bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments
Authors: Kumar A. V. Senthil , Sundar P. V. Praveen
Published: November 2017

Online learning is a fast-growing technology in an educational field which uses internet as a media to deliver the educational contents to the students. The main research area in online learning is to identify the disengaged learners and motivate them. The success of online learning systems depends on how quickly it identifies the disengaged learners and techniques used to reengage them. Through this chapter, we are going to discuss briefly about the online learning, advantages and disadvantages of online learning, importance of motivation in online learning, types of motivation, the motivational theories related to student engagement and finally discuss about various disengagement detection techniques in online learning.
Developing an Engaging Online Engineering Ethics Course for Future Engineers
Authors: Little Julie M. , Fox Patricia S.
Published: November 2017

This chapter describes the process of developing both an engaging and motivating online ethics course for future engineers; and includes major concepts in engineering ethics beginning with why engineering students should study ethics at all. Next the various levels of ethics are examined, which include personal, organizational, and global ethics, and how each level then applies to the profession of engineering. Ethical behavior, ethical dilemmas and whistle-blowing are also defined and discussed. Ethical decision-making models, which are used to solve ethical dilemmas, are explained and examples are presented to engage students in the process. The significance of how engineers are held to higher standard and must adhere to both their professional code of ethics along with their organization's code of ethics is also emphasized. Understanding the role of ethical leadership and how it impacts an organization follows. Finally, engaging online methods for teaching ethics to engineering students will be explored throughout.
Autonomous Learning and Skill Accreditation
Authors: Politis Dionysios , Stagiopoulos Petros , Aidona Sophia , Kyriafinis Georgios , Constantinidis Ioannis
Published: November 2017

This research article promotes Multimedia Learning in the sphere of Medical Education and Practice. It describes how learners can acquire educational experiences as e-learning experiences. Indeed, medical training seems to be the last frontier, not only for remote and distant learning, but also for any form of non-formal or non-typical education, at least in pre-graduate level. It seems that the main reasons for not having achieved on-line learning are the Complexity of the Content, and the Type of Learning, which are unique, in some sense set apart from the main paradigm for learning that governs most other sciences. Overall, these two factors, alongside the neurophysiological interaction of e-Learning users, require considerable resources to ensure a constant flow of accredited education. Can this be changed?
Always-On Enterprise Information Systems
Authors: Bajgoric Nijaz
Published: November 2017

The chapter presents conceptual aspects of “always-on” information systems as well as the main attributes and implementation drivers. In addition, HP's HP-UX server operating environment which provides a possible solution platform for “always-on” information system is presented as a case.
Always-On Enterprise Information Systems With Service-Oriented Architecture and Load Balancing
Authors: Bayram Serdal
Published: November 2017

In today's digital age, it is essential for a business to provide a seamless and continuous service to its customers and other stakeholders like providers. Such an always-on service is required, not only for the strong competitive environment but also because of the fact that most the stakeholders also have to offer seamless and continuous service to their own stakeholders. In this chain, failure of one of the systems and components even for a short time can result in a disaster in the entire service chain. A wise approach to provide a continuous service should consider all possible failure areas in a computer-based information system. Since hardware and software are vulnerable to a myriad of problems that can halt the normal operation of a system, an ideal solution should not only consider both of these two components, but also should seek to find ways for them to work in support of each other against a malfunction. This chapter is an attempt to develop a model that provides this functionality. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is implemented in the model due to its tenets that are suitable for such functionality.
A Study of Flexible Manufacturing System With Multiple Failures
Authors: Manglik Monika , Ram Mangey , Ahluwalia Divya
Published: November 2017

Flexibility refers to the capability of a manufacturing system to respond cost effectively and arbitrarily to adapting production needs and necessities. This ability is becoming increasingly important for the design and operation of manufacturing systems, as these systems do function in highly variable and unpredictable environments. In this chapter, the reliability of the flexible manufacturing system has been calculated based on the mathematical framework. The model of the system consists of the system structure and the distribution of its components. The components are assumed to be repairable after various types of failures. In this work, the reliability and availability have been analyzed by using Markov process, Laplace transformations and supplementary variable techniques. Furthermore, the impacts of various failures on reliability, and availability of the system have also been analyzed.
Mathematical Modeling of Five-Link Inverted Cart and Pendulum System
Authors: Kharola Ashwani
Published: November 2017

