The repository-based software engineering program: Redefining AdaNET as a mainstream NASA source

The Repository-based Software Engineering Program (RBSE) is described to inform and update senior NASA managers about the program. Background and historical perspective on software reuse and RBSE for NASA managers who may not be familiar with these topics are provided. The paper draws upon and updates information from the RBSE Concept Document, baselined by NASA Headquarters, Johnson Space Center, and the University of Houston - Clear Lake in April 1992. Several of NASA's software problems and what RBSE is now doing to address those problems are described. Also, next steps to be taken to derive greater benefit from this Congressionally-mandated program are provided. The section on next steps describes the need to work closely with other NASA software quality, technology transfer, and reuse activities and focuses on goals and objectives relative to this need. RBSE's role within NASA is addressed; however, there is also the potential for systematic transfer of technology outside of NASA in later stages of the RBSE program. This technology transfer is discussed briefly

Evaluating Legacy System Migration Technologies through Empirical Studies

We present two controlled experiments conducted with master students and practitioners and a case study conducted with practitioners to evaluate the use of MELIS (Migration Environment for Legacy Information Systems) for the migration of legacy COBOL programs to the web. MELIS has been developed as an Eclipse plug-in within a technology transfer project conducted with a small software company [16]. The partner company has developed and marketed in the last 30 years several COBOL systems that need to be migrated to the web, due to the increasing requests of the customers. The goal of the technology transfer project was to define a systematic migration strategy and the supporting tools to migrate these COBOL systems to the web and make the partner company an owner of the developed technology. The goal of the controlled experiments and case study was to evaluate the effectiveness of introducing MELIS in the partner company and compare it with traditional software development environments. The results of the overall experimentation show that the use of MELIS increases the productivity and reduces the gap between novice and expert software engineers

Software development in startup companies: A systematic mapping study

Context: Software startups are newly created companies with no operating history and fast in producing cutting-edge technologies. These companies develop software under highly uncertain conditions, tackling fast-growing markets under severe lack of resources. Therefore, software startups present an unique combination of characteristics which pose several challenges to software development activities. Objective: This study aims to structure and analyze the literature on software development in startup companies, determining thereby the potential for technology transfer and identifying software development work practices reported by practitioners and researchers. Method: We conducted a systematic mapping study, developing a classification schema, ranking the selected primary studies according their rigor and relevance, and analyzing reported software development work practices in startups. Results: A total of 43 primary studies were identified and mapped, synthesizing the available evidence on software development in startups. Only 16 studies are entirely dedicated to software development in startups, of which 10 result in a weak contribution (advice and implications (6); lesson learned (3); tool (1)). Nineteen studies focus on managerial and organizational factors. Moreover, only 9 studies exhibit high scientific rigor and relevance. From the reviewed primary studies, 213 software engineering work practices were extracted, categorized and analyzed. Conclusion: This mapping study provides the first systematic exploration of the state-of-art on software startup research. The existing body of knowledge is limited to a few high quality studies. Furthermore, the results indicate that software engineering work practices are chosen opportunistically, adapted and configured to provide value under the constrains imposed by the startup context

Technology use by a college of education faculty and factors influencing integration of technology in an undergraduate teacher preparation program

This study describes current levels of technology use by a College of Education (COE) faculty and use of technology in teaching classes. In addition, the formation of a systematic plan for integrating technology throughout the teacher preparation programs was explored. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this two-phase study; Phase I survey results suggested that although 93% of faculty believed technology in teacher education was very important or somewhat important, use of technology in teaching was limited. Consistent with previous findings on university faculty use of technology, COE faculty rated themselves as having high levels of knowledge and skill with using various computer-based technologies (i.e., word processing, computer spreadsheets, statistical computing, e-mail, educational software, presentation software, Internet/World Wide Web, and multimedia). However, this confidence did not necessarily transfer to use of technology in teaching. Over 50% of tenured/tenure-track faculty reported use of technology in teaching at least once during the Spring 1997 semester while no more than 30% of affiliate faculty reported using it in teaching; Phase II case study data were collected from interviews, observations, and documents. Data were examined using the framework developed by Fullan and Hargreaves (1996): (a) teacher\u27s purpose, (b) teacher as person, (c) context of teaching, and (d) culture of teaching; Findings describe the manner in which case study participants used technology in their teaching as an add-on, a communication medium, a resource, and a teaching/learning tool. Commitment, a factor within teacher as person, was found to be a critical element in adopting use of technology in teaching regardless of an individual\u27s technology expertise. Efforts to plan for systematic integration of technology throughout the COE teacher preparation programs were met by resistance due to the issue of academic freedom and more pressing concerns such as reorganization of the COE; Although findings of this study are limited to one COE setting, a complex variety of factors influencing the integration of technology in teacher education are described, and the importance of support personnel is reinforced. Recommendations for other colleges of education attempting to integrate technology into teacher education programs are included

Supporting Defect Causal Analysis in Practice with Cross-Company Data on Causes of Requirements Engineering Problems

[Context] Defect Causal Analysis (DCA) represents an efficient practice to improve software processes. While knowledge on cause-effect relations is helpful to support DCA, collecting cause-effect data may require significant effort and time. [Goal] We propose and evaluate a new DCA approach that uses cross-company data to support the practical application of DCA. [Method] We collected cross-company data on causes of requirements engineering problems from 74 Brazilian organizations and built a Bayesian network. Our DCA approach uses the diagnostic inference of the Bayesian network to support DCA sessions. We evaluated our approach by applying a model for technology transfer to industry and conducted three consecutive evaluations: (i) in academia, (ii) with industry representatives of the Fraunhofer Project Center at UFBA, and (iii) in an industrial case study at the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES). [Results] We received positive feedback in all three evaluations and the cross-company data was considered helpful for determining main causes. [Conclusions] Our results strengthen our confidence in that supporting DCA with cross-company data is promising and should be further investigated.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for the 39th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE'17

Metadata analysis of systematic literature reviews on academic spin-offs: an overview of reviews

Besides assuming the role of teaching, research, and extension, the university, has expanded the boundaries of scientific knowledge to promote a business ecosystem. The business-related activities can be driven by the leadership of students with an entrepreneurial capacity, based on the technology transfer produced by the academic research and generated by companies that somehow have been idealized or had the active participation of the faculty members and the technology under their control. This model of companies, named in the literature as academic spin-off, has increased the attention of researchers at two main points: i. understanding the phenomenon itself and ii. contribute to identifying the lack of the process, whether related to the support structure or capacitation of faculty members to develop the entrepreneurial activities, as well as in understanding the commercialization of knowledge as technology transfer. In this context, the present work provided a metadata analysis of systematic literature reviews on the academic spin-off, mapping the knowledge on the subject and searching for reviews that cover the technology transfer models to study the viability of protecting the academic intellectual property as a product. Methodology: the data used in this study were retrieved from the database Web of Science and revised according to the protocol Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The bibliometric analysis of metadata was conducted in RStudio software with the package Bibliometrix and its web interface Biblioshiny. Results: 40 review articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2006 to 2021 were selected from the initial collection. Then, as result of the bibliometric analysis, it was obtained the data of production indices (main authors, sources, and most cited articles), the evolution of chronological discussion on the subject, and other complementary. Conclusion: it was found indications of studies that discuss technology transfer models and others that examined empiric models in the academic scenario. However, in the selected collection, was not identified any review papers on academic entrepreneurship that were related to the viability of intellectual property as products to be commercialized. Also, it was identified that the word academic entrepreneurship stands out as the main keyword word to represent the research