Formal Definitions for Design Spaces and Traces

Within the domain of interactive system development and design, particularly for safety-critical systems, there is an inherent tension between formalisms used for software engineering methodologies and the creative aspects of design. In this paper we consider how we might better unify these by way of a framework for design spaces and design artefacts. We present formal definitions for simple and complex design spaces and then describe how they are incorporated into traces. We then discuss how these can be used to reason about considerations such as preservation of requirements and iterative changes throughout the design process and provide some small examples of this

Contracts in Practice

Contracts are a form of lightweight formal specification embedded in the program text. Being executable parts of the code, they encourage programmers to devote proper attention to specifications, and help maintain consistency between specification and implementation as the program evolves. The present study investigates how contracts are used in the practice of software development. Based on an extensive empirical analysis of 21 contract-equipped Eiffel, C#, and Java projects totaling more than 260 million lines of code over 7700 revisions, it explores, among other questions: 1) which kinds of contract elements (preconditions, postconditions, class invariants) are used more often; 2) how contracts evolve over time; 3) the relationship between implementation changes and contract changes; and 4) the role of inheritance in the process. It has found, among other results, that: the percentage of program elements that include contracts is above 33% for most projects and tends to be stable over time; there is no strong preference for a certain type of contract element; contracts are quite stable compared to implementations; and inheritance does not significantly affect qualitative trends of contract usage

Theoretical analysis of the philosophy and practice of disciplined inquiry

2015 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation theoretically examined the process of disciplined inquiry in the social sciences from its philosophical foundations to its extensions into practice. Key to conceptualization of disciplined inquiry were two regulative ideals: the commitment to the concepts that define the possibility of experience and the commitment to processes for combining the concepts of experience. The paradigm theory of Lincoln, Lynham, and Guba (e.g., Lincoln & Lynham, 2011; Lincoln, Lynham, & Guba, 2011) provided a sophisticated explanation of the possibility of experience that inquirers can commit to when engaging in disciplined inquires. Review of literature revealed an inadequacy in the state of theoretical understanding of processes for combining the concepts of experience. To develop a theoretical agenda of research for disciplined inquiry, the literature on paradigm theory and theory building was analyzed. A historical analysis of paradigm theory revealed milestones in more than 40 years of inquiry focused on conceptualization of the theory. A reverse engineering analysis theoretically examined paradigm theory and its milestones identified from the historical analysis for key features of the theoretical process. A revised conceptualization of disciplined inquiry was presented and a theoretical agenda for developing the underlying theoretical framework for the processes of combining the concepts of experience was outlined

The politics of policy-mix-making processes in sustainability transitions: exploring the failure of the Zero Carbon Homes policy mix in the UK

Understanding the politics and policymaking processes in sustainability transitions remains a crucially important challenge (Köhler et al., 2019). A number of recent contributions in the sustainability transitions literature have started to explore these themes, drawing from various disciplines and approaches. These include theories of the policy process (for a review Kern & Rogge, 2017); power relations and agency (Flor Avelino, 2011) and institutional literatures (Andrews-Speed, 2016; Lockwood, Kuzemko, Mitchell, & Hoggett, 2017). Authors have pointed to insights which are useful for conceptualising certain aspects of the overarching multi-faceted processes of policymaking, but there is less attention to linking these ideas or approaches to processes of socio-technical change in a co-evolutionary manner. Developing such a co-evolutionary perspective can help better explain policy outputs as a result of socio-technical change, and how these outputs then stimulate subsequent sociotechnical change. Understanding this dynamic relationship can also help explain policy change or stability over time. Perhaps more importantly, many of the aforementioned contributions have only focussed on single policy instruments and their revisions over time. However, due to the scale, complexity and urgency of sustainability transitions, scholars and practitioners have increasingly recognised the need to implement combinations of multiple policy instruments, coordinated to meet an overall transition strategy (Rogge, Kern, & Howlett, 2017). Accordingly, the policymaking processes for such ‘policy mixes’ are more complex, and both their design and analysis are more challenging. However, despite several calls for more attention to processes underpinning the development of policy mixes over time, there remains little substantive conceptual development. While it is beyond the scope of a single doctoral thesis to synthesise the aforementioned multitude of insights, ideas and approaches related to policy-mix-making processes, the thesis takes a step forward in this regard. It links policymaking processes, socio-technical change, and political and policymaking institutions, to better conceptualise the development of policy mixes aimed at fostering socio-technical change towards sustainability. The thesis first develops (paper 1) and applies (paper 2) a co-evolutionary framework to conceptualise interactions of policy-mix-change and socio-technical change over time. The framework is mostly endogenously orientated in its explanation of change, drawing ideas from policy feedback theory. The central focus is how policy design choices alter actor behaviour to induce change in the socio-technical system, and generate incentives for actors to participate in subsequent policymaking. The core idea of policy feedback is that new policy can stimulate change in ways which helps stabilise it (making it increasingly locked-in over time), or which undermine it. The thesis then turns to institutional literature (paper 3) to help explain how the interests of actors are translated into policy outputs by paying attention to the institutional structure in which the policymaking process plays out. While this approach also contains endogenous elements, it also looks exogenously at the influence of political and policymaking institutional arrangements to analyse their influence on decision-making and policy outputs. The thesis utilises these analytical approaches to help explain the failed transition of domestic housing in the UK, specifically focussing on the Zero Carbon Homes policy mix between 2006 and 2016. The analysis of a failed attempt of a transition not only generates case-specific insights, but also helps identify more generic implications for policymaking about negative dynamics and makes recommendations to avoid their reoccurrence. Paper 2 generate insights about: i) how a virtuous cycle can be offset, and how this could be avoided; ii) what limitations may prevent a policy mix from producing more positive feedback; and iii) how perceptions of policy mix credibility are formed and how these affect socio-technical change. Paper 3 builds upon these insights, paying attention to institutional factors which may limit positive feedbacks and affect policy mix credibility. The main contributions of the thesis are that it develops a novel co-evolutionary framework (paper 1), produces novel insights by applying this empirically (paper 2), before zooming-in on the policy subsystem and developing three heuristic forms of institutional arrangements which contributed to the failure of the zero carbon homes policy mix (paper 3). The thesis therefore links policy design literatures with policy-process theory and political science. By linking these more explicitly, it makes a contribution to the literature on the politics of transitions by generating insights about the influence of politics in policy-mix-making processes and the co-evolutionary relationship with socio-technical change. Ultimately, the thesis derives insights which may help practitioners and analysts make more informed policy design choices by ‘thinking-through’ the potential implications of policy-mix-making decisions. Accordingly, this may enable them to make choices which are not only more likely to achieve their respective policy objectives, but may also help to maintain political support over time