This chapter describes a mathematical model and design structure of five-link inverted pendulum on cart. The system comprises of five rigid pendulums or links mounted on a mutable cart. The objective is to control all the five links at vertical upright position when cart is stationary at particular location. The study considered free-body-diagram (FBD) analysis of proposed system and applied Newton's second law of motion for deriving a mathematical model of proposed system. The derived governing equations of motion can be further used by researchers for developing a Matlab-Simulink model of five-link inverted pendulum system. The developed model can be further used for deriving equations of motions for n-link cart and pendulum system. Researchers can further apply various control techniques for control of proposed system.
Corporate Trainers
Authors: Lakshminarayanan Sambhavi
Published: November 2017

Corporate training programs are widely prevalent, even ubiquitous. This situation is likely to continue: some management experts predict that training will become a continual process and include employees at all levels of the organization. Organizations, especially large ones, typically have dedicated staff (trainers) who manage and deliver training programs. In order to be effective, trainers must be knowledgeable about available and appropriate education delivery methods. Programs are often tightly linked to content - thus, trainers need to have some technical knowledge. Corporate trainers can utilize knowledge about advances in the fields of both content and delivery for organizational benefit. In turn, as possessors of knowledge from practical implementation they can make contributions to the fields. Thus, corporate trainers are ideally positioned as practitioner scholars in the workplace. Frameworks proposed in this chapter indicate how trainers can bridge the practitioner-scholar gap.
The Roles of Lean and Green Supply Chain Management Strategies in the Global Business Environments
Authors: Kasemsap Kijpokin
Published: November 2017

This chapter introduces the roles of lean Supply Chain Management (SCM) strategies and green SCM strategies in the global business environments, thus explaining the theoretical and practical concepts of SCM, lean SCM strategies, and green SCM strategies; the importance of lean and green SCM strategies; and the interfaces of lean and green SCM strategies in terms of implementing green and global supply chain strategies, implementing green and lean supply chain strategies, and implementing lean and global supply chain strategies. Lean supply chain and green supply chain strategies help firms to maximize the improvement of lean production in operations management. Applying lean SCM strategies and green SCM strategies in the global business environments will significantly enhance organizational performance and achieve business goals in digital age.
Sourcing Decision in a Multi-Period Model Under Demand and Supply Uncertainty
Authors: Bagchi Shantanu Shankar , Bhattacharya Sourabh
Published: November 2017

Determining the optimum number of suppliers and the optimum quantities to order from each of them is a critical problem for any supply chain. This paper has mathematically arrived at conditions to identify the appropriate sourcing strategy in a multi-period scenario for a stochastic supply and a stochastic demand environment. It has also obtained the total order quantity, optimum number of suppliers and order allocation to each of the suppliers under both uncertain demand and supply in the multiple-period context. Through a numerical analysis this work could bring interesting managerial insights about the sourcing strategies.
Programming Global Strategy to Maximize Net Income Modeling Legal Conditions and Corporate Values
Authors: Trigos Federico , López Eduardo Manuel
Published: November 2017

Planning has always been a challenge for managers and decision makers. In particular, if the manufacturing facilities are located in several countries, significant differences in tax and legal requirements have to be taken into consideration during the process. Corporate policies regarding profit sharing schemes will also play a role in final income. This work proposes a production planning systematic approach based on mathematical programming models applied to income statements in order to allocate production for the next operating period of time taking into account the mathematical modeling of corporate ethics, principles and values. Several manufacturing facilities located in different countries have to produce forecasted demand of a number of families of products, each of which can only be manufactured in a reduced subset of all the manufacturing plants. This production assignment process seeks to maximize corporate net income while complying with local regulations and corporate policies. Investors will find models useful for evaluating new plant and product allocation schemes.
Identifying Green Supply Chain Management Enablers in South African Mining Industry using Ecological Modernization Theory Approach
Authors: Bag Surajit
Published: November 2017

