Product Description
This book presents a balanced view of the issues, concepts, models, techniques and tools found in requirements engineering and practice. It considers requirements as a combination of three concurrent and interacting processes: eliciting knowledge related to a problem domain, ensuring the validity of such knowledge and specifying the problem in a formal way. ... Read more

Product Description
Applying TQM to systems engineering can reduce costs while simultaneously improving product quality. This guide to proactive systems engineering shows how to develop and optimize a practical approach, while highlighting the pitfalls and potentials involved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

written when TQM was hot
Somewhat of a faddish book. It came out when TQM was red hot in management circles. Since then, experience with TQM has dampened a lot of that initial ardour.

Various chapters of the book are solidly written, though. See the discussion about the different types of contracts - Firm Fixed Price, Cost Plus and others. For a manager, this may be the most crucial portion of the book.

Other sections are mundane. Like the different types of charts/graphs with which to visualise data. All the way up to PERT charts. ... Read more

Product Description
An easy-to-use, comprehensive guide to systems engineering methods.

Systems engineering (SE), or the engineering of large-scale systems, is key to achieving reliable, efficient, cost-effective products and services in diverse fields, including communication and network systems, software engineering, information systems, manufacturing, command and control, and defense systems acquisition and procurement. This book offers a unique introduction to the world of systems engineering, focusing on analysis and problem-solving techniques that can be applied throughout the life cycle of product systems and service systems. While the authors provide a framework for the functional levels involved in systems engineering processes and system management, the bulk of the discussion is devoted to the practical application of formulation, analysis, and interpretation methods.

Through the use of real-world examples and useful graphs, readers will learn to:

• Choose the most appropriate methods and tools for a given project
• Apply issue formulation methods to assure that the right problem has been identified
• Work with formal analysis methods to assure that the problem is solved correctly
• Apply issue interpretation methods to insure that decisions reflect human values and technological realities, and thereby make interpretation work for them in the decision-making process
• Develop an appreciation for the engineering and troubleshooting of large systems

Customer Reviews (2)

sage is the gold standard for SE
.
.
Andy Sage is the gold standard for SE.
As a fellow of INCOSE he clearly knows SE.

His classes are always informative and up to date.
He is currently working on the cutting edge of Systems Architecture.We can only hope that his notes, which are locked behind GMUs firewall and webct,will be turned into a book.

He edited the Handbook of SE as well as editing the incose journal.If he says it, you can take it to the bank.

Unfortunately this book is 6 years old now and Armstrong is not in Sage's league, but Andy can turn anyone's drafts into good material. So while good, the weakness is that this book does not reflect the changing view and emphasis of SE.

This is not to fault Professor Sage, but merely reflects the fact that even incose cannot agree on what SE is, and that the govt which drives most of SE efforts keeps changing their emphasis.incose even keeps rewriting their handbook as the internal power struggles bring to power different groups with different views of what SE is.

The dirty truth is that there are NO good SE books.There are a lot of books on SE that have some good stuff in them but none does the job right and/or is up to date enough.

Should you read this book.Probably yes.Along with several others, and then extract your own summary of what is pertinent as most of them have way too much filler and wander off into detailed areas of interest only to the authors.

There are a lot of handbooks and reference materials on the web, mostly from govt sites.Some has some excellent content, many are grossly out of date or totally spurious.Especially the OF material from professors at universities who have not kept up to date and still promulgate their 40 year old ideas.Put all together there is a lot fo good info on SE somewhere out there.We can only hope that someone of Sage's ability will finally put it all together.Dr. Sage is probably getting too old to address this and also his current efforts on systems Architecture.Jim Long has promised a good intro book and he is one person that could pull it off well.But he seems to always have a higher priority alligator nipping at him.

If the IEEE were to get serious about systems as the keystone to making software work right then they might be able to sponsor a good reference book.That will likely be some years in the future.

KISS
Quiz time:
You have 60 seconds to determine what the following sentence means:

"Systems engineering processes should support operational product functionality, revisability, and transitioning, both at the initial time of operational implementation and later at the time that a system is phased out of service or retired, or reengineered for continued productivity and use."

Times up.If you took more than 60 seconds in my shop, you're fired.Halfway through this sentence I would have realized that my time would have been wasted, and I would have moved on.NO ONE in the engineering world should be caught writing such unintelligable gobbledegook. This sentence nailed it for me - I WON'T be pursuing a Masters in "Engineering Management" (largely consisting of 'systems engineering')- my application to ODU is in the trash...

