M. M. Sufyan Beg

Asra Aslam, Ekram Khan, Mohammad Samar Ansari et al.

Image segmentation refers to the separation of objects from the background, and has been one of the most challenging aspects of digital image processing. Practically it is impossible to design a segmentation algorithm which has 100% accuracy, and therefore numerous segmentation techniques have been proposed in the literature, each with certain limitations. In this paper, a novel Falling-Ball algorithm is presented, which is a region-based segmentation algorithm, and an alternative to watershed transform (based on waterfall model). The proposed algorithm detects the catchment basins by assuming that a ball falling from hilly terrains will stop in a catchment basin. Once catchment basins are identified, the association of each pixel with one of the catchment basin is obtained using multi-criterion fuzzy logic. Edges are constructed by dividing image into different catchment basins with the help of a membership function. Finally closed contour algorithm is applied to find closed regions and objects within closed regions are segmented using intensity information. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated both objectively as well as subjectively. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms gives superior performance over conventional Sobel edge detection methods and the watershed segmentation algorithm. For comparative analysis, various comparison methods are used for demonstrating the superiority of proposed methods over existing segmentation methods.

Parvez Mahmood Khan, M. M. Sufyan Beg

Estimation is one of the most critical areas in software project management life cycle, which is still evolving and less matured as compared to many other industries like construction, manufacturing etc. Originally the word estimation, in the context of software projects use to refer to cost and duration estimates only with software-size almost always assumed to be a fixed input. Continued legacy of bad estimates has compelled researchers, practitioners and business organizations to draw their attention towards another dimension of the problem and seriously validate an additional component, viz. size estimation. Recent studies have shown that size is the principal determinant of cost, and therefore an accurate size estimate is crucial to good cost estimation. Improving the accuracy of size estimates is, therefore, instrumental in improving the accuracy of cost and schedule estimates. Moreover, software size and cost estimates have the highest utility at the time of project inception, when most important decisions (e.g. budget allocation, personnel allocation, etc). are taken. The dilemma, however, is that only high-level requirements for a project are available at this stage. Leveraging this high-level information to produce an accurate estimate of software size is an extremely challenging and high risk task. This study acknowledges the presence and effect of risk in any software estimate and offers pragmatic strategies for risk mitigation.

Parvez Mahmood Khan, M. M. Sufyan Beg

It is well known fact that was phrased by famous quality scholar P.B. Crosby that it is always cheaper to do the job right the first time. However, this statement must be reconsidered with respect to software development projects, because the concept of quality and associated costs measurements in software engineering discipline is not as matured as in manufacturing and other fields of the industry. Post delivery defects (i.e. software bugs) are very common and integral part of software industry. While the process of measuring and classifying quality cost components is visible, obvious and institutionalized in manufacturing industry, it is still evolving in software industry. In addition to this, the recommendations of British standard BS-6143-2:1990 for classifying quality-related costs into prevention costs, appraisal costs, and failure costs have been successfully adopted by many industries, by identifying the activities carried out within each of these categories, and measuring the costs connected with them, software industry has a long-way to go to have the same level of adoption and institutionalization of cost of quality measurements and visibility. Cost of Quality for software isn't the price of creating a quality software product or IT-service. It's actually the cost of NOT creating a quality software product or IT-service. The chronic affliction of majority of software development projects that are frequently found bleeding with cost overruns, schedule slippage, scope creep and poor quality of deliverables in the global IT industry, was the trigger for this research work. Lessons learnt from this study offer valuable prescriptive guidance for small and medium software businesses, who can benefit from this study by applying the same for their quality improvement initiatives using CoQ-metric, to enhance the capability and maturity of their SDLC-project performance.