Green supply chain management is a popular practice in any world class organization. The traditional supply chain was managed with the objectives to reduce cost without focusing on environmental and social dimensions. However with passage of time institutional pressures has directed firms to design supply chain network which takes care of environmental and social dimensions as well. Green supply chain management concept has evolved gradually over a period of time. The main reason behind evolution of green supply chain management is conservation of natural resources which human beings ignored for long. Published reports show that major portion of the energy is supplied by fossil fuels and thereby depletion of natural resources is occurring at an accelerating rate with time. Industrial manufacturing report also suggest that demand for manufacturing products is likely to double by the year 2050. This will result in high generation of pollutants and gases. If the greenhouse gases emissions remain unchecked, then it will create a catastrophic effect by 2050. Globally manufacturers and industry associations are now acting proactively to conserve the natural resources and curb greenhouse gases emissions. The level of popularity of green supply chain management can be estimated from the high research output in leading operations journals such as IJPE, IJPR, Resources, Conservation and Recycling Journals. Green supply chain management is a concept that is also gaining popularity in the South African region. For many organizations in this region it is a process to exhibit their sincere commitment to sustainability. However, if green supply chain management practices are to be fully adopted by all mining and minerals industry in South Africa, a demonstrable link between such measures and understanding the role of associated variables is necessary. This paper endeavors to develop a green supply chain management model for mining and minerals industry in the South African region. The approach extends the domain of green supply chain research and produce theories that have greater explanatory power than the current practices. For this purpose a conceptual model was developed from literature review and data collected using a structured questionnaire mailed to a sample of 174 firms which are leading edge ISO14001 certified mining companies in South Africa. Data analysis is further performed through exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis. This paper presents the first empirical evaluation of the link between green supply chain management practices amongst a sample of mining and minerals companies in South Africa.
Investigating Relationships Between Supply Chain Capabilities, Competitive Advantage, and Business Performance
Authors: Chiadamrong Navee , Tham Tran Thi
Published: November 2017

Growing in the competitive environment, organizations need to find ways to improve their performance even better by ensuring that all key drivers are being developed and utilized effectively. Thai and Vietnamese food industries are rapidly growing sectors. This study investigates the relationships between supply chain capabilities and competitive advantages towards business performance, and compares the above mentioned relationships between Thai and Vietnamese food industries. The data were gathered from conducted surveys with the food manufacturing companies in both countries, and tested by Structural Equation Modeling. The empirical results show that supply chain capabilities play an important role in business improvement in both countries. While, supply chain integration is considered as a critical factor for the Vietnamese food industry, human resource management is much regarded as important for the Thai food industry. These findings help companies in each country decide the best strategy for differentiating themselves in their business environment.
Big Data and RFID in Supply Chain and Logistics Management
Authors: Papadopoulos Thanos , Gunasekaran Angappa , Dubey Rameshwar , Balta Maria
Published: November 2017

Big Data refers to complex and unstructured data that is difficult to analyse and utilize with traditional applications and analyses. Big Data comes from a variety of sources, including tracking and sensor devices which are widely used in logistics and supply chain management, and relate to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Thus, this chapter reviews the literature on RFID adoption in supply chain/logistics management from 1995-2015. We identify current trends in the literature, drawing on the three levels of decision making, that is, strategic, tactical, and operational. We suggest that more research needs to be conducted with regards to the intangible benefits of RFID, the use of RFID big data for achieving higher performance, and to shift the focus from the ‘what' and the impacts on performance to the ‘how' and the ways RFID is adopted and assimilated in organizations and supply chains. Finally, the managerial implications of our review as well as the limitations and future research directions are outlined.
Financial Statement Analysis Under IFRS
Authors: Karaibrahimoglu Yasemin Zengin , Tunç Gökçe
Published: November 2017

This chapter provides a clear conceptual discussion on the recent developments in the Financial Statement Analysis (FSA). It presents how IFRSs changed the outlook of the financial reporting and the analysis and explains the key points that should be considered in FSA. Using a case study on the financial reports of Turkcell, a communication and technology company listed both on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Borsa Istanbul (BIST), the differences between IFRSs and U.S. GAAP accounting standards in the measurement of overall financial performance and position are documented. Overall findings show that IFRSs change the appearance of financial statements significantly. While IFRS reporting extenuates “the bottom line” it accentuates total assets with higher shareholder equity compared to U.S. GAAP. This chapter might be a practical guide for users, preparers, and regulators to understand the cosmetic impact of IFRSs on financial statements.
Mismanagement or Mismeasurement
Authors: Anouze Abdel Latef , Osman Ibrahim H.
Published: November 2017

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a well-known frontier valuation method to assess the performance of set of Decision Making Units (DMUs). It derives an overall performance for each DMU based on its efficiency relative to others. All DMUs use the same production function that transfers multiple-input into multiple-output of qualitative and quantitative values. Such big data necessitates the provision of a general framework to guide both researchers and practitioners in the analytical evaluation process for better insights. This chapter proposes a new roadmap to guide future research to implement rigorous and relevant DEA applications. This roadmap consists of five phases: Understand, Prepare, Analyze, Implement, and Monitor (AIM-UP). This roadmap could be used to evaluate the efficiency of resource utilization and the effectiveness of production by the operating processes. Finally, three case studies are used to illustrate DEA implementation, and an up-to-date review of DEA applications is conducted.
Organizational Issue for BI Success
Authors: Dubey Sanjiva Shankar , Sharan Arunesh
Published: November 2017