Now, to be fair, there is value in understanding the necessity of managing methods and tools for large scale systems development, but not at the expense of the English language and good old fashioned simplicity.I would have said:

"From conception to obsolescence, your tools for a product's management had better work and/or improve, or else, .


... Read more

Product Description
In the resilience engineering approach to safety, failures and successes are seen as two different outcomes of the same underlying process, namely how people and organizations cope with complex, underspecified and therefore partly unpredictable work environments. Therefore safety can no longer be ensured by constraining performance and eliminating risks. Instead, it is necessary to actively manage how people and organizations adjust what they do to meet the current conditions of the workplace, by trading off efficiency and thoroughness and by making sacrificing decisions."The Ashgate Studies in Resilience Engineering" series promulgates new methods, principles and experiences that can complement established safety management approaches, providing invaluable insights and guidance for practitioners and researchers alike in all safety-critical domains. While the Studies pertain to all complex systems they are of particular interest to high hazard sectors such as aviation, ground transportation, the military, energy production and distribution, and healthcare.Published periodically within this series will be edited volumes titled "Resilience Engineering Perspectives". The first volume, "Remaining Sensitive to the Possibility of Failure", presents a collection of 20 chapters from international experts. This collection deals with important issues such as measurements and models, the use of procedures to ensure safety, the relation between resilience and robustness, safety management, and the use of risk analysis. The final six chapters utilise the report from a serious medical accident to illustrate more concretely how resilience engineering can make a difference, both to the understanding of how accidents happen and to what an organisation can do to become more resilient. ... Read more

Product Description
Mastering Software Quality Assurance is a comprehensive reference on quality assurance as it pertains to software development that addresses all four dimensions of quality. It explores a process-driven approach to quality and provides the information and guidance needed for implementing a process quality model in your organization.

Key Features:

--Covers every aspect of software quality assurance, quality control, and the measurement of software quality and includes best practices, valuable tools and techniques for software developers
--Details the quality of specifications, design, construction and conformance as applicable to software development organizations from both the micro and macro view
--Offers unique insights into achieving quality at the component level and explores process quality from the standpoint of implementation rather than from the appraiser/assessor point of view
--Provides a strategic view of the ISO and CMMI models and describes necessary steps for attaining conformance to those models
--WAV offers a comprehensive tool for assistance in software testing (TestPal), a tool for increasing personal effectiveness (PET), and templates illustrated within the text that are adaptable to your own needs -- available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at jrosspub.com ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Must-Read for Software Quality Assurance Professionals
"Mastering Software Quality Assurance" is a thorough portrait of the quality assurance landscape.As indicated in its subtitle, the book provides robust insight into software quality assurance "best practices, tools, and techniques."Despite its breadth of coverage, it is an easy read that provides "just enough" coverage of a particular topic before moving on to the next.

Author Murali Chemuturi provides an extensive number of lists throughout the book - everything from aspects of specification quality (6 items), to triggering events for phase end audits (6 items), to the aspects ensured in acceptance test readiness inspections (11 items), and so on.He also provides a number of templates (e.g., Test Plan template, Test Case template, Audit Report template, etc.) that offer an outstanding starting point for organizations or practitioners new to the field.

Chapter 6, Validation, was particularly rich in its discussion of "Testing Different Types of Software Products" (7 product types), "Project Testing" (4 major types of testing), and "Product Testing" (who would have known that there were 22 types of product testing to be considered!)This chapter is an absolute "must read" for any testing professional.

In addition to such lists, templates, and discussions, there are also a number of process diagrams throughout the book, as well as 12 Appendices spanning 100+ pages!I particularly liked Appendix G: Measurement of Quality - but then I AM a metrics guy...

The only downside to the book was that Mr. Chemuturi used some process assurance terminology in ways that differed from my experience.For example, categorizing integration and system testing as validation rather than verification activities clashed with my preconceived notions regarding the use of those terms.His description of regression testing and retesting appeared to be flipped from how I conceived those terms being used.But these anomalies really speak more to the lack of consistent terminology and definition in the process assurance industry than anything else.

Rest assured that I will be adding this book to the recommended reading list that I provide to my consulting clients. ... Read more

Product Description

Covers a Host of Groundbreaking Techniques

Thermal processing is known to effectively control microbial populations in food, but the procedure also has a downside―it can break down the biochemical composition of foods, resulting in a marked loss of sensory and nutritional quality. Processing Effects on Safety and Quality of Foods delineates three decades of advances made in processing techniques that produce microbiologically safe foods, while maintaining their sensory and nutritive properties.

