ConnectinGEO dissemination and exploitation plan

EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation (SC5-18a-2014 - H2020)H2020 Project Nr: 641538. Project start date: 01 Feb 2015Project title: Coordinating an Observation Network of Networks EnCompassing saTellite and IN-situ to fill the Gaps in European Observations.Theme: SC5-18a-2014. Coordinating European Observation Networks to reinforce the knowledge base for climate, natural resources and raw materials.Description of the ConnectinGEO dissemination and exploitation plan elaborated during the project. This will be done both as outreach and in a collaborative feedback environment

Systematic and recomputable comparison of multi-cloud management platforms

With the growth and evolution of cloud applications, more and more architectures use hybrid cloud bindings to optimally use virtual resources regarding pricing policies and performance. This process has led to the creation of multi-cloud management platforms as well as abstraction libraries. At the moment, many (multi-)cloud management platforms (CMPs) are designed to cover the functional requirements. Along with growing adoption and industrial impact of such solutions, there is a need for a comparison and test environment which automatically assesses and compares existing platforms and helps in choosing the optimal one. This paper focuses on the creation of a suitable testbed concept and an actual extensible software prototype which makes multi-cloud experiments repeatable and reusable by other researchers. The work is evaluated by an exemplary comparison of 4 CMPs bound to AWS, showcasing standardised output formats and evaluation criteria

Mining Architectural Information: A Systematic Mapping Study

Context: Mining Software Repositories (MSR) has become an essential activity in software development. Mining architectural information to support architecting activities, such as architecture understanding and recovery, has received a significant attention in recent years. However, there is an absence of a comprehensive understanding of the state of research on mining architectural information. Objective: This work aims to identify, analyze, and synthesize the literature on mining architectural information in software repositories in terms of architectural information and sources mined, architecting activities supported, approaches and tools used, and challenges faced. Method: A Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) has been conducted on the literature published between January 2006 and November 2021. Results: Of the 79 primary studies finally selected, 8 categories of architectural information have been mined, among which architectural description is the most mined architectural information; 12 architecting activities can be supported by the mined architectural information, among which architecture understanding is the most supported activity; 81 approaches and 52 tools were proposed and employed in mining architectural information; and 4 types of challenges in mining architectural information were identified. Conclusions: This SMS provides researchers with promising future directions and help practitioners be aware of what approaches and tools can be used to mine what architectural information from what sources to support various architecting activities.Comment: 68 pages, 5 images, 15 tables, Manuscript submitted to a Journal (2022

How can Data Analytics Results be Exploited in the Early Phase of Product Development? 13 Design Principles for Data-Driven Product Planning

The megatrend digitalization turns mechatronic products into continuous collectors and generators of use phase data. By analyzing this data, manufacturers can uncover valuable insights about the products and the users. Especially in product planning, these insights could be used to plan promising future product generations. The systematic exploitation of data analytics results, however, represents a serious challenge, as research on the topic is still scarce. In this paper, we present 13 design principles for exploiting data analytics results in product planning. The results are based on a systematic literature review and a workshop with a research consortium. The evaluation of the design principles is demonstrated with a real case of a manufacturing company. The identified design principles represent a first contribution to a still scarcely explored research field

Self-Confidence of Undergraduate Students in Designing Software Architecture

Contributions: This paper investigates the relations between undergraduate software architecture students’ self-confidence and their course expectations, cognitive levels, preferred learning methods, and critical thinking. Background: these students, often, lack self-confidence in their ability to use their knowledge to design software architectures. Intended Outcomes: Self-confidence is expected to be related to the students’ course expectations, cognitive levels, preferred learning methods, and critical thinking. Application Design: We developed a questionnaire with open-ended questions to assess the self-confidence levels and related factors, which was taken by one-hundred ten students in two semesters. The students answers were coded and analyzed afterward. Findings: We found that self-confidence is weakly associated with the students’ course expectations and critical thinking and independent from their cognitive levels and preferred learning methods. The results suggest that to improve the self-confidence of the students, the instructors should ensure that the students’ have correct course expectations and work on improving the students’ critical thinking capabilities

A mapping study on documentation in Continuous Software Development

Context: With an increase in Agile, Lean, and DevOps software methodologies over the last years (collectively referred to as Continuous Software Development (CSD)), we have observed that documentation is often poor. Objective: This work aims at collecting studies on documentation challenges, documentation practices, and tools that can support documentation in CSD. Method: A systematic mapping study was conducted to identify and analyze research on documentation in CSD, covering publications between 2001 and 2019. Results: A total of 63 studies were selected. We found 40 studies related to documentation practices and challenges, and 23 studies related to tools used in CSD. The challenges include: informal documentation is hard to understand, documentation is considered as waste, productivity is measured by working software only, documentation is out-of-sync with the software and there is a short-term focus. The practices include: non-written and informal communication, the usage of development artifacts for documentation, and the use of architecture frameworks. We also made an inventory of numerous tools that can be used for documentation purposes in CSD. Overall, we recommend the usage of executable documentation, modern tools and technologies to retrieve information and transform it into documentation, and the practice of minimal documentation upfront combined with detailed design for knowledge transfer afterwards. Conclusion: It is of paramount importance to increase the quantity and quality of documentation in CSD. While this remains challenging, practitioners will benefit from applying the identified practices and tools in order to mitigate the stated challenges

Citizen Science

Citizen science, the active participation of the public in scientific research projects, is a rapidly expanding field in open science and open innovation. It provides an integrated model of public knowledge production and engagement with science. As a growing worldwide phenomenon, it is invigorated by evolving new technologies that connect people easily and effectively with the scientific community. Catalysed by citizens’ wishes to be actively involved in scientific processes, as a result of recent societal trends, it also offers contributions to the rise in tertiary education. In addition, citizen science provides a valuable tool for citizens to play a more active role in sustainable development. This book identifies and explains the role of citizen science within innovation in science and society, and as a vibrant and productive science-policy interface. The scope of this volume is global, geared towards identifying solutions and lessons to be applied across science, practice and policy. The chapters consider the role of citizen science in the context of the wider agenda of open science and open innovation, and discuss progress towards responsible research and innovation, two of the most critical aspects of science today