This chapter will focus on the transformative effect Business Intelligence (BI) brings to an organization decision making, enhancing its performance, reducing overall cost of operations and improving its competitive posture. This chapter will enunciate the key principles and practices to bridge the gap between organization requirements vs. capabilities of any BI tool(s) by proposing a framework of organizational factors such as user's role, their analytical needs, access preferences and technical /analytical literacy etc. Evaluation methodology to select best BI tools properly aligned to the organization infrastructure will also be discussed. Softer issues and organizational change for successful implementation of BI will be further explained.
An Investigation of Competitor Networks in Manufacturing Strategy and Implications for Performance
Authors: Rosenzweig Eve D. , Bendoly Elliot
Published: November 2017

Our study demonstrates the value of taking a more encompassing and explicit view of competition in manufacturing strategy research. In doing so, we go beyond a dyadic-based approach and investigate the ways in which the degree of competition among firms in a network influences performance. Using social network analysis techniques, we develop a novel measure—which we refer to as competitor infighting—that captures the extent to which a firm's rivals compete amongst themselves. Our results suggest that a firm has a greater, unimpeded opportunity to demonstrate market gains as the degree of competition among its rivals increases, all else equal. In fact, competitor infighting is a better predictor of market performance in our sample than is a simpler, though perhaps more traditional, count of competitors. It serves an important moderating role in the relationship between a firm's operational weaknesses and market performance. As predicted, we find that as competitor infighting increases, the relationship between operational weaknesses and market performance is diminished.
Operational Challenges in Hybrid Organizations
Authors: Ávila Liliana , Amorim Marlene
Published: November 2017

The last few years have witnessed the emergence of hybrid business models, in particular, social enterprises, which combine social and economic concerns in the same extent. Social enterprises are ambidextrous organizations that conduct activities to meet the social needs of their target beneficiaries simultaneously with income generating activities. This hybrid operational nature raises new questions about the definition and identification of an effective operations management strategy. The present chapter aims to identify the main operational challenges faced by hybrid organization in order to open avenues for future research. Drawing on current literature, the main concepts, the definition of an operations strategy and the social enterprises as hybrid organizations, are discussed. Findings suggest that the main operational challenges arise from hybridity. This chapter contributes to the theory and practices of social enterprises and concludes by identifying some opportunities for future research.
The Role of Total Quality Management Practices on Quality Performance
Authors: Kasemsap Kijpokin
Published: November 2017

This chapter introduces the role of Total Quality Management (TQM) practices, thus explaining the introduction of Quality Management (QM) systems, the significance of TQM, the concept of TQM practices, the utilization of QM practices, and the relationship between TQM practices and quality performance. In addition, 17 TQM practices associated with quality performance (i.e., top management commitment, customer focus, training and education, continuous improvement and innovation, supplier quality management, employee involvement, information and analysis, process management, quality systems, benchmarking, quality culture, Human Resource Management [HRM], strategic planning, employee encouragement, teamwork, communication, and product and service design) are explained. This chapter serves as a valuable guideline for both researchers and practitioners to review their TQM programs in order to improve quality performance. Understanding the role of TQM practices on quality performance will significantly enhance the organizational performance and achieve business goals in the global business environments.
The Impact of Outsourcing on Performance and Competitive Priorities among Malaysian SMEs
Authors: Halim Hasliza Abdul , Ahmad Noor Hazlina , Ramayah T.
Published: November 2017

The objective of this research is to examine the influence of outsourcing on financial performance and competitive priories of Malaysian SMEs. A data sample of 100 SMEs was analyzed to examine these relationships. The analysis was conducted via Partial Least Squares. Based on the findings, while outsourcing has significant influence of SMEs financial performance in Malaysian context, outsourcing activities do not have an impact on competitive priorities. Outsourcing approach emphasizing on the establishment of core competitive advantage, allows Malaysian SMEs to get the numerous benefits such as overall sales growth, market share, net profit, return on investment, and financial liquidity.
Corporate Persona and Optimistic Language in Annual Reports
Authors: Nelson Samuel A. , Wang Liang “Lucas” , Smith Ronda M. , Blackford Ben
Published: November 2017