Guidelines for Developing a Campus Master Plan Document for Small Colleges and Universities

Problem. From a review of dissertations in the field of campus master planning, no study was found that attempted to identify the essential elements, principles, configuration and format of campus master plans for guiding small colleges and universities in developing a master plan document. The lack of this type of study left a void in the campus planning process in regards to developing a campus master plan, its purpose, and how it contributed to the overall strength of a small college or university with little campus planning experience. Results. A campus master plan document was developed from the summation of both the typology and the data master plans, globally representative. These results were organized to serve in a general sense for directing the composition, configuration and format of a campus master plan document. The intent of the study was serve as a guide or resource. Each institution will have unique features which would need to be incorporated into each institution\u27s particular planning document. However, one objective of this research was that the document could be adaptable to different regions, cultures, and environments. Conclusions. Campus master plan documents evolved over time and will continue to do so, partly because a document needs to be reflective of the local institution, situation, and needs. Any planning resource or materials used in the creation of a document need to be tempered by this purpose. Most of the master plan documents created in the 199Os and beyond will be for existing campuses. Individuals involved in campus planning will be faced mostly with additions to existing conditions, correcting past mistakes, and attempting to have linear integration of different campus plans and efforts into a continuous process of past and present harmony, with the constant possibility of future expansion. Campus master plan documents will need to be more of a loose-leaf and informal design, able to be updated and revised on a yearly basis. However, the overall themes of the plan need ta remain consistent. The yearly updates reflect the changing dynamics of the institution, yet the long-range view of the document should not be radically changed by these. Campus master plan documents have became increasingly shorter, possibly due to a higher percentage of colleges and universities contracting out master planning services to architects and consultants, usually with the charge of solving a particular problem. The resulting master plan documents, authored through these services, heavily reflected the problems needing solutions, without always keeping in view long range planning. Finally, although this study focused on the campus master plan document itself, it was recognized that the planning process and the curriculum of the institution shape the document. The document is only a result or product of the process, and as such cannot be taken out of that context

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Strategy process in manufacturing SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises)

Strategy process has been widely publicised during the last three decades, but what has been accomplished by strategy management literature in manufacturing small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs)? The application of strategy management in manufacturing SME practices can be seen as posing particular challenges. It is argued in literature that there is a need to understand whether and how managers in manufacturing SMEs have taken up the language and practice of planning, strategic analysis and execution. This research suggests a process and activity based approach to look at the practice of strategy management in SMEs in order to tackle this challenge. This exploratory study based on four comprehensive case studies investigates the strategy stories via exploring key strategic initiatives and activities, how they link together and which strategy tools, methods and techniques are used. This research concludes that a process based approach is useful and valid to understand strategy in SMEs because this view decomposes the process phases into activities which managers are more comfortable to talk through. However, we need to understand SME managers' language around strategising. There is an indication that if we change the language of SME managers, the findings of this study would map onto main stream strategy management theory clearly. It is found that the dynamics of the manufacturing SME strategy process have both emergent and planned dimensions. SME managers execute the strategy process mainly from an informal fashion by holding multiple functions and with limited application of strategy management methods and techniques. At an activity level, SMEs seem to be putting more emphasis on external environmental scanning (customers, suppliers, competitors, universities and lenders) and defining grand strategy and goals. This implies that SME strategy process is characterised by market based orientation, opportunity seeking and strategic awareness rather than resources or core competencies/ capabilities. Although this study's findings may be criticised because they are grounded on four companies, robust dimensions and insights into dynamics of the strategy process in manufacturing SMEs are achieved through saturation among emergent themes in data

Determinants of growth and profitability in small entrepreneurial firms in the manufacturing sector in Tayside

In 2 vols.Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN020029 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo