The following article describes research on source detection in multi channel (3DTV) audio streams. The problem is extremely complex due to the fact that multiple layers can be present in scenes (background music, ambience, commentator). In this work a new algorithm is developed that exploits the information from the different audio channels to detect, and possibly localize and separate independent audio sources. An algorithm based on online Non-negative Tensor Deconvolution is realized, to deal with sound sources with time dependent positions in the channel matrix. The evaluation is made on 3DTV 5.1 film soundtracks and on synthetic mixes of 3DTV 5.1 audio with target sounds from a sound effects database: a significant improvement of the detection performance is shown, compared with other decomposition techniques.

In this paper, we summarize a number of evaluation methods from the field of information visualization and how they can be applied in the domain of cyber security. We focus on techniques that have been validated during our own studies with organizations of varying sizes including small business and the United States Air Force. Recommendations are also provided for experimental design.

Despite the availability of a host of software design notations and associated tools, software developers are known to frequently turn to the whiteboard when faced with a specific design problem. There, they typically engage in an informal form of software design that relies heavily on sketching. However, whereas whiteboards afford flexibility and fluidity, they at the same time limit a designer in only being able to draw and erase content. This paper presents Calico, a novel software design tool that leverages electronic whiteboards to enhance the design experience with explicit support for the creative, exploratory aspects of design. Specifically, Calico offers a grid, scraps, and a palette together with gesture-based input to address several natural behaviors exhibited by software designers, including frequent shifts in focus, use of low-detail models, and use of a mix of notations. To evaluate Calico, we performed a laboratory experiment involving eight pairs of graduate students and collected and analyzed six corporate design sessions that employed Calico. Results are promising and indicate the benefits of Calico, while they at the same time highlight several ways in which it can be enhanced.

In this paper, we report on our experience in designing and deliv-ering two new software design courses in the Informatics major at UC Irvine. When the major was created in 2004, it explicitly con-tained slots for two software design courses to be created from the ground up. The authors led this effort, focusing one course on the topic of system design and one course on the topic of implementation design. We discuss the philosophy and pedagogy behind the courses, present key class activities, and reflect on having offered each course twice over the past two years.

Design is an inherently creative process, particularly so during the early stages of design when a solution is just beginning to form. At this time, the more formal models and modeling languages to which we are so accustomed in software engineering serve a limited if non-existent role. But this does not mean that modeling is not relevant during early design; on the contrary, it is critical. It is just that a different form of modeling and overall design process takes place. In this paper, we present early results from our foray into exploring how designers can be supported in the early, highly creative stages of software design. We particularly build upon the existing body of work in creativity and general design, and apply key lessons found there to the construction of Calico, a prototype sketching tool for modeling in early design.

The typical software engineering course consists of lectures in which concepts and theories are conveyed, along with a small "toy" software engineering project which attempts to give students the opportunity to put this knowledge into practice. Although both of these components are essential, neither one provides students with adequate practical knowledge regarding the process of software engineering. Namely, lectures allow only passive learning, and projects are so constrained by the time and scope requirements of the academic environment that they cannot be large enough to exhibit many of the phenomena occurring in realworld software engineering processes. To address this problem, we have developed Problems and Programmers, an educational card game that simulates the software engineering process and is designed to teach those process issues that are not sufficiently highlighted by lectures and projects. We describe how the game is designed, the mechanics of its game play, and the results of an experiment we conducted involving students playing the game.

Problems and Programmers is an educational card game that we have developed to help teach software engineering. It is based on the observation that students, in a typical software engineering course, gain little practical experience in issues regarding the software process. The underlying problem is time: any course faces the practical constraint of only being able to involve students in at most a few small software development projects. Problems and Programmers overcomes this limitation by providing a simulation of the software process. In playing the game, students become aware of not only general lessons, such as the fact that they must continuously make tradeoffs among multiple potential next steps, but also specific issues such as the fact that inspections improve the quality of code but delay its delivery time. We describe game play of Problems and Programmers, discuss its underlying design, and report on the results of a small experiment in which twenty-eight students played the game.