This chapter draws on theories of the organization as a social actor to examine the influence of an organization's financial performance on the level of optimism presented in annual reports over time as a means to measure the consistency of the organization's identity. This study contributes to the understanding of firm behavior by adding firm level analysis and longitudinal design and the use of DICTION software for qualitative analysis. Annual reports from the petroleum and food and beverage industry were analyzed over a 10-year period for both between and within firm effects. Results suggest higher levels of organizational financial performance resulted in more optimistic language in their annual reports, but the effect was only significant when performance significantly exceeded baseline expectations. Implications for the study of organizational identity are discussed.
The Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility Proposition
Authors: Camilleri Mark Anthony
Published: November 2017

This chapter deliberates on the business case for CSR. It contends that corporations are capable of implementing responsible behaviors as they pursue their profit-making activities. A thorough literature review suggests that there is a link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance. In addition, there are relevant theoretical underpinnings and empirical studies that have used other constructs, including corporate citizenship, stakeholder engagement and business ethics. In this light, this contribution reports on how CSR is continuously evolving to reflect today's societal realities. Therefore, it raises awareness of key notions representing strategic CSR, creating shared value and corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR2.0). This latter perspective suggests that responsible behavioral practices may be strategically re-conceived to confer competitive advantage over rival firms. Therefore, this chapter makes reference to laudable investments that could unleash shared value. It implies that CSR2.0 demands business to build adaptive approaches with stakeholders for the benefit of the firm and for societal advancement.
Managerial Practices in a High Cost Manufacturing Environment
Authors: Agarwal Renu , Bajada Christopher , Brown Paul J. , Green Roy
Published: November 2017

This chapter explores the management strategies adopted by manufacturing firms operating in high versus low cost economies and investigates the reasons for differences in the management practice choices. The study reported in this chapter identifies a subset of countries that have either high or low labour costs, with USA, Sweden, and Japan being high, and India, China, and Brazil being low labour cost economies. The high labour cost manufacturing firms are found to have better management practices. In this chapter, the authors find that Australia and New Zealand manufacturing firms face relatively high labour cost but lag behind world best practice in management performance. The chapter concludes by highlighting the need for improvement in management capability for Australian and New Zealand manufacturing firms if they are to experience a reinvigoration of productivity, competitiveness, and long-term growth.
ECSE
Authors: Ramingwong Sakgasit , Ramingwong Lachana
Published: November 2017

Software development is uniquely different especially when compared to other engineering processes. The abstractness of software products has a major influence on the entire software development life cycle, which results in a number of uniquely important challenges. This chapter describes and discusses Engineering Construction for Software Engineers (ECSE), an effective workshop that helps software engineering students to understand some of these critical issues within a short period of time. In this workshop, the students are required to develop a pseudo-software product from scratch. They could learn about unique characteristics and risks of software development life cycle as well as other distinctive phenomenon through the activities. The workshop can still be easily followed by students who are not familiar with certain software development processes such as coding or testing.
Incorporating Free/Open-Source Data and Tools in Software Engineering Education
Authors: Yu Liguo , Surma David R. , Hakimzadeh Hossein
Published: November 2017

Software development is a fast-changing area. New methods and new technologies emerge all the time. As a result, the education of software engineering is generally considered not to be keeping pace with the development of software engineering in industry. Given the limited resources in academia, it is unrealistic to purchase all the latest software tools for classroom usage. In this chapter, the authors describe how free/open-source data and free/open-source tools are used in an upper-level software engineering class at Indiana University South Bend. Depending on different learning objectives, different free/open-source tools and free/open-source data are incorporated into different team projects. The approach has been applied for two semesters, where instructor's experiences are assembled and analyzed. The study suggests (1) incorporating both free/open-source tools and free/open-source data in a software engineering course so that students can better understand both development methods and development processes and (2) updating software engineering course regularly in order to keep up with the advance of development tools and development methods in industry.
Applying Online Learning in Software Engineering Education
Authors: Al-Khanjari Zuhoor Abdullah Salim
Published: November 2017

