Evaluating Expert Estimators Based on Elicited Competences

Utilization of expert effort estimation approach shows promising results when it is applied to software development process. It is based on judgment and decision making process and due to comparative advantages extensively used especially in situations when classic models cannot be accounted for. This becomes even more accentuated in today’s highly dynamical project environment. Confronted with these facts companies are placing ever greater focus on their employees, specifically on their competences. Competences are defined as knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform job assignments. During effort estimation process different underlying expert competences influence the outcome i.e. judgments they express. Special problem here is the elicitation, from an input collection, of those competences that are responsible for accurate estimates. Based on these findings different measures can be taken to enhance estimation process. The approach used in study presented in this paper was targeted at elicitation of expert estimator competences responsible for production of accurate estimates. Based on individual competences scores resulting from performed modeling experts were ranked using weighted scoring method and their performance evaluated. Results confirm that experts with higher scores in competences identified by applied models in general exhibit higher accuracy during estimation process. For the purpose of modeling data mining methods were used, specifically the multilayer perceptron neural network and the classification and regression decision tree algorithms. Among other, applied methods are suitable for the purpose of elicitation as in a sense they mimic the ways human brains operate. Data used in the study was collected from real projects in the company specialized for development of IT solutions in telecom domain. The proposed model, applied methodology for elicitation of expert competences and obtained results give evidence that in future such a model can be used in practice to reduce estimation error and enhance expert effort estimation

Mining Competences of Expert Estimators

This paper reports on a study conducted with intention to identify competences of employees engaged on software development projects that are responsible for reliable effort estimation. Execution of assigned project tasks engages different human characteristics and effort estimation is integral part of development process. Competences are defined as knowledge , skills and abilities required to perform job assignments. As input data we used company internal classification and collection of employee competences together with data sets of task effort estimates from ten projects executed in a department of the company specialized for development of IT solutions in telecom domain. Techniques used for modeling are proven data mining methods, the neural network and decision tree algorithms. Results provided mapping of competences to effort estimates and represent valuable knowledge discovery that can be used in practice for selection and evaluation of expert effort estimators

Research, processing and analysis of exploitation reliability results of high-speed radial diesel engine

This paper presents the research on reliability of high-speed radial marine diesel engine Zvijezda M 504 B2 based on experimental data of malfunctions on the engine and time required for repair. Exploitation reliability and failure intensity were calculated from operational data collected from the engine log book. Results were tested by computer program to determine the relevance of the obtained results. Mathematically calculated reliability model of high-speed radial marine diesel engine Zvijezda M 504 B2 showed continuous increasing function of the intensity of failure and the fact that the reliability of the engine can be reliably approximated by Weibull distribution. Based on the obtained results it has been shown that this distribution, regardless of its complexity, should be used in practice when calculating reliability of engines with similar constant and growing malfunction’s intensity. The conclusion is that proposed distribution enables a better depiction of the observed technical system and the impact of aging of components on the system reliability

“Hybrid war(fare)” in the digital media under the national domain of the Republic of Croatia: a systematic review

Systematic reviews synthesize data from primary sources and offer a different form of insight into the problem. In this regard, the review presented provides results of a detailed analysis of digital media contents, available in national domain of the Republic of Croatia, that used the terms “hybrid war(fare)“ – often a label of contemporary wars. It was undertaken in the early 2020 and considers the total of 360 individual contents identified using Google tools. Results provide information regarding the sources, frequencies as well as typical cases and types of information in which the terms appeared. Initially used for the right purpose use of these terms peaked by the end of 2017 when they became a sort of a buzzword that began to be abused. Therefore finally, the authors propose possible measures to efficiently counteract this problem likewise hoping that this evidence-based analysis contributed to the body of knowledge in the field

Data Analysis of the Web News Headlines based on Natural Language Processing

This paper explores the problem of media content data analysis with the focus on the phenomenon of vaccination, closely related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The presented research is an extension of the previous work, but it differs in two main areas. Firstly, the text corpus submitted to the analysis has been considerably increased. Secondly, the previous data analysis was performed on the body part of the posts, while now it is focused on the most prominent part of the news posts, their headlines. This change from body to headline analysis was provoked by significant differences in their characteristics and the fact that most people read only headlines. Described data acquisition uses an advanced content collection approach followed by the modeling process, during which a set of natural language processing algorithms were applied. To enable the comparison, the model uses the same set of algorithms in the modeling phase like in previous work. The main contributions of the work are manifested in: i) approaching the problem from a new perspective, ii) applying more efficient method of data collection, and crucially iii) enabling the comparison of analysis results for individual parts of the content, which ensured a comprehensive insight into the characteristics of news posts

“Hybrid war(fare)” in the digital media under the national domain of the Republic of Croatia: a systematic review

Systematic reviews synthesize data from primary sources and offer a different form of insight into the problem. In this regard, the review presented provides results of a detailed analysis of digital media contents, available in national domain of the Republic of Croatia, that used the terms “hybrid war(fare)“ – often a label of contemporary wars. It was undertaken in the early 2020 and considers the total of 360 individual contents identified using Google tools. Results provide information regarding the sources, frequencies as well as typical cases and types of information in which the terms appeared. Initially used for the right purpose use of these terms peaked by the end of 2017 when they became a sort of a buzzword that began to be abused. Therefore finally, the authors propose possible measures to efficiently counteract this problem likewise hoping that this evidence-based analysis contributed to the body of knowledge in the field

“Hybrid war(fare)” in the digital media under the national domain of the Republic of Croatia: a systematic review

Systematic reviews synthesize data from primary sources and offer a different form of insight into the problem. In this regard, the review presented provides results of a detailed analysis of digital media contents, available in national domain of the Republic of Croatia, that used the terms “hybrid war(fare)“ – often a label of contemporary wars. It was undertaken in the early 2020 and considers the total of 360 individual contents identified using Google tools. Results provide information regarding the sources, frequencies as well as typical cases and types of information in which the terms appeared. Initially used for the right purpose use of these terms peaked by the end of 2017 when they became a sort of a buzzword that began to be abused. Therefore finally, the authors propose possible measures to efficiently counteract this problem likewise hoping that this evidence-based analysis contributed to the body of knowledge in the field

The Effects of Turnover on Expert Effort Estimation

Turnover of the personnel represents a serious issue for management of software projects. The buildup of competences and phasing in of the people into the project requires both time and effort. This paper presents a case study of a large in-house agile software development project. The research goal was to determine the effects that turnover has on the expert effort estimation. In order to do this, paper examines relations across empirical data on a studied project. Study findings are the following: a) it is necessary to distinguish types of turnover, b) the general and planned turnover do not necessarily have a negative effect on estimation accuracy, and c) the unplanned turnover can have a significant negative impact on the reliability of the estimates and therefore should be treated with special attention. Results suggest that these facts should be taken into account both by the management and human resources

The Effects of Turnover on Expert Effort Estimation

Turnover of the personnel represents a serious issue for management of software projects. The buildup of competences and phasing in of the people into the project requires both time and effort. This paper presents a case study of a large in-house agile software development project. The research goal was to determine the effects that turnover has