Naming the Pain in Requirements Engineering: A Design for a Global Family of Surveys and First Results from Germany

For many years, we have observed industry struggling in defining a high quality requirements engineering (RE) and researchers trying to understand industrial expectations and problems. Although we are investigating the discipline with a plethora of empirical studies, they still do not allow for empirical generalisations. To lay an empirical and externally valid foundation about the state of the practice in RE, we aim at a series of open and reproducible surveys that allow us to steer future research in a problem-driven manner. We designed a globally distributed family of surveys in joint collaborations with different researchers and completed the first run in Germany. The instrument is based on a theory in the form of a set of hypotheses inferred from our experiences and available studies. We test each hypothesis in our theory and identify further candidates to extend the theory by correlation and Grounded Theory analysis. In this article, we report on the design of the family of surveys, its underlying theory, and the full results obtained from Germany with participants from 58 companies. The results reveal, for example, a tendency to improve RE via internally defined qualitative methods rather than relying on normative approaches like CMMI. We also discovered various RE problems that are statistically significant in practice. For instance, we could corroborate communication flaws or moving targets as problems in practice. Our results are not yet fully representative but already give first insights into current practices and problems in RE, and they allow us to draw lessons learnt for future replications. Our results obtained from this first run in Germany make us confident that the survey design and instrument are well-suited to be replicated and, thereby, to create a generalisable empirical basis of RE in practice

Qualité des modèles : retours d'expériences

National audienceAvec la complexification des systèmes d'information (systèmes ubiquitaires, entreprises ouvertes etc.), de nombreux nouveaux langages de modélisation sont proposés. Face à ce développement de langages spécifiques, on peut s'interroger sur la qualité des modèles qui en sont issus. Cet article traite de ce problème en tirant les leçons de nos expériences passées. Elles mettent en évidence les besoins d'outillage automatisé pour l'évaluation de la qualité de modèles, la participation conjointe des différentes parties prenantes dans le processus d'évaluation, et la nécessité d'envisager une véritable ingénierie des langages et des modèles centrée sur l'humain

An Integrated Framework for the Methodological Assurance of Security and Privacy in the Development and Operation of MultiCloud Applications

x, 169 p.This Thesis studies research questions about how to design multiCloud applications taking into account security and privacy requirements to protect the system from potential risks and about how to decide which security and privacy protections to include in the system. In addition, solutions are needed to overcome the difficulties in assuring security and privacy properties defined at design time still hold all along the system life-cycle, from development to operation.In this Thesis an innovative DevOps integrated methodology and framework are presented, which help to rationalise and systematise security and privacy analyses in multiCloud to enable an informed decision-process for risk-cost balanced selection of the protections of the system components and the protections to request from Cloud Service Providers used. The focus of the work is on the Development phase of the analysis and creation of multiCloud applications.The main contributions of this Thesis for multiCloud applications are four: i) The integrated DevOps methodology for security and privacy assurance; and its integrating parts: ii) a security and privacy requirements modelling language, iii) a continuous risk assessment methodology and its complementary risk-based optimisation of defences, and iv) a Security and Privacy Service Level AgreementComposition method.The integrated DevOps methodology and its integrating Development methods have been validated in the case study of a real multiCloud application in the eHealth domain. The validation confirmed the feasibility and benefits of the solution with regards to the rationalisation and systematisation of security and privacy assurance in multiCloud systems

Orthogonal Polarization Spectral Imaging (OPS) Measurements of Microcirculatory Changes in Term Newborns with Suspected Infection