Product Description
This book covers a broad range of topics necessary for those managing engineering personnel, projects and organizations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book on Reliability
A great book on the topic. This is a quality book on the topic. It addresses the math behind the number in clear enough language that it can be understood. I use this book regularly in my work. ... Read more

Product Description
ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 provides external metrics for measuring attributes of six external quality characteristics defined in ISO/IEC 9126-1. ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 defines external metrics, ISO/IEC TR 9126-3 defines internal metrics and ISO/IEC 9126-4 defines quality in use metrics, for measurement of the characteristics or the subcharacteristics. Internal metrics measure the software itself, external metrics measure the behaviour of the computer-based system that includes the software, and quality in use metrics measure the effects of using the software in a specific context of use.The metrics listed in ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 are not intended to be an exhaustive set. Developers, evaluators, quality managers and acquirers may select metrics from ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 for defining requirements, evaluating software products, measuring quality aspects and other purposes.Users of ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 can select or modify and apply metrics and measures from ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 or may define application-specific metrics for their individual application domain.ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 is intended to be used together with ISO/IEC 9126-1.ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 contains an explanation of how to apply software quality metrics, a basic set of metrics for each subcharacteristic and an example of how to apply metrics during the software product life cycle.ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 does not assign ranges of values of these metrics to rated levels or to grades of compliance, because these values are defined for each software product or a part of the software product, by its nature, depending on such factors as category of the software, integrity level and users' needs. Some attributes may have a desirable range of values, which does not depend on specific user needs but depends on generic factors; for example, human cognitive factors. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description

This book details the latest developments in sensing technology and its application in food industry. It explores the opportunities created by the chemical and biosensensing technology and improvements performed in recent years for better food quality, better food safety, better food processing and control, and better input for food industry. The chapters in this book have been divided into three sections: basic principles of chemical and biosensing technology, biosensors for food processing and control, and biosensors for food safety.

Product Description
This direct, straightforward book provides readers with material that focuses on making the theories and principles of total quality practical and useful. It covers all of the elements of total quality, including several that receive little or no attention in other total quality books. Practitioners in a corporate setting will find it a valuable guide in helping them understand and implement total quality. Topics which are covered include Quality and Global Competitiveness, Strategic Management: Planning and Execution, Quality Management and Ethics, and Communication and Interpersonal Relations.For settings in which people want to learn to be effective agents of the total quality approach, or are attempting to implement total quality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Quality Management: Introduction to Total Quality Management for Production, Processing, and Services (4th Edition)
It's a good book, have the topics that I need to my class, but the author talk a lot of history in the chapters
PD. I don't like the history too much.

Highly recommended -- excellent training resource
Excellent text book and reference material for anyone in manufacturing.Straight forward, useful implementation roadmap. ... Read more

Product Description
Introduces the benefits and techniques of performing burn-in on components, sub-assemblies, and complete systems. An engineering approach, this text emphasizes practical applications of reliability theory. Presents numerous real-life examples. Provides the fundamental information needed to design and analyze a meaningful and effective burn-in procedure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent Reliability Resource.
"Burn-in" by Finn Jensen and Niels Erik Petersen.Sub-titled: "An Engineering Approach To The Design And Analysis Of Burn-in Procedures".John Wiley & Sons, 1986.

The main purpose of this book is to provide an organized approach to the development and implementation of a burn-in program. This book does give you the basics in developing burn-in, that is the application of elevated temperature to cause latent defects to fail at the manufacturing plant rather than to have the unit fail during use by the Customer. The book, however, is truly a rather complete text in reliability, dealing with the three stages of a product: infant mortality, useful life and wear out.

I have used this book over the past decade or so, and taken portions of the text for proposals, when a project was just beginning, and, at the other end, used the text for Weibull functions to ascertain the end-of-life of a product. It is an excellent book, describing reliability principles far more clearly than some other fundamental texts.

I received this book at a burn-in seminar taught by Dr. Finn Jensen.Dr. Jensen is a slight, bubbly man, whose English is impeccable.At the seminar, he fleshed out the examples in the book with details and anecdotes showing that the book, "Burn-In", is grounded on a wealth of real-life experience.If you buy one book on burn-in, or on reliability, this is the one.

John Peter Rooney, MSEE; ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer #2425.