Software Engineering education involves two learning aspects: (1) teaching theoretical material and (2) conducting the practical labs. Currently, Software Engineering education faces a challenge, which comes from the new learning opportunities afforded by the Web technologies. Delivering a Software Engineering curriculum by online distance learning requires innovative and flexible approaches to present and manage the theoretical and practical learning materials. E-Learning could support Software Engineering education through utilizing special e-Learning concepts, techniques, and tools. E-Learning could also change the mode of teaching from knowledge-as-transmission to knowledge-as-construction. This is called “Software Engineering e-Learning.” This chapter provides a review on Software Engineering education and e-Learning technology. It explores the need to adopt a Software Engineering e-Learning model to help the facilitators/instructors prepare and manage the online Software Engineering courses. This chapter also addresses how e-Learning environment could simplify the application of the constructivist learning model towards Software Engineering education.
Practicing Soft Skills in Software Engineering
Authors: Sedelmaier Yvonne , Landes Dieter
Published: November 2017

Software Engineering requires a specific profile of technical expertise combined with context-sensitive soft skills. Therefore, university education in software engineering should foster both technical knowledge and soft skills. Students should be enabled to cope with complex situations in real life by applying and combining their theoretical knowledge with team and communication competencies. In this chapter, the authors report findings from a software engineering project course. They argue that project work is a suitable approach to foster soft skills. To that end, the authors provide justification from a pedagogical point of view, setting project-based learning into relation to action-orientated didactics. As teaching goals, they focus on experiencing a complete development project from end to end, following a software process model that needs to be adapted to the specific situation, self-determined planning and acting, including the organization of the project, teamwork and team communication, and self-reflection on individual roles and contributions, and on the performance of the project team as a whole. In order to achieve these goals, the authors form teams of bachelor students, which are headed by one master student each. It turned out that a clear separation of roles is inevitable within the team, but also with respect to instructors. Self-reflection processes concerning the team roles and the individual competencies are explicitly stimulated and cumulate in individual self-reports and post-mortem analysis sessions. The authors share findings of how well the approaches have worked and outline some ideas to improve things.
Building Defect Prediction Models in Practice
Authors: Ramler Rudolf , Himmelbauer Johannes , Natschläger Thomas
Published: November 2017

The information about which modules of a future version of a software system will be defect-prone is a valuable planning aid for quality managers and testers. Defect prediction promises to indicate these defect-prone modules. In this chapter, building a defect prediction model from data is characterized as an instance of a data-mining task, and key questions and consequences arising when establishing defect prediction in a large software development project are discussed. Special emphasis is put on discussions on how to choose a learning algorithm, select features from different data sources, deal with noise and data quality issues, as well as model evaluation for evolving systems. These discussions are accompanied by insights and experiences gained by projects on data mining and defect prediction in the context of large software systems conducted by the authors over the last couple of years. One of these projects has been selected to serve as an illustrative use case throughout the chapter.
Towards Knowledge Management to Support Decision Making for Software Process Development
Authors: Muñoz Edrisi , Capón-García Elisabeth
Published: November 2017

The complexity of decision making in software process development and the need for highly competitive organizations require new supporting tools to coordinate and optimize the information flow among decision levels. Decision levels are related to strategic planning, tactical process management, and operational activities development and control. This chapter presents the theory for developing a framework that integrates the different decision levels in software development companies in order to reach their business objectives. Furthermore, the proposed framework coordinates the information exchange among the different modeling paradigms/conventions currently used.
A Two-Layer Approach to Developing Self-Adaptive Multi-Agent Systems in Open Environment
Authors: Mao Xinjun , Dong Menggao , Zhu Haibin
Published: November 2017

Development of self-adaptive systems situated in open and uncertain environments is a great challenge in the community of software engineering due to the unpredictability of environment changes and the variety of self-adaptation manners. Explicit specification of expected changes and various self-adaptations at design-time, an approach often adopted by developers, seems ineffective. This paper presents an agent-based approach that combines two-layer self-adaptation mechanisms and reinforcement learning together to support the development and running of self-adaptive systems. The approach takes self-adaptive systems as multi-agent organizations and enables the agent itself to make decisions on self-adaptation by learning at run-time and at different levels. The proposed self-adaptation mechanisms that are based on organization metaphors enable self-adaptation at two layers: fine-grain behavior level and coarse-grain organization level. Corresponding reinforcement learning algorithms on self-adaptation are designed and integrated with the two-layer self-adaptation mechanisms. This paper further details developmental technologies, based on the above approach, in establishing self-adaptive systems, including extended software architecture for self-adaptation, an implementation framework, and a development process. A case study and experiment evaluations are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Optimized and Distributed Variant Logic for Model-Driven Applications
Authors: Davis Jon , Chang Elizabeth
Published: November 2017

