A Market-Based Approach to Facilitate the Organizational Adoption of Software Component Reuse Strategies

Despite the theoretical benefits of software component reuse (and the abundance of component-based software development on the vendor side), the adoption of component reuse strategies at the organizational level (on the client side) remains low in practice. According to research, the main barrier to advancing component-based reuse strategies into a robust industrial process is coordination failures between software producers and their customers, which result in high acquisition costs for customers. We introduce a component reuse licensing model and combine it with a dynamic price discovery mechanism to better coordinate producers’ capabilities and customer needs. Using an economic experiment with 28 IT professionals, we investigate the extent to which organizations may be able to leverage component reuse for performance improvements. Our findings suggest that implementing component reuse can assist organizations in addressing the issue of coordination failure with software producers while also lowering acquisition costs. We argue that similar designs can be deployed in practice and deliver benefits to software development in organizations and the software industry

When is it Feasible (or Desirable) to use the Software Acquisition Pathway?

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumDoD Instruction 5000.87 establishes a Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP) “for the efficient and effective acquisition, development, integration, and timely delivery of secure software” (Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, 2020, p. 1). Under SWP, programs are required to deliver a Minimum Viable Capability Release (MVCR) deployed to an operational environment within 1 year of initial funding. This MVCR must be secure and suitable for operational deployment and must enhance warfighting capability. This paper discusses the challenge of determining for a software development effort whether the minimum capabilities that meet these criteria and enable ongoing agile development can plausibly be developed, tested, and operationally deployed in less than a year. We use a standard software cost and schedule model to derive bounds on the size of software that can be developed and ready to field in 12 months. The study concludes that many DoD software acquisitions will require too much development effort for the MVCR to comply with the SWP deadline if SWP is used from program initiation. We propose some criteria the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment might use to determine whether the SWP is appropriate for a particular new or existing program or software development project. We also consider development strategies that might improve the chances of success in using the SWP, including how non-SWP programs and projects should be architected if the intent is to later transition to SWP.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Xampling: Signal Acquisition and Processing in Union of Subspaces

We introduce Xampling, a unified framework for signal acquisition and processing of signals in a union of subspaces. The main functions of this framework are two. Analog compression that narrows down the input bandwidth prior to sampling with commercial devices. A nonlinear algorithm then detects the input subspace prior to conventional signal processing. A representative union model of spectrally-sparse signals serves as a test-case to study these Xampling functions. We adopt three metrics for the choice of analog compression: robustness to model mismatch, required hardware accuracy and software complexities. We conduct a comprehensive comparison between two sub-Nyquist acquisition strategies for spectrally-sparse signals, the random demodulator and the modulated wideband converter (MWC), in terms of these metrics and draw operative conclusions regarding the choice of analog compression. We then address lowrate signal processing and develop an algorithm for that purpose that enables convenient signal processing at sub-Nyquist rates from samples obtained by the MWC. We conclude by showing that a variety of other sampling approaches for different union classes fit nicely into our framework.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, submitted to IEEE for possible publicatio

On Open and Collaborative Software Development in the DoD

Proceedings Paper (for Acquisition Research Program)The US Department of Defense (specifically, but not limited to, the DoD CIO Clarifying Guidance Regarding Open Source Software, DISA launch of Forge.mil and OSD Open Technology Development Roadmap Plan) has called for increased use of open source software and the adoption of best practices from the free/open source software (F/OSS) community to foster greater reuse and innovation between programs in the DoD. In our paper, we examine some key aspects of open and collaborative software development inspired by the success of the F/OSS movement as it might manifest itself within the US DoD. This examination is made from two perspectives: the reuse potential among DoD programs sharing software and the incentives, strategies and policies that will be required to foster a culture of collaboration needed to achieve the benefits indicative of F/OSS. Our conclusion is that to achieve predictable and expected reuse, not only are technical infrastructures needed, but also a shift to the business practices in the software development and delivery pattern seen in the traditional acquisition lifecycle is needed. Thus, there is potential to overcome the challenges discussed within this paper to engender a culture of openness and community collaboration to support the DoD mission.Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research ProgramApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

CUSTOMER LOYALTY - THE MAJOR GOAL OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

This paper presents the importance of customer relationship management (CRM) and customer loyalty for any organization that whishes to be successful and competitive in the market. A new emphasis in marketing and CRM is more and more widespread - creating customer relationships.In a competitive environment, the organizations have to focus their efforts towards continuous meeting both current and potential needs of all their customers. Many organizations have to consider how to enter a market and then build and protect its competitive position. Traditional marketing has focused on the final consumer seeking to promote brand values and to generate forced demand on the company's product market. The development of the concepts of segmentation, targeting and positioning signified the organizations' refocusing from the market approach as a whole, respectively the "mass market", to targeting and positioning strategies developed to suit the characteristics of the target segments chosen by the organization. The emergence and development of a distinct concept of customer relationship management and CRM software solutions design led to increasing focus on customer organization strategy. In addition to the strategy dedicated to a particular target segment, organizations have begun to design strategies and programs aimed at developing strategic relationships with specific strategic customers.The purpose of any customer relationship strategy should be customer acquisition and retention.Organizations should strive to develop CRM strategies to maintain and strengthen customer loyalty of the important customersmarketing, customer relationship management, customer orientation, customer acquisition, customer loyalty

Signal and System Design for Wireless Power Transfer : Prototype, Experiment and Validation