A no-nonsense approach
This book emphasizes a no-nonsense approach to burn in and is suitable for the experienced engineer who is faced with difficult questions about test and reliability.It is fast paced and avoids excessive advanced statistical analysis to achive an engineering result that is adequate 90% of the time.

First time users of burnin technology will want to familiarize themselves with the statistics of failure analysis before advancing onto a burn-in plan.

The book may also appeal to senior manufacturing line personnel who have witnessed first hand experiences in burn-in and wish to pursue further the cause and effect relationship.Using the methodologies outlined within, production line resources can be maximized for yield and quality.

The read is enjoyable and refreshing - without sidetracking - It dives right into the topic at hand and plows through to a solution and implementation plan. ... Read more

Product Description
Quality and Reliability in Engineering provides an integrated approach to quality specification, quality control and monitoring, and reliability. Examples and exercises stress practical engineering applications. Steps in the development of the theory are implemented in complete, self-contained computer programs. The book serves as a textbook for upper level undergraduate courses in quality and reliability in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, and industrial engineering programs. It can be used as a supplement to upper level capstone design courses, short courses for quality training, and as a learning resource for practicing engineers. ... Read more

Product Description
Due to its high impact on the cost of electricity and its direct correlation with customer satisfaction, distribution reliability continues to be one of the most important topics in the electric power industry. Continuing in the unique tradition of the bestselling first edition, Electric Power Distribution Reliability, Second Edition consolidates all pertinent topics on electric power distribution into one comprehensive volume balancing theory, practical knowledge, and real world applications.

Updated and expanded with new information on benchmarking, system hardening, underground conversion, and aging infrastructure, this timely reference enables you to—

·         Manage aging infrastructure

·         Harden electric power distribution systems

·         Avoid common benchmarking pitfalls

·         Apply effective risk management

The electric power industry will continue to make distribution system reliability and customer-level reliability a top priority. Presenting a wealth of useful knowledge, Electric Power Distribution Reliability, Second Edition remains the only book that is completely dedicated to this important topic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very Helpful and Full of Content
This book covers it all: causes of reliability, measures of reliability, component modeling, system modeling, system analysis, and system optimization. It even has a great primer on distribution systems from a reliability perspective.

The great thing about this book is its ability to bridge the gap between theoretical treatment and practical applications. Although it is full of algorithms and equations, all are presented in the context of real applications and real results. It has truly broadened my understanding of of the subject.

A Great Combination of Rigor and Practical Advice
This is by far the best book I have seen on reliability planning, evaluation and engineering of electric power delivery systems.The book is well organized and very linear in its progression through its topics, so its makes for a very good textbook or self-study guide, as was the case for me.It has an extremely comprehensive index, which means its should serve as a good, quick reference in the future.

The book is pretty rigorous, and has a good bit of equations and theory, but what I appreciated is that there is a lot of common sense and good recommendations throughout, plus good data and tables on reliability, equipment, expectations, etc.I learned just a lot about distribution systems and reliability, and what to expect and how to make improvements in the real world, from this book.

But what I think is unique about this book and its greatest value was its combination of rigorous analysis of system configuration and indidivual equipment focus.You find a lot of stuff written that focuses on one or the other.There are books and technical papers on methods to analyze systems based on layout, load, switching capabilities, etc. (configuration), but they are often theoretical and neglect issues of equipment.There are also books on equipment lifetime versus loading analysis, condition evaluation and assessment, and maintainability.But rarely are the two combined well, and in one whole analytical method.

This is one of the best engineering books I have.

A Great Combination of Rigor and Practical Advice
This is by far the best book I have seen on reliability planning, evaluation and engineering of electric power delivery systems.The book is well organized and very linear in its progression through its topics, so its makes for a very good textbook or self-study guide, as was the case for me.It has an extremely comprehensive index, which means its should serve as a good, quick reference in the future.

The book is pretty rigorous, and has a good bit of equations and theory, but what I appreciated is that there is a lot of common sense and good recommendations throughout, plus good data and tables on reliability, equipment, expectations, etc.I learned just a lot about distribution systems and reliability, and what to expect and how to make improvements in the real world, from this book.

But what I think is unique about this book and its greatest value was its combination of rigorous analysis of system configuration and indidivual equipment focus.You find a lot of stuff written that focuses on one or the other.There are books and technical papers on methods to analyze systems based on layout, load, switching capabilities, etc. (configuration), but they are often theoretical and neglect issues of equipment.There are also books on equipment lifetime versus loading analysis, condition evaluation and assessment, and maintainability.But rarely are the two combined well, and in one whole analytical method.