The early diagnosis of neonatal infection remains a challenge. Recent studies using Optical Polarized Spectral (OPS) imaging techniques, have reported microcirculatory alterations in adult patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. The objective of this study was to compare microcirculatory flow and vascular density between healthy controls and sick newborns with neonatal infection. OPS images were obtained prospectively from the vascular bed of ear conch and upper arm of 47 newborns on their 1st, 2nd and 3rd day of life. Infection was defined as IL-6 >50pg /mL and CRP >0,5 mg /dL. OPS sequences were analyzed off-line, blinded to clinical status of the infant with a semi-quantitative method based on the works of Sakr (46) and Boerma (47). Flow was examined differentiating between no flow, intermittent, sluggish and continuous flow. All vessels that did not have a continuous flow were classified as pathologic and their percentage was determined. Vascular density of the sequences was also calculated. Sixteen infants developed an infection. Most episodes of infection were not severe. Microcirculatory data was analyzed and tested with a non parametric test. The images obtained from ear showed a better image quality and an easier performan¬ce than those from upper arm in term newborns (infection: 32%, 95% confidence interval [19-44] vs. healthy: 10% [6-13]; p= 0.0003). Despite a tendency to higher percent of impaired flow, the microcirculatory flow in arm did not reach a statistical significance when comparing both groups (infection: 19% [16-25] vs. healthy: 13% [10-11]; p= non significant). A trend to lower vascular density was observed in the sequences obtained from ear in the infected group but not in those obtained from arm. Both places did not show a statistical difference. It can be concluded that ear conch is a better site to study the microcirculation in term newborns than the arm. In the ear conch even in infants with mild to moderate signs of infection, microcirculatory flow is impaired in a large proportion of vessels early in the course of disease. Since these changes can be easily recognized at the external ear, an on-line evaluation of microcirculatory flow could be an important screening tool for infection in the future

Naming the pain in requirements engineering: design of a global family of surveys and first results from Germany

Context: For many years, we have observed industry struggling in defining a high quality requirements engineering (RE) and researchers trying to understand industrial expectations and problems. Although we are investigating the discipline with a plethora of empirical studies, those studies either concentrate on validating specific methods or on single companies or countries. Therefore, they allow only for limited empirical generalisations. Objective: To lay an empirical and generalisable foundation about the state of the practice in RE, we aim at a series of open and reproducible surveys that allow us to steer future research in a problem-driven manner. Method: We designed a globally distributed family of surveys in joint collaborations with different researchers from different countries. The instrument is based on an initial theory inferred from available studies. As a long-term goal, the survey will be regularly replicated to manifest a clear understanding on the status quo and practical needs in RE. In this paper, we present the design of the family of surveys and first results of its start in Germany. Results: Our first results contain responses from 30 German companies. The results are not yet generalisable, but already indicate several trends and problems. For instance, a commonly stated problem respondents see in their company standards are artefacts being underrepresented, and important problems they experience in their projects are incomplete and inconsistent requirements. Conclusion: The results suggest that the survey design and instrument are well-suited to be replicated and, thereby, to create a generalisable empirical basis of RE in practice

Evaluation and Improvement of an Organizational Resource applying Strategy Patterns

For any software company that frequently performs quality assurance activities devoted to measurement, evaluation (ME) and change/improvement (MEC) projects, ME and MEC strategies can be valuable organizational assets. In this paper, we analyze the improvement of a ME strategy, which can be considered an organizational resource to be applied to quality assurance activities. This resource is called the GOCAME (Goal-Oriented Context-Aware Measurement and Evaluation) strategy. AME/MEC strategy embraces the next three integrated capabilities: 1) the ME/MEC domain conceptual base and framework; 2) the process perspective specifications; and, 3) the method specifications. The improvement of GOCAME was performed instantiating two strategy patterns. A strategy pattern is a reusable solution to recurrent problems in ME/MEC projects. For an improvement goal, the selected MEC strategy pattern allows instantiating in a project a set of tailored activities and methods for measurement, evaluation, analysis and change. Particularly, we instantiate the GoME_1QV (Goal-oriented Measurement and Evaluation for One Quality View) strategy pattern to understand the GOCAME current quality state and compare it with the so-called GQM+ Strategies. First, this evaluation and analysis allows us to know the GOCAME strengths and weaknesses with regard to the quality of the three capabilities. Second, we instantiate the GoMEC_1QV (Goal-oriented Measurement, Evaluation and Change for One Quality View) strategy pattern to improve the GOCAME current state, producing as result a new version of the GOCAME strategy.Fil: Papa, María Fernanda. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rivera, María Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Becker, Pablo Javier. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Olsina, Luis Antonio. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentin

Segmental foreign accent

200 p.Tradicionalmente, el acento extranjero se ha estudiado desde una perspectiva holística, es decir, tratándolo como un todo en lugar de como una serie de rasgos individuales que suceden simultáneamente. Los estudios previos que se han centrado en alguno de estos rasgos individuales lo han hecho generalmente en el plano suprasegmental (Tajima et al., 1997, Munro & Derwing, 2001, Hahn, 2004, etc.). En esta tesis se lleva a cabo un análisis del acento extranjero desde un punto de vista segmental. Considerando que no existe mucha investigación en este campo, nuestro principal objetivo es averiguar si los resultados de estudios holísticos previos pueden ser extrapolados al nivel segmental. Con el objetivo de analizar el nivel segmental en detalle, en esta tesis se presentan técnicas que hacen uso de nuevas tecnologías. Para recabar la mayor información posible, los experimentos perceptivos son llevados a cabo con oyentes con muy distintos perfiles lingüísticos en términos de primera lengua o conocimiento de la segunda lengua y comparados con la literatura existente. Nuestros resultados muestran que algunos efectos importantes relativos a la producción y percepción de segmentos acentuados pueden pasar inadvertidos en un análisis holístico y acreditan la necesidad de continuar realizando estudios de unidades mínimas para comprender en profundidad los efectos del acento extranjero en la comunicación

Segmental foreign accent

200 p.Tradicionalmente, el acento extranjero se ha estudiado desde una perspectiva holística, es decir, tratándolo como un todo en lugar de como una serie de rasgos individuales que suceden simultáneamente. Los estudios previos que se han centrado en alguno de estos rasgos individuales lo han hecho generalmente en el plano suprasegmental (Tajima et al., 1997, Munro & Derwing, 2001, Hahn, 2004, etc.). En esta tesis se lleva a cabo un análisis del acento extranjero desde un punto de vista segmental. Considerando que no existe mucha investigación en este campo, nuestro principal objetivo es averiguar si los resultados de estudios holísticos previos pueden ser extrapolados al nivel segmental. Con el objetivo de analizar el nivel segmental en detalle, en esta tesis se presentan técnicas que hacen uso de nuevas tecnologías. Para recabar la mayor información posible, los experimentos perceptivos son llevados a cabo con oyentes con muy distintos perfiles lingüísticos en términos de primera lengua o conocimiento de la segunda lengua y comparados con la literatura existente. Nuestros resultados muestran que algunos efectos importantes relativos a la producción y percepción de segmentos acentuados pueden pasar inadvertidos en un análisis holístico y acreditan la necesidad de continuar realizando estudios de unidades mínimas para comprender en profundidad los efectos del acento extranjero en la comunicación

The therapeutic effect of clinical trials: understanding placebo response rates in clinical trials – A secondary analysis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Placebo response rates in clinical trials vary considerably and are observed frequently. For new drugs it can be difficult to prove effectiveness superior to placebo. It is unclear what contributes to improvement in the placebo groups. We wanted to clarify, what elements of clinical trials determine placebo variability. METHODS: We analysed a representative sample of 141 published long-term trials (randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled; duration > 12 weeks) to find out what study characteristics predict placebo response rates in various diseases. Correlational and regression analyses with study characteristics and placebo response rates were carried out. RESULTS: We found a high and significant correlation between placebo and treatment response rate across diseases (r = .78; p < .001). A multiple regression model explained 79% of the variance in placebo variability (F = 59.7; p < 0.0001). Significant predictors are, among others, the duration of the study (beta = .31), the quality of the study (beta = .18), the fact whether a study is a prevention trial (beta = .44), whether dropouts have been documented (beta = -.20), or whether additional treatments have been documented (beta = -.17). Healing rates with placebo are lower in the following diagnoses; neoplasms (beta = -.21), nervous diseases (beta = -.10), substance abuse (beta = -.14). Without prevention trials the amount of variance explained is 42%. CONCLUSION: Medication response rates and placebo response rates in clinical trials are highly correlated. Trial characteristics can explain some portion of the variance in placebo healing rates in RCTs. Placebo response in trials is only partially due to methodological artefacts and only partially dependent on the diagnoses treated

Knowledge spillovers and local innovation systems: a critical survey

The paper re-examines critically the growing literature on localised knowledge spillovers (LKSs), and finds the econometric evidence on the subject still lacking of a firm theoretical background, especially in respect of the more recent developments in the economics of knowledge. Therefore such evidence, and even more the concept itself of LKS, should not be read as supportive of new industrial geographers' work on industrial districts, hi-tech agglomerations and 'milieux innovateur'. On the contrary, it may represent a threat to the necessary efforts for gaining more theoretical rigour and getting more empirical fieldwork done. Key words: knowledge, innovation, spillovers, externalities, regional agglomeration. JEL classification: D62, O30, R12