvement issues in the software development process. One of the most important aspects in software process improvement is to measure the results gained from the embarked process change. Without measuring the results, it is hard to tell whether the goals have been achieved or not. However, measurement for software process improvement is not a trivial task. Furthermore, there is no common systematic methodology that can be used to help measuring the performance of software process improvement initiatives. This thesis is intended to provide basic key concepts for the effective measurement and evaluation of the outcome of software process improvement. A major part of this thesis presents the systematic review in evaluating the outcome of software process improvement. The systematic review is aimed at the identification of the major issues in software process improvement evaluation and to gather the requirements for a software process improvement measurement and evaluation framework. Based on the results of the systematic review, a measurement and evaluation model is formulated. The objective of the model is to provide the groundwork for a software process improvement measurement and evaluation framework. The model is deemed to be applicable in a broad spectrum of scenarios by providing concepts that are independent from specific SPI initiatives.
44
Henningsson, Kennet. "A Fault Classification Approach to Software Process Improvement." Licentiate thesis, Karlskrona : Blekinge Institute of Technology [Blekinge tekniska högskola], 2005. http://www.bth.se/fou/Forskinfo.nsf/allfirst2/2b9d5998e26ed1b2c12571230047386b?OpenDocument.
Full text
45
Sui, Yu 1973. "Reliability improvement and assessment of safety critical software." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47688.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-101).
In order to allow the introduction of safety-related Digital Instrumentation and Control (DI&C) systems in nuclear power plants, the software used by the systems must be demonstrated to be highly reliable. The most widely used and most powerful method for ensuring high software quality and reliability is testing. An integrated methodology is developed in this thesis for reliability assessment and improvement of safety critical software through testing. The methodology is based upon input domain-based reliability modeling and structural testing method. The purpose of the methodology is twofold: Firstly it can be used to control the testing process. The methodology provides path selection criteria and stopping criteria for the testing process with the aim to achieve maximum reliability improvement using available testing resources. Secondly, it can be used to assess and quantify the reliability of the software after the testing process. The methodology provides a systematic mechanism to quantify the reliability and estimate uncertainty of the software after testing.
by Yu Sui.
S.M.
46
Alphonce, Magori. "Use of software verification & validation (V&V) techniques for software process improvement." Thesis, University West, Department of Technology, Mathematics and Computer Science, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-574.
Full text
47
Pongsri, C. "Genetic approaches to improvement of tilapia culture in Thailand." Thesis, Swansea University, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.638545.
Full textAbstract:
Masculinization and feminization of the Jitralada strain of Oreochromis niloticus (L.) could be induced with a high level of success by oral administration of a 40-mg kg-1 of 17-α-methyltestosterone and 40-mg mg^-1 of ethynyl-estradiol, respectively, to the first-feeding fry for a period of 21 days. On the other hand, optimization of dosage and means of application of 17-β-oestradiol or Pueraria mirifica roots are still needed in inducing reliable feminization of this strain. Differences in the results obtained are discussed and it is concluded that there are significant genetic differences between strains in the readiness with which sex reversal can be brought about. The modification and application of starch gel and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis are proved useful and powerful in the investigation of biochemical studies of tilapia. The use of fin tissue in starch gel electrophoresis was advantageous and gave adequate data for the identification of tilapiine fish. Allozymes studies of the Jitralada strain of O.niloticus (L.) in Northeastern Thailand provided clear evidence of gene leakage and introgression from O.mossambicus at the Chaiyaphum Inland Fisheries Station. The results of inheritance studies on F1 hybrids between O.niloticus and O.aureus and back-crosses, at the ADA* locus and blood serum protein, fit well to Mendelian inheritance. Expression of the ADA* locus is found to be controlled by a single autosomal gene. The pattern of blood serum protein of O.spilurus, O.aureus, O.niloticus and F1 hybrids between O.niloticus and O.aureus from 8% SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were investigated. A band of 63 kDa in molecular weight was present only in F1 female hybrids between O.niloticus and O.aureus. A model is proposed to explain this phenomenon.
48
Craig, Wendy. "Tissue culture of Brassiceae : a basis for genetic improvement." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.307757.
Full text
49
Purdy, Gregory T. "Resource Allocation and Process Improvement of Genetic Manufacturing Systems." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/83231.
Full textAbstract:
Breakthroughs in molecular and synthetic biology through de novo gene synthesis are stimulating new vaccines, pharmaceutical applications, and functionalized biomaterials, and advancing the knowledge of the function of cells. This evolution in biological processing motivates the study of a class of manufacturing systems, defined here as genetic manufacturing systems, which produce a final product with a genetic construct. Genetic manufacturing systems rely on rare molecular events for success, resulting in waste and repeated work during the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fabrication process. Inspection and real time monitoring strategies are possible as mitigation tools, but it is unclear if these techniques are cost efficient and value added for the successful creation of custom genetic constructs.
This work investigates resource allocation strategies for DNA fabrication environments, with an emphasis on inspection allocation. The primary similarities and differences between traditional manufacturing systems and genetic manufacturing systems are described. A serial, multi-stage inspection allocation mathematical model is formulated for a genetic manufacturing system utilizing gene synthesis. Additionally, discrete event simulation is used to evaluate inspection strategies for a fragment synthesis process and multiple fragment assembly operation. Results from the mathematical model and discrete event simulation provide two approaches to determine the appropriate inspection strategies with respect to total cost or total flow time of the genetic manufacturing system.Ph. D.
50
Lejukole, Henry Young. "GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF BEEF CATTLE THROUGH PERFORMANCE TEST PROCEDURE." Kyoto University, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/182396.
Full textAbstract:
Kyoto University (京都大学)0048
新制・課程博士
博士(農学)
甲第7472号
農博第1005号
新制||農||766(附属図書館)
学位論文||H10||N3181(農学部図書室)
UT51-98-N94
京都大学大学院農学研究科畜産学専攻
(主査)教授 佐々木 義之, 教授 宮本 元, 教授 大西 近江
学位規則第4条第1項該当