Mobile Social Media as a Strategic Capability: Expanding Opportunties Social Media Has to Offer to B2B Firms

Mobile social media (MSM), an interaction, exchange of information and creation of user-generated content, mediated by mobile devices is becoming the locomotive that drives forward evolution of online world. So far, limited number of academic studies touched upon the MSM subject with all the papers being of conceptual nature. No empirical evidence is available to prove whether and how firms utilise MSM for their best advantage. This paper addresses this gap by employing the grounded theory approach (GT) to analyse interviews conducted in twenty-six B2B firms. This study found that eighteen firms use mobile technology primarily as a platform to access social media sites, understand canons of MSM consumption and utilise MSM as a strategic capability to reinforce the strategic position of a firm. Our data illustrates that the MSM strategic capability includes four main activities: (1) market sensing; (2) managing relationships; (3) branding and (4) developing content. These activities can results in the decreased research and development spendings without sacrificing innovativeness because MSM is a valuable source of information about the market and a source of ideas for new products/services. In practical terms firms can examine MSM activities and decide whether there is an opportunity to utilise MSM advantageously

International conference on software engineering and knowledge engineering: Session chair

The Thirtieth International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE 2018) will be held at the Hotel Pullman, San Francisco Bay, USA, from July 1 to July 3, 2018. SEKE2018 will also be dedicated in memory of Professor Lofti Zadeh, a great scholar, pioneer and leader in fuzzy sets theory and soft computing. The conference aims at bringing together experts in software engineering and knowledge engineering to discuss on relevant results in either software engineering or knowledge engineering or both. Special emphasis will be put on the transference of methods between both domains. The theme this year is soft computing in software engineering & knowledge engineering. Submission of papers and demos are both welcome

A Process-oriented Approach for Migrating Software to Heterogeneous Platforms

Context: Heterogeneous computing, i.e., computing performed on processors of different types - such as combination of CPUs and GPUs, or CPUs and FPGAs - has shown to be a feasible path towards higher performance and less energy consumption. However, this approach imposes a number of challenges on the software side that must be addressed in order to achieve the aforementioned advantages.Objective: The objective of this thesis is to improve the process of software deployment on heterogeneous platforms. Through a detailed analysis of the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice, we aim to provide a reasoning framework for engineers to migrate software to be executed on such platforms.Method: To achieve our goal, we conducted: (i) a literature review in the form of a systematic mapping study on software deployment on heterogeneous platforms; (ii) a multiple case study in industry that highlights the main challenges and concerns in the state-of-the-practice in the area; and (iii) a study in which we propose and evaluate a decision framework to guide engineers in migrating software for execution on heterogeneous platforms, with a case study in the automotive domain.Results: In the mapping study, we provided a thorough classification of the identified concerns and approaches to deploying software on heterogeneous platforms. Among other findings, we discovered a lack of holistic approaches that include development processes, as well as few validation studies in industrial contexts. In the second study, we discovered and analyzed common practices and challenges that companies face when using heterogeneous platforms. One of such challenges is related to the lack of approaches that cover the software development lifecycle. In the third study, we proposed a decision framework that guides engineers in the process of reasoning for migrating software for execution on heterogeneous platforms. It consists of five stages (assessing, re-architecting, developing, deploying, evaluating), each containing a set of aspects to be addressed through the answers to predefined questions.Conclusions: This thesis addresses a gap that was identified in both theory and practice concerning the lack of holistic approaches to migrate software for execution on heterogeneous platforms. Our proposed approach addresses the problem through systematic guidance for engineers.Future work: In the future, we intend to further refine the proposed framework through case studies in domains other than automotive. We will explore its integration with existing software engineering processes in industrial contexts, performing in-depth analysis of the required adaptations and providing detailed solutions within the stages of the framework

Why to use mobile technology?

No holistic portrayal exists to map and discuss values deriving from mobile technology use. This empirical paper addresses this gap. To address research purpose adapted grounded theory approach is applied to collect and analyse in-depth interviews with twenty-eight SME managers. This study concludes that mobile technology represents novel and unique category of technology. Whether MT is a simple mean to advanced communication with no physical boundaries of time and location or a business tool to boost creative thinking, this study concludes that MT is different to fixed network and stationary desktop IT because of its core distinctive feature, being mobile. True nature of MT lies in seeing MT as a source of value that derives from using MT. Ultimately by mapping distinctive to MT values and factors that form these values this study endeavors to transform business practitioners’ view of mobile technology as purely technically MT to strategic tool that drives new ways in exploiting ubiquitous technology

Report from GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394: Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World

This report documents the program and the outcomes of GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394 "Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World". The seminar addressed the problem of performance-aware DevOps. Both, DevOps and performance engineering have been growing trends over the past one to two years, in no small part due to the rise in importance of identifying performance anomalies in the operations (Ops) of cloud and big data systems and feeding these back to the development (Dev). However, so far, the research community has treated software engineering, performance engineering, and cloud computing mostly as individual research areas. We aimed to identify cross-community collaboration, and to set the path for long-lasting collaborations towards performance-aware DevOps. The main goal of the seminar was to bring together young researchers (PhD students in a later stage of their PhD, as well as PostDocs or Junior Professors) in the areas of (i) software engineering, (ii) performance engineering, and (iii) cloud computing and big data to present their current research projects, to exchange experience and expertise, to discuss research challenges, and to develop ideas for future collaborations

Contextual impacts on industrial processes brought by the digital transformation of manufacturing: a systematic review

The digital transformation of manufacturing (a phenomenon also known as "Industry 4.0" or "Smart Manufacturing") is finding a growing interest both at practitioner and academic levels, but is still in its infancy and needs deeper investigation. Even though current and potential advantages of digital manufacturing are remarkable, in terms of improved efficiency, sustainability, customization, and flexibility, only a limited number of companies has already developed ad hoc strategies necessary to achieve a superior performance. Through a systematic review, this study aims at assessing the current state of the art of the academic literature regarding the paradigm shift occurring in the manufacturing settings, in order to provide definitions as well as point out recurring patterns and gaps to be addressed by future research. For the literature search, the most representative keywords, strict criteria, and classification schemes based on authoritative reference studies were used. The final sample of 156 primary publications was analyzed through a systematic coding process to identify theoretical and methodological approaches, together with other significant elements. This analysis allowed a mapping of the literature based on clusters of critical themes to synthesize the developments of different research streams and provide the most representative picture of its current state. Research areas, insights, and gaps resulting from this analysis contributed to create a schematic research agenda, which clearly indicates the space for future evolutions of the state of knowledge in this field

The CLAWAR project

In Europe, there are two main thematic groups focusing on robotics, the Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR) project (http://www.clawar.net) and the European Robotics Network (EURON) project (http://www.euron.org). The two networks are complementary: CLAWAR is industrially focused on the immediate needs, and EURON is focused more on blue skies research. This article presents the activities of the CLAWAR project

Applications of computer communications in education.

Applications of computer communications can be used in many ways in education. An overview is given of a number of categories of computer communications applications in learning-related activities. Particular attention is given to a new type of system called a course-support environment. In this type of system a database is integrated with Web-based tools and applications, and used to generate a course-support environment accessed via a standard Web browser. Some examples are given. The article moves on to an overview of various issues confronting the acceptance of computer communication systems in educational settings, and indicates some of the ways in which computer communications engineers will have to deal with those issue