Suggestions for Year IV Projects 2005/2006

Suggestions for Year IV Projects 2005/2006

Michael McMahon –

PROJECT 1
TITLE: UML and Educational Software Development .
Examine the UML design process by developing a multimedia application to provide an educational CDROM for students and educators. (eg. sports science in Waterford IT )
The project requires:
A. Detailed user requirements gathering with input from domain experts.
B. Detailed Design and Specification using UML.
C. Integration of multimedia (video, images, sound, text)
D. Design of GUI using principles of HCI.
E. Student Assessment tools to provide immediate and graded feedback to students and teachers. Using an accepted learning theory approach (eg. multiple intelligences)
PROJECT 2
TITLE: PSP and Software Development
The main project objective is to develop an application based on multimedia and distance learning techniques and so train the project team in the PSP model.

Richie Lyng –

1 – Software to Manage Oral Exams / Special Needs

Having worked for CHART, I realised the system for recording exams with students who are dyslexic could be vastly improved through the use of software. Currently, they must speak into a tape recorder & record their answers. If a mistake is made the must cycle back through the tape & rerecord. This is also difficult for the examiner to correct.

Using software that would record answers in tracks to CD, possibly convert voice to text (component reuse?) and break the answers into clearly marked sections i.e. Question 1 part A, part B. The student/examiner could this listen to this by clicking on a button & in the case of the student they could edit their answer. This software would be extremely useful to students with special needs and would also provide a real life example of requirements gathering and modelling. The student would have to be strong in software development possibly Java or VB in order to complete this successfully.

2 – Research – Critical Success Factors in Information System Development

There are a series of development factors, which can lead to the successful development of information systems. This research is fragmented in the sense that there have been different factors proposed by different authors. A framework could be created combining the factors from previous work and then carry out primary research in companies developing information systems which would examine these factors. Did they occur? What was their effect? When in the system development life cycle did they occur?

3 – Research – Critical Failure Factors in Information System Development

Conversly to the above idea. There are a series of factors that can lead to the failure of an information system on or before implementation. This research is also fragmented and research could be carried out to identify these factors from previous work, creating a simple framework. Just like the last point the factors could be investigated within companies who suffered failure asking the following question: Did they occur? What was their effect? When in the system development life cycle did they occur? The students would need access to companies who had difficulty/failed in developing an information system and this may prove difficult.

4 – Research - User Resistance in Information System Development

It could be an idea for a student to research the nature of user resistance during the software development life cycle up to implementation. The student could investigate the nature of user resistance and why it occurs. Primary research could be carried out with local organisations that developed software projects, examining if there was resistance and how the companies identified and handled it.

4th Year Project Proposal

for

BSC (Hons) in Commercial Software Development

“Track Master”

an

Online Track & Field Management System

(submitted by David Drohan)

The idea would be that prior to any track & field sports meeting including cross-country races (organized by WIT), any schools or colleges wishing to enter could use this system to do so, online. WIT would then have the facility to process all this information and subsequent results would be posted up automatically online after the meeting.

The basic functionality for the proposed system would be as follows:

1. Web pages (probably JSP/PHP) which allow online entry/modification/deletion of Athlete/Race/Team/School/College etc details by the Schools or Colleges
2. Entry Data to be stored persistently (probably ORACLE/MySQL Database)
3. Upon entry of results (see below), there should be automatic processing and production of the relevant reports and statistics (e.g. Athlete finishing position and points earned, overall School/College winner, best Athlete, stats for previous meetings, overall league table etc.)

Results Entry:

As the system would develop and grow, I would envisage extra features to be added, such as the inclusion of the automation of the results entry process (i.e. infrared, scanning barcodes for athletes as they cross the finish line etc).

An SMS service could be explored to inform the Athletes, Teachers etc, when the results have been posted up on the site.

Richard Lacey

Project Proposal for a Production Planning/Forecasting and Perfromance Measurement Application

The application would allow a company to take in orders from customers which may have multiple product items on each order. The company internally assigns a sales order number to an order, that may be shared across multiple customer orders.

There are various attributes that need to be collected regarding an order, one of the most important being the customer delivery date.

The company planners will need a means to view all open orders and to group products into batches for efficient production runs, i.e. a batch may satisfy one or more customers, may only partially satisfy or exceed demand, in order to run production lines efficiently.

The system will need to be able to store forecast orders for any period into the future and show which forecasts have not become confirmed orders, which orders are not in production etc.

A major goal of the system is to allow planners and production supervisors determine resource loading. At the macro level the loading reports will be 6-18 months out with macro level averages representing resource demands. At the micro level the reports will show the actual resource demands based on product rates to each production line operation, and should be capable of producing reports showing the production schedule for batches on a rolling 4 week model. Detailed micros schedules would show the start time of each operation and predicted duration etc on the line.

