Natural Language Requirements Processing: A 4D Vision

The future evolution of the application of natural language processing technologies in requirements engineering can be viewed from four dimensions: discipline, dynamism, domain knowledge, and datasets

Gherkin Specification Extension : uma linguagem de especificação de requisitos baseada em Gherkin

Orientador: Andrey Ricardo PimentelDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática. Defesa : Curitiba, 28/02/2019Inclui referências: p.68-72Área de concentração: Ciência da ComputaçãoResumo: O desenvolvimento de software e composto de varias fases, entre elas esta a fase de elicitacao, negociacao e validacao de requisitos. Nesta fase, geralmente utiliza-se linguagem natural para definir e negociar os requisitos do sistema que sera desenvolvido. Entretanto, as linguagens naturais podem ser ambiguas, dificultando o entendimento do requisito, e portanto a sua negociacao e validacao. Uma das tentativas de solucionar o problema da ambiguidade foi a criacao de linguagens de especificacao de requisitos. Algumas destas linguagens, como Z e Alneelain, utilizam metodos formais na definicao dos requisitos. O problema da utilizacao de metodos formais e que todos que lerao os requisitos devemter conhecimentos em metodos formais, fato que nem sempre e verdade, ja que alguns interessados pelo software, como clientes e analistas de negocios, podem nao ter este conhecimento. Outras linguagens, como i* e KAOS, utilizam elementos graficos para especificar um sistema. Este formato pode complicar o entendimento, pois diagramas grandes tem alta complexidade cognitiva. Para tentar solucionar este problema, e apresentado o Gherkin Specification Extension (GSE), uma extensao da linguagem Gherkin, que utiliza linguagem natural em conjunto de estruturas fixas para reduzir o problema da ambiguidade durante a especificacao de requisitos utilizando linguagem natural. O GSE foi estruturado com base em onze requisitos que definem sete secoes diferentes (Descricao, Grupo, Restricoes e qualidades, Relacionamento, Planejamento, Metricas e Notas). Este requisitos foram estudados de forma a identificar funcionalidades chave para melhorar a comunicacao entre diversos interessados no software, seja ele um desenvolvedor, gerente de projetos, cliente, usuario ou analista de negocios. A extensao foi validada quanto a sua aceitacao com pessoas com poucos conhecimentos em desenvolvimento de software, obtendo resultado positivos referente a qualidade da especificacao gerada e aceitacao da tecnologia. Para mensurar a aceitacao da tecnologia foi utilizado o modelo TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) em sua terceira versao. Palavras-chave: Linguagem, Especificacao, Requisitos.Abstract: Software development consists of several phases, including elicitation, negotiation and validation of requirements. At this stage, natural language is usually used to define and negotiate the system requirements that will be developed. However, natural languages can be ambiguous, making it difficult to understand the requirement, and therefore its negotiation and validation. One of the attempts to solve the ambiguity problem was the creation of requirements specification languages. Some of these languages, such as Z and Alneelain, use formal methods in defining requirements. The problem with using formal methods is that everyone who will read the requirements must have knowledge of formal methods, a fact that is not always true, as some software stakeholders, such as customers and business analysts, may not have this knowledge. Other languages, such as i * and KAOS, use graphics to specify a system. This format may complicate understanding, since very large diagrams generally have high cognitive complexity. In order to solve this problem, the Gherkin Specification Extension (GSE), an extension of the Gherkin language, is presented, which uses natural language in conjunction with fixed structures to reduce the problem of ambiguity during specification of requirements using natural language . The GSE was structured based on eleven requirements that define seven different sections (Description, Group, Constraints and Qualities, Relationship, Planning, Metrics and Notes). These requirements have been studied in order to identify key functionalities to improve communication among diverse stakeholders in the software, be it a developer, project manager, client, user or business analyst. The extension was validated for its acceptance with people with little knowledge in software development, obtaining positive results regarding the quality of the generated specification and acceptance of the technology. To measure the acceptance of the technology, the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) model was used in its third version. Keywords: Language, Specification, Requirement

Natural Language Processing in-and-for Design Research

We review the scholarly contributions that utilise Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods to support the design process. Using a heuristic approach, we collected 223 articles published in 32 journals and within the period 1991-present. We present state-of-the-art NLP in-and-for design research by reviewing these articles according to the type of natural language text sources: internal reports, design concepts, discourse transcripts, technical publications, consumer opinions, and others. Upon summarizing and identifying the gaps in these contributions, we utilise an existing design innovation framework to identify the applications that are currently being supported by NLP. We then propose a few methodological and theoretical directions for future NLP in-and-for design research

An ebd-enabled design knowledge acquisition framework

Having enough knowledge and keeping it up to date enables designers to execute the design assignment effectively and gives them a competitive advantage in the design profession. Knowledge elicitation or acquisition is a crucial component of system design, particularly for tasks requiring transdisciplinary or multidisciplinary cooperation. In system design, extracting domain-specific information is exceedingly tricky for designers. This thesis presents three works that attempt to bridge the gap between designers and domain expertise. First, a systematic literature review on data-driven demand elicitation is given using the Environment-based Design (EBD) approach. This review address two research objectives: (i) to investigate the present state of computer-aided requirement knowledge elicitation in the domains of engineering; (ii) to integrate EBD methodology into the conventional literature review framework by providing a well-structured research question generation methodology. The second study describes a data-driven interview transcript analysis strategy that employs EBD environment analysis, unsupervised machine learning, and a range of natural language processing (NLP) approaches to assist designers and qualitative researchers in extracting needs when domain expertise is lacking. The second research proposes a transfer-learning method-based qualitative text analysis framework that aids researchers in extracting valuable knowledge from interview data for healthcare promotion decision-making. The third work is an EBD-enabled design lexical knowledge acquisition framework that automatically constructs a semantic network -- RomNet from an extensive collection of abstracts from engineering publications. Applying RomNet can improve the design information retrieval quality and communication between each party involved in a design project. To conclude, this thesis integrates artificial intelligence techniques, such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods, Machine Learning techniques, and rule-based systems to build a knowledge acquisition framework that supports manual, semi-automatic, and automatic extraction of design knowledge from different types of the textual data source

Market and price decision enhancement services for farmers in Uganda

Door kleinere winstmarges en steeds grotere beperkingen op markten en productprijzen is besluitvorming in de agrarische sector in ontwikkelingslanden niet alleen belangrijker maar ook uitdagender geworden. Het doel van dit onderzoek is “het ontwikkelen, implementeren en evalueren van een decision enhancement studio op het gebied van markten en prijzen voor boeren in Oeganda”. De belangrijkste onderzoeksvraag luidt: “hoe kunnen Oegandese boeren hun besluitvorming aangaande markten en prijzen verbeteren?” Op basis van verkennend veldonderzoek en literatuurstudies is een artefact ontwikkeld in de vorm van een Farmers’ Decision Enhancement Studio (FDES), die bestaat uit een Market Identification Suite, a Price Determination Suite en een Communication Suite. De studio met bijbehorende services is geprototyped en geïmplementeerd in de Oegandese districten Gulu en Soroti. De implementatie vond voornamelijk plaats aan de hand van open source tools en van de beschikbare middelen en capaciteiten van de boeren. Er werd een open source sms gateway gebruikt om de studioprestaties te verifiëren en te testen. De resultaten laten zien dat de boeren die voor uitdagingen op het gebied van markt- en prijsbesluiten staan, baat hebben bij de studio