Engineering

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • (2005) Zhu, Liming; Aurum, Aybuke; Jeffery, David; Gorton, Ian
    Journal Article
    Software architecture evaluation involves evaluating different architecture design alternatives against multiple quality-attributes. These attributes typically have intrinsic conflicts and must be considered simultaneously in order to reach a final design decision. AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), an important decision making technique, has been leveraged to resolve such conflicts. AHP can help provide an overall ranking of design alternatives. However it lacks the capability to explicitly identify the exact tradeoffs being made and the relative size of these tradeoffs. Moreover, the ranking produced can be sensitive such that the smallest change in intermediate priority weights can alter the final order of design alternatives. In this paper, we propose several in-depth analysis techniques applicable to AHP to identify critical tradeoffs and sensitive points in the decision process. We apply our method to an example of a real-world distributed architecture presented in the literature. The results are promising in that they make important decision consequences explicit in terms of key design tradeoffs and the architecture`s capability to handle future quality attribute changes. These expose critical decisions which are otherwise too subtle to be detected in standard AHP results.

  • (1998) Choi, C; Kim, Hann; Standard, Owen; Kim, Min; Zhao, Yong; Sorrell, Charles
    Journal Article
    YBa2Cu3O7-y with high grain alignment has been successfully fabricated by a modified powder melting process at a temperature of ~930oC which is near the eutectic point of the starting materials Y2BaCuO5, BaCuO2, and CuO. In terms of the levitation force and YBa2Cu3O7-y grain alignment, the best result was shown in a sample having a Y2BaCuO5:BaCuO2:CuO molecular ratio of 1:3:5. In the present work, the Cu-surplus eutectic liquid was completely absorbed by use of a Y2BaCuO5 substrate, by which the final composition was driven to stoichiometric YBa2Cu3O7-y. The results were comparable to those obtained by the conventional melt-texture-growth process. A new invariant point apparently occurred at ~930-940oC owing to an interfacial reaction between YBa2Cu3O7-y matrix and Y2BaCuO5 substrate.

  • (1998) Apte, S; Batley, G; Szymczak, Ronald; Rendell, P; Lee, Robert; Waite, David
    Journal Article