This is one of the best engineering books I have. ... Read more

Product Description
Responsible For Reliability? Look No Further! Finally, a working tool that delivers expert guidance on all aspects of product reliability. W. Grant Ireson and Clyde F Coombs, Jr.'s new Second Edition of Handbook of Reliability Engineering and Management gives you the specific engineering, management, and mathematics data you need to design and manufacture more reliable electronic and mechanical devices as well as complete systems. You'll find proven industry practices for defining and achieving reliability goals--real how-to information, not theoretical generalities. You also get new methods for determining overall product reliability. . .the latest design techniques for extending a product's life cycle. . .tested strategies for incorporating reliability into new product development. . .and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Helpful and useful one for my daily life
I was recomended by somebody and find out it's very useful in my daily work.

Wait for the NEXT Edition.
"Handbook of Reliability Engineering and Management", Second Edition,Edited by W. Grant Ireson, Clyde F. Coombs, Jr. and Richard Y. Moss,McGraw Hill, 1996.

This is the second edition of the Handbook, which first appeared in 1988.There are individual contributing authors for each of the 27 chapters; the resultant is already out of date.The current "Limbo" status of military documents, such as Military Standard 105 and Military Handbook 217F, makes this present edition of the Handbook out of date in 2000. Will Military Handbook 217F ever be revised to provide up-to-date models for the failure rates of modern electronic components?

This Handbook would benefit from better editing.For example, as a Handbook, it is expected that the index in the back of the physical book would contain page references to pertinent reliability terms and techniques.Today's technology emphasizes Environmental Stress Screening, ESS.The term, ESS, has been around for at least 15 years (or so: I recall doing an IEEE paper on ESS in 1988). It is expected that ESS and related terms such as HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) and HASS, would be readily found in the Handbook's index.They are not.

Same thing holds true for Software Reliability, where the chapter's author uses the cute term, "SMERFS Model" (p. 22.15),but this term will not be found in the index. (SMERFS = Statistical Modeling and estimation of reliability functions for software.)By the way, from a technical point of view, this chapter'shalf page on the various modelsfor software reliability is very skimpy.For example, Dr. Michael Elbert has written an entire IEEE paper on the selection of the proper model for software reliability.It would be expected that a Handbook would be more complete than just a small portion of a page.In Chapter 22, on Software Reliability, the author references a paper on the Rayleigh curve by "Gaffney" (p. 22.13).The reference at the back of Chapter 22 gives the reference's name as "John Gafney".This is a discrepancy that should have been caught by the editors.I suspect that the correct spelling is "Gaffney", but both can not be correct.

There are other editorial lapses:on page 16.24, Bellcore failure rates are compared to MIL-HDBK-217, and it is state thatBellcore "... provides generally better failure rates than does MIL-HDBK-217F, which is supposedly based on field experience in communications equipment." The way this sentence is presented implies that MIL-HDBK-217F is based upon experience in communications equipment, when, as most reliability practitioners know, MIL-HDBK-217F failure rates are based on environments from Ground, Fixed, to Ground, Benign, to Naval Sheltered and Airborne, etc, and on equipment from radios to radars to sonars, air data computers and fire control units.This inconsistency in the use of the language ought to have been caught by the editors.

On page 16.6, there is a nice comparison of FITs to failures per million hours to %failure per 1000 hours. The Editors should make the reader aware that a billion in American usage (1 with nine zeroes after it) is not the same as European usage.Chapter 6, on FMEAs is totally into the Risk Priority Number method where "gray beards" sit around and use the "Delphi" approach to ascertainthe probability of an event, the severity of that failure and whether or not the failure can be detected.This is a very subjective method, and, in my humble opinion, RPN is being supercededby more objective, quantitative methods (see IEC 61508).

In summary, prudent purchasers should await the next edition of this Handbook, if that edition considers all the changes taking place in the availability of military standards and the new leadership role of international standards in the reliability arena.For example, IEC 300, on "Dependability" is not even mentioned.

John Peter Rooney, ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer #2425. ... Read more

Product Description
This practical resource establishes a sound rationale for the continuation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in all organizations, offering a model, an implementation strategy, as well as traditional and nontraditional methods for the successful enhancement and maintenance of quality.Considers leading quality-related topics, such as unusual charts, supplier-organization-customer relationships, customer needs and expectations, instructional design, adult learning, advanced quality planning, and reliability! ... Read more