The system will need to be able to model production lines with multiple configurations, represent and allocate resources at the macro and micro level, store shift calendars to represent times when the work force is available, allow for operations to carry on unsupervised, allow for the production side to record the actual timings of a planned batch run.

A major goal of such a system is to maximise the use of the production lines. In many cases, production teams need to setup the line differently between batch runs for different chemicals, paints, cartons etc and this down-time for the line while the pipes are cleaned etc, different size cartons configured etc may be in-efficient use of the resource that a software scheduler could aid the planner in deciding consecutive batch runs that require minimal change.

The application would be expected to produce numerous macro and mirco reports and aid the planners in the suggestion of intelligent batch sequencing.

David Power:

A playing card recognition system (for visually impaired players):

(Connecting a digital camera to a PC and taking photos of playing cards. The students could devise a pixel counting program or pattern recognition software to determine the value and suit of the card. Possibly feed the results to the user using an audio system.)

A lotto management system:

Will allow local 'football / gaa / parish' lotto organisers to automate the process by allowing players to select a specific game and select their preferred numbers using a paypal system. Local administrators could determine the winners with a privileged logon.

M. Barry:

1. An interactive front-end tool for the creation of a Learning Object – use of educational metadata

The aim of this project is to assist tutors via the development of a Reusable Learning Object creation wizard, for a topic, for example, in Computer Science or Information Technology education. The interactive tool should be composed as a form of template for input that allows the tutor to enter the necessary details for the object description and storage.

The research will involve an investigation of the current standards for Learning Object description, as well as an investigation into the pedagogic issues and design theory underpinning the development of an application of this nature. See

1. A beginner’s guide to the Chinese symbols and language – use of Ruby mark-up

The aim of this project is to provide a visualization aid to support the learning of the Chinese script with a view to supporting language learning. See

The research will involve the use of the Ruby mark-up language, to assess its usefulness and effectiveness for helping to overcome the difficulties of mastering the scripting of complex symbols. It will also require an investigation into the pedagogic issues and design theory underpinning the development of an educational application of this nature.

1. A Semantic Net tool to assist with job search and placements – use of metadata.

The use of the Internet for job search and placement has greatly increased. The aim of this project is to design and develop a tool to assist with job search, profile matching and job selection to illustrate a use of semantic net web technology in decision making.

The research will involve an investigation of the categorization and description of skills and qualifications, and the matching of a job seeker’s profile with data from web repositories of job positions.

See :

“The principal technologies of the Semantic Web fit into a set of layered specifications. The current components are the Resource Description Framework (RDF) Core Model, the RDF Schema language and the Web Ontology language (OWL)”.

1. A repository of Social Scenarios, suitable for use with the cognitively impaired learner.

The aim of the project is to design and develop a set of Social Scenarios, depicting everyday events, for use in social development awareness and social education. The repository should have a front-end search and retrieval tool that enables easy use and display by a tutor.

The research will require an investigation into the pedagogic issues and design theory underpinning the development of an educational application of this nature. The output should be multimedia rich, and include human computer interaction design aspects that are appropriately tailored for the target audience.

Ruth Barry:

1. Online interactive course:

Develop an e-learning course based on a computing subject using Interactive Multimedia such as audio, video and animation for special effects. The content creation could include use of Flash, HTML, ASP, CFML, PHP, XML, Flash Adobe PDF and digital video and sound formats. Students could be able to record, playback and share voice recordings?

The course could be suitable to the needs of individual learners, including those with hearing, visual and physical disabilities?

2. Develop a program with the use of mobile technology to text a number to receive automatic information. You would just need to simulate this in a computer program. E.g. you could text a course code to a number and you would get a text back to let you know the room you need to go to for that specific time you sent the text. Or this program could be written for bus/train timetables?

Ian Downey

UML Profiles To do reading and research into the area of profiles in UML, design one applicable to a particular application domain, and devise an example of its use.

Statistical Package SPSS and Microsoft Excel are two applications that social scientists, educationalists and others use in their work. To write a package that combines some of the most used features of these packages together with, perhaps, a questionnaire development system.

Mícheál Ó hÉigeartaigh:

1. Comparison of Heurtistic Algorithms for TSP:

Implement a number of heuristic algorithms for the TSP (or any other NP- Hard problem) and compare their performance. The heuristics could include simulated annealing, tabu search etc.

1. Simulation of a Production Process

Simulation of an aspect of a production process, an MRP system the movement of goods in a warehouse or a similar application. The project should be done for a real client.