The customization of Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) is expensive throughout its lifecycle, especially across an enterprise-wide distributed application environment. The authors' ongoing development of a temporal meta-data framework for EIS applications seeks to minimize these issues with the application model supporting the capability for end users to define their own supplemental or alternate application logic as what they term Variant Logic (VL). VL can be applied to any existing model object, defined by any authorized user, through modeling rather than coding, then executed by any user as an alternative to the original application logic. VL is also preserved during automated application updates and can also interoperate directly between similar model-based execution instances within a distributed execution environment, readily sharing the alternate logic segments. The authors also present an enhanced pre-processing architecture that optimizes the execution of Logic Variants to the same execution order of single path model logic.
Model-Driven Reverse Engineering of Open Source Systems
Authors: Perez-Castillo Ricardo , Piattini Mario
Published: November 2017

Open source software systems have poor or inexistent documentation and contributors are often scattered or missing. The reuse-based composition and maintenance of open source software systems therefore implies that program comprehension becomes a critical activity if all the embedded behavior is to be preserved. Program comprehension has traditionally been addressed by reverse engineering techniques which retrieve system design models such as class diagrams. These abstract representations provide a key artifact during migration or evolution. However, this method may retrieve large complex class diagrams which do not ensure a suitable program comprehension. This chapter attempts to improve program comprehension by providing a model-driven reverse engineering technique with which to obtain business processes models that can be used in combination with system design models such as class diagrams. The advantage of this approach is that business processes provide a simple system viewpoint at a higher abstraction level and filter out particular technical details related to source code. The technique is fully developed and tool-supported within an R&D project about global software development in which collaborate two universities and five companies. The automation of the approach facilitates its validation and transference through an industrial case study involving two open source systems.
An Innovative Approach to the Development of an International Software Process Lifecycle Standard for Very Small Entities
Authors: O'Connor Rory V. , Laporte Claude Y.
Published: November 2017

For very small software development companies, the quality of their software products is a key to competitive advantage. However, the usage of Software Engineering standards is extremely low amongst such very small software companies. A primary reason cited by many such companies for this lack of quality standards adoption is the perception that they have been developed for large multi-national software companies and not with small and very small organizations in mind and are therefore not suitable for their specific needs. This paper describes an innovative systematic approach to the development of the software process lifecycle standard for very small entities ISO/IEC 29110, following the Rogers model of the Innovation-Development process. The ISO/IEC 29110 standard is unique amongst software and systems engineering standards, in that the working group mandated to develop a new standard approached industry to conduct a needs assessment and gather actual requirements for a new standard as part of the standards development process. This paper presents a unique insight from the perspective of some of the standards authors on the development of the ISO/IEC 29110 standard, including the rationale behind its development and the innovative design of implementation guides to assist very small companies in adopting the standards, as well outlining a pilot project scheme for usage in early trials of this standard.
Open Innovation
Authors: Carroll Noel
Published: November 2017

Software engineering is largely concerned with the methodical, systematic production of quality software to support organizational goals. Despite significant advances in technology over the last decade, software engineering still heavily relies on human efforts and human interaction to generate economic contributions for an organization. In more recent years, the question of software service complexity has become central to Global Software Development (GSD) with a view of developing software across a global landscape. However, few efforts have surfaced to challenge the complexity of the relational infrastructure of software teams that support the development of software architecture. This is important in order to sustain and support lean software development and organisational structures particularly in an open service innovation environment. However, from a socio-economic perspective, there are few theoretical efforts that attempt to introduce new insights on how the human factors contribute towards a GSD value co-creation. The objective of this chapter is to examine the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and i* (i star) modelling techniques to examine how we could model the economic impact of software relational structures. The chapter explores how i* models leverage SNA concepts to model GSD development. This chapter also offers a discussion on the theoretical development of the socio-economics of GSD in an “open innovation” context.
Validating Autonomic Services
Authors: King Tariq M. , Clarke Peter J. , Akour Mohammed , Ganti Annaji S.
Published: November 2017