A new line of research on communications and signals design for Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) has recently emerged in the communication literature. Promising signal strategies to maximize the power transfer efficiency of WPT rely on (energy) beamforming, waveform, modulation and transmit diversity, and a combination thereof. To a great extent, the study of those strategies has so far been limited to theoretical performance analysis. In this paper, we study the real over-the-air performance of all the aforementioned signal strategies for WPT. To that end, we have designed, prototyped and experimented an innovative radiative WPT architecture based on Software-Defined Radio (SDR) that can operate in open-loop and closed-loop (with channel acquisition at the transmitter) modes. The prototype consists of three important blocks, namely the channel estimator, the signal generator, and the energy harvester. The experiments have been conducted in a variety of deployments, including frequency flat and frequency selective channels, under static and mobility conditions. Experiments highlight that a channeladaptive WPT architecture based on joint beamforming and waveform design offers significant performance improvements in harvested DC power over conventional single-antenna/multiantenna continuous wave systems. The experimental results fully validate the observations predicted from the theoretical signal designs and confirm the crucial and beneficial role played by the energy harvester nonlinearity.Comment: Accepted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication

DESIGNING SPEECH INTERFACE APPLICATIONS FOR ACQUISITION OF AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION

It will be argued that customary software design strategies, by themselves, fall short when designing speech recognition applications. Concepts of experimental design and analysis are also necessary for developing speech interface software. This study demonstrates that these tools can be advantageous to the software developer, especially if the prototype methodology model of software development is applied. A case study for the problem of developing a speech interface for collecting, or mapping, information on cotton plant growth is presented. The acquisition of cotton plant map data is a \u27hands and eyes\u27 busy task that requires considerable investment to record and convert hand-written data sheets into computer data files. The project goal is to develop software that converts spoken key words and phrases describing a cotton plant into text \u27strings\u27 that are subsequently manipulated into a computer ready data file

Effectiveness of Instructional Strategies Emphasizing Cooperative Learning in the Acquisition of English by Taiwanese University Students

The primary purpose of this study was to explore and analyze Taiwanese university students in the effectiveness of cooperative learning strategies in the acquisition of English. This study employed the Theory of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Cooperative Learning (CL) as the framework to explain the interrelationship among second language learner factors, cooperative learning strategies, and English language proficiency (ELP). This nonexperimental, correlational study used convenience sampling. Participants from Taiwan received e-mail invitations and voluntarily completed the online survey questionnaires. The survey was administered to a sample of undergraduate students who had attended the daytime Fortune Institute of Technology of Kaohsiung in Taiwan and had studied English as a foreign language. There were 396 online questionnaires applicable for data analysis. There were three significant variables in this research, including language learner factors, cooperative learning strategies, and English language proficiency. The independent variables were language learner factors and cooperative learning strategies. The dependent variable was English language proficiency. Language learner factors were measured by Taiwanese university students\u27 perceptions of learning English and included six dimensions: motivational intensity, language classroom anxiety, language aptitude, classroom social distance, frequency of participation in cooperative learning, and English language proficiency. The content of the online survey included two parts. The first part contained socio-demographic characteristics of gender, age, education category and years of experience learning English. The second part inquired about language learner factors, cooperative learning strategies, and English language proficiency. The data analysis employed the statistical software of SPSS to conduct descriptive analysis, multiple regression analysis, reliability analysis, and validity analysis. Findings indicated that learner factors of motivation, anxiety, language aptitude, social distance, and learning strategies had a strong positive and significant relationship with English language proficiency. In addition, frequency of participation in cooperative learning strategies had a moderately strong relationship with English language acquisition proficiency. Findings also indicated age and gender of learner factors rarely appear to affect English language proficiency, but these may be fundamental requirements for English language acquisition proficiency. The practical implications, limitations, and recommendations for future study are further discussed

Software application for computer aided vocabulary learning in a blended learning environment

This study focuses on the effect of computer-aided vocabulary learning software called \u27ArabCAVL on students\u27 vocabulary acquisition. It was hypothesized that students who use the ArabCAVL software in blended learning environment will surpass students who use traditional vocabulary learning strategies in face-to-face learning environment even though both groups were using the same framework for introducing vocabulary. Pre-test and post-test were used for assessing the previously mentioned factors, while a questionnaire with open-ended questions was used to elicit students\u27 attitudes toward using the software. Despite the fact that both the Nation (2001) framework and the ArabCAVL software showed a significant increase in students\u27 vocabulary recognition and usage, the results of the treatment group exposed to ArabCAVL software were clearly higher than those of the control group. Finally, the results supported the previously mentioned hypothesis, and it was shown that students had a positive attitude toward the software

Software for Beam Diagnostics Front-End Systems: Synchronization and Implementation Issues

Front-end software systems used for beam diagnostics at CERN's PS accelerator complex perform control and data acquisition of local hardware components in synchronization with specific accelerator events. The principal part of the software is generally hosted in a VME create, which drives all system components, provides interactivity with the general controls environment through networking and decouples the networking layer from the machine layer. Using three real-world examples of operational instrumentation systems, namely the beam intensity measurement between the PS-Booster and the PS, the AD Coherent Oscillations measurement and the PS Closed-Orbit Synchronization, the paper describes their synchronization to accelerator events and states. Sometimes these instrumentation systems are subject to complex real-time constraints and external conditions. The strategies to meet these requirements in the real-time software are discussed in the context of the general design and implementation in the PS control system environment