3. Visualisation of Molecular Structures

Development of graphical software and a user interface for modelling molecular structures. The package could also incorporate AI features.

Supervision by Karl Sandison

1. Datagotchi on HP iPAQ

Use PDAs to implement the Datagotchi. A product “imagineered” at SRI International as an aid to K-12 education.

See for product specifications.

Datagotchis placed together form a larger virtual screen.

2. LOGO ‘n’ LEGO control on HP iPAQ

This is a two-part project. Firstly, an interpreter for the programming language Logo is developed for Pocket PC to be deployed on HP iPaqs. The interpreter should support the Turtle graphics library. This library has simple command like pen-up, pen-down, move distance, turn angle, etc.

Secondly, a Lego Turtle is to be designed and built capable of executing turtle-graphics commands, transmitted to it via infrared from an iPaq.

Jim Stack/ Frank Leonard:

A web based survey design and analyses tool which would enable staff and students of WIT who undertake survey type projects to manage the form distribution and data collection and analyses tasks more efficiently and cheaply.

Frank Leonard:

An information system for WIT which would communicate relevant information such as timetables (perhaps as a gif image), timetables changes, class cancellations, project deadlines, meeting etc. directly to a clients mobile phone.

Patrick McInerney:

The development and deployment of a semiotic framework for the generation and analysis of non-musical digital audio for use in computer gaming.

This project entails the generation of a suite of non-musical digital audio that may be used as a backdrop for a computer game in order to illicit a set of defined emotional responses. This will involve using a semiotic framework that will be used to define and analyse the meaning of these sounds. A quantitative analysis of the emotional response of the users would be used to measure the effectiveness of the resultant sounds.

Richard Frisby:

1. A proposal for the implementation of a secure wireless solution in a large scale campus environment. Issues to be considered - latest security protocol implementations, integration with existing infrastructures, single sign, virus/os patch mgt., Development of management front-end - manage/monitor users and devices.

There are plenty of other networking areas that could be explored if required, however many students will not have had the support of any 'practical' undergraduate networking modules/subjects which would limit what can be achieved. Having said that it would be great to have students working with the Cisco h/w and incorporating it into their won project demos.

Mairead Meagher:

E -Voting System:

An evaluation of the different pardiigms to approach this correctness-critical system (including the one used by recent goverment system) Specification of part of the system in e.g. Z specification language.

Possible deliverables:

A working e-voting system;

A proven subset of e-voting system;

A thorough evaluation of present controversial system.

A look at security issues surrounding system (physical, software).

Mary Clarke-Fleming:

1. A Clinical Management System.

This system would monitor patient activity in a (nursing home, acute mental illness centre, paediatric hospital, geriatric hospital). System would have the following modules:

Patient Administration

Pharmacy Management (checking drug dispensing, double checking drug interactions, drug contraindications etc.)

Financial and Cost Tracking

Diet Management

Staff Scheduling

Management Reporting

1. European Property Sales System.

This would be a system that would help property auctioneers, who are trying to sell and advise customers when buying properties in locations, other than their home country. The system would be a compilation across various European locales, covering the respective conveyance laws regarding purchasing overseas property. The module would be capable of doing projections in terms of possible rental incomes, and take into account the various tax, legal and insurance obligations of the purchasers (in both their home country and the locale in which they were planning to purchase). The system would produce a number of reports for both the purchaser, and the Auctioneer. It would also facilitate the creation of using the Web, to display and describe various properties currently on the Auctioneer’s book. The system would capture statistics as to the viewer visits, and what exactly they visited when they looked at the respective property listings.

1. Space Shuttle (and/or satellite) Simulator

This would be a software system that would simulate the launch and flight path (and/or orbit) of a space shuttle or satellite. This system would need to allow users to select galaxy layouts, as well as other already existing “space” craft. (It would be something similar to Flight Simulator except that it would deal with spacecraft…maybe there is a game already on the market, which does this…). Some possible modules:

Craft Launch Planning

Craft Voyage Performance

Flight Reporting and Statistics

1. Security Control and Management System

This would be an application used to monitor the activity of a very large, citywide security control centre. In any large city, complete with the following fixtures, airports, train stations, water reservoir, parks, bridges, public buildings, there might be a network of security devices to monitor these key areas. (Most probably these might be video cameras, and/or movement detecting devices, e.g. lasers). This System would constantly poll the various security devices and take digital readings, photos, etc. and then log an unusual activity, and create any appropriate security warnings. The systems would be able to generate calls to police and/or security personnel. It would also produce periodic reports (collect data for meaningful statistics.