Autonomic service-driven applications represent a new realm of software that can discover new capabilities, automatically integrate with other systems, and adapt to changing system environmental conditions. For the past many years, researchers and practitioners have been investigating, prototyping, and evaluating these self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing, and self-protecting systems. Although validation is expected to play a key role in the success of autonomic systems, there are few works that address this topic. Dynamic adaptation in autonomic software results in structural and behavioral runtime changes, which cannot be validated offline at design-time. Runtime testing has therefore emerged as a possible solution to validating dynamic adaptations in autonomic software. This chapter summarizes the state-of-the-art in runtime testing of autonomic systems, describes key challenges associated with runtime testing, and provides guidelines for integrating runtime testing approaches into autonomic software using self-testing architectures. Finally, directions for future research for validation of autonomic components are discussed.
Managing Tacit Knowledge to Improve Software Processes
Authors: Heredia Alberto , García-Guzmán Javier , Medina-Domínguez Fuensanta , Mora-Soto Arturo
Published: November 2017

In general, software process improvement entails significant benefits such as increased software product quality, decreased time and development cost, and decreased risks. To obtain these, organizations must apply knowledge management because the identification of new knowledge is considered key to success when improving software processes. Existing knowledge is, however, difficult to find, and when found, it is often difficult to reuse in practice. This is due to the fact that a considerable part of the knowledge that is useful for executing software processes is tacit and not all of it can be captured and made explicit. The purpose of this chapter is to present a framework for software process improvement based on the enrichment of organizational knowledge by means of the acquisition of tacit knowledge from individuals working in different teams and environments. The framework includes the specification of roles, processes, and tools, and is based on a process asset library and the introduction of configuration and change management mechanisms.
Open Source Software Adaptation in Africa
Authors: Bakar Abubakar Diwani , Sultan Abu Bakar Md. , Zulzalil Hazura , Din Jamilah
Published: November 2017

The African continent has long benefited from adopting OSS in its private and public organizations that have changed their way of development, the use and how to acquire proprietary software. This frequency of adaptation does not appear to be in balance with the contribution to the OSS community. Using views from experienced software practitioners working in different organizations across two African countries it has been observed that neglected infrastructure, a wide availability of proprietary software and misconceptions of a clear meaning of Open Source Software across Africa have been an obstacle towards the participation in the OSS technology in the global network.
Bridging the Academia-Industry Gap in Software Engineering
Authors: MacKellar Bonnie K. , Sabin Mihaela , Tucker Allen B.
Published: November 2017

Too often, computer science programs offer a software engineering course that emphasizes concepts, principles, and practical techniques, but fails to engage students in real-world software experiences. The authors have developed an approach to teaching undergraduate software engineering courses that integrates client-oriented project development and open source development practice. They call this approach the Client-Oriented Open Source Software (CO-FOSS) model. The advantages of this approach are that students are involved directly with a client, nonprofits gain a useful software application, and the project is available as open source for other students or organizations to extend and adapt. This chapter describes the motivation, elaborates the approach, and presents the results in substantial detail. The process is agile and the development framework is transferrable to other one-semester software engineering courses in a wide range of institutions.
Engaging Software Engineering Students With Employability Skills
Authors: Armarego Jocelyn
Published: November 2017

This chapter explores the findings from an Action Research project that addressed the Professional Capability Framework, and how aspects of this were embedded in an undergraduate Engineering (Software) degree. Longitudinal data identified the challenges both staff and students engaged with. The interventions that were developed to address these are described and discussed. The results of the project show that making soft skills attainment explicit as part of the learning objectives went a long way in assisting students to engage with the activities that exercised these skills.
Peer Feedback in Software Engineering Courses
Authors: Rajapakse Damith C.
Published: November 2017

Teaching non-technical skills such as communication skills to Software Engineering (SE) students is relatively more difficult than teaching technical skills. This chapter explores teaching the peer feedback aspect of communication skills to SE students. It discusses several peer feedback mechanisms that can be used in an SE course, and for each mechanism, it discusses the potential challenges and the various approaches that can be used to overcome those challenges.
Threats Classification
Authors: Jouini Mouna , Rabai Latifa Ben Arfa
Published: November 2017

Information systems are frequently exposed to various types of threats which can cause different types of damages that might lead to significant financial losses. Information security damages can range from small losses to entire information system destruction. The effects of various threats vary considerably: some affect the confidentiality or integrity of data while others affect the availability of a system. Currently, organizations are struggling to understand what the threats to their information assets are and how to obtain the necessary means to combat them which continues to pose a challenge. To improve our understanding of security threats, we propose a security threat classification model which allows us to study the threats class impact instead of a threat impact as a threat varies over time. This chapter deals with the threats classification problem and its motivation. It addresses different criteria of information system security risks classification and gives a review of most threats classification models. We present as well recent surveys on security breaches costs.