Model-driven design, simulation and implementation of service compositions in COSMO

The success of software development projects to a large extent depends on the quality of the models that are produced in the development process, which in turn depends on the conceptual and practical support that is available for modelling, design and analysis. This paper focuses on model-driven support for service-oriented software development. In particular, it addresses how services and compositions of services can be designed, simulated and implemented. The support presented is part of a larger framework, called COSMO (COnceptual Service MOdelling). Whereas in previous work we reported on the conceptual support provided by COSMO, in this paper we proceed with a discussion of the practical support that has been developed. We show how reference models (model types) and guidelines (design steps) can be iteratively applied to design service compositions at a platform independent level and discuss what tool support is available for the design and analysis during this phase. Next, we present some techniques to transform a platform independent service composition model to an implementation in terms of BPEL and WSDL. We use the mediation scenario of the SWS challenge (concerning the establishment of a purchase order between two companies) to illustrate our application of the COSMO framework

Usability requirements for architectural analysis tool to support CBD

Component-based development is an architecture-centric process that relies on the integration of pre-fabricated software components. These are often blackbox components whose functionality and configuration may not match the “ideal” system architecture. Systematic architectural analysis can help ensure that risks resulting from architectural adaptations and trade-offs do not adversely affect critical system qualities (e.g. performance, security and modifiability). However, architectural analysis is a complex activity that involves planning, analysis, negotiation and assessment of large amounts of interrelated, often conflicting information. Good tool support is therefore essential for effective architectural analysis. However, the success of a tool depended not only on powerful analysis methods but also on the quality of the toolset's usability. This paper presents functional and non-functional requirements of the tool’s user interface, and discusses the HCI design principles and guidelines in designing a high-quality user interface that would allow developers to parse, analyse and modify architecture specification easily and effectively

A Survey of Clinical Governance Success in University Hospitals in Tehran

Background & Objectives: Clinical Governance (CG) is an organizational strategy for maintaining and improving the quality and safety of patient care and increasing employees’ and managers’ responsiveness and accountability through developing an appropriate organizational structure and culture as well as developing, implementing and monitoring clinical guidelines, pathways and standards. This study aimed to examine the success of CG implementation in university hospitals, in Tehran, Iran. Methods: In this descriptive analytic study, a researcher-made questionnaire was filled out by managers and CG executive managers of 39 university hospitals in Tehran/ Iran. Data analysis was done through SPSS software and using Pearson, Spearman and logistic regression. Results: Clinical Governance was moderately successful in Tehran university hospitals (58%). The most success was achieved in patient involvement and risk management dimensions and the least success was observed in clinical effectiveness and clinical audit dimensions. Management and leadership and clinical audit had the most effect on CG success. The involvement and commitment of managers and employees in implementing CG were moderate and physicians’ involvement and commitment was poor. The length of CG implementation time had significant relationship with managers’ and employees’ commitment and CG success. Conclusion: Clinical governance was not successful in Tehran university hospitals. Active involvement and commitment of top managers, staff empowering, patient centeredness, evidence-based practice, and clinical audit are necessary for successful CG implementation. Key­words: Quality management, Clinical governance, Hospital, Critical success factors ­Citation: Mosadeghrad AM, Arab M, Shahidi Sadeghi N. A Survey of Clinical Governance Success in University Hospitals in Tehran. Journal of Health Based Research 2019; 5(1): 101-16. [In Persian

How to Ask for Technical Help? Evidence-based Guidelines for Writing Questions on Stack Overflow

Context: The success of Stack Overflow and other community-based question-and-answer (Q&A) sites depends mainly on the will of their members to answer others' questions. In fact, when formulating requests on Q&A sites, we are not simply seeking for information. Instead, we are also asking for other people's help and feedback. Understanding the dynamics of the participation in Q&A communities is essential to improve the value of crowdsourced knowledge. Objective: In this paper, we investigate how information seekers can increase the chance of eliciting a successful answer to their questions on Stack Overflow by focusing on the following actionable factors: affect, presentation quality, and time. Method: We develop a conceptual framework of factors potentially influencing the success of questions in Stack Overflow. We quantitatively analyze a set of over 87K questions from the official Stack Overflow dump to assess the impact of actionable factors on the success of technical requests. The information seeker reputation is included as a control factor. Furthermore, to understand the role played by affective states in the success of questions, we qualitatively analyze questions containing positive and negative emotions. Finally, a survey is conducted to understand how Stack Overflow users perceive the guideline suggestions for writing questions. Results: We found that regardless of user reputation, successful questions are short, contain code snippets, and do not abuse with uppercase characters. As regards affect, successful questions adopt a neutral emotional style. Conclusion: We provide evidence-based guidelines for writing effective questions on Stack Overflow that software engineers can follow to increase the chance of getting technical help. As for the role of affect, we empirically confirmed community guidelines that suggest avoiding rudeness in question writing.Comment: Preprint, to appear in Information and Software Technolog

Video Game Development in a Rush: A Survey of the Global Game Jam Participants

Video game development is a complex endeavor, often involving complex software, large organizations, and aggressive release deadlines. Several studies have reported that periods of "crunch time" are prevalent in the video game industry, but there are few studies on the effects of time pressure. We conducted a survey with participants of the Global Game Jam (GGJ), a 48-hour hackathon. Based on 198 responses, the results suggest that: (1) iterative brainstorming is the most popular method for conceptualizing initial requirements; (2) continuous integration, minimum viable product, scope management, version control, and stand-up meetings are frequently applied development practices; (3) regular communication, internal playtesting, and dynamic and proactive planning are the most common quality assurance activities; and (4) familiarity with agile development has a weak correlation with perception of success in GGJ. We conclude that GGJ teams rely on ad hoc approaches to development and face-to-face communication, and recommend some complementary practices with limited overhead. Furthermore, as our findings are similar to recommendations for software startups, we posit that game jams and the startup scene share contextual similarities. Finally, we discuss the drawbacks of systemic "crunch time" and argue that game jam organizers are in a good position to problematize the phenomenon.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Game

Modeling the object-oriented software process: OPEN and the unified process

A short introduction to software process modeling is presented, particularly object-oriented modeling. Two major industrial process models are discussed: the OPEN model and the Unified Process model. In more detail, the quality assurance in the Unified Process tool (formally called Objectory) is reviewed

The Real World Software Process

The industry-wide demand for rapid development in concert with greater process maturity has seen many software development firms adopt tightly structured iterative processes. While a number of commercial vendors offer suitable process infrastructure and tool support, the cost of licensing, configuration and staff training may be prohibitive for the small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) which dominate the Asia-Pacific software industry. This work addresses these problems through the introduction of the Real World Software Process (RWSP), a freely available, Web-based iterative scheme designed specifically for small teams and organisations. RWSP provides a detailed process description, high quality document templates - including code review and inspection guidelines - and the integrated tutorial support necessary for successful usage by inexperienced developers and teams. In particular it is intended that the process be readily usable by software houses which at present do not follow a formal process, and that the free RWSP process infrastructure should be a vehicle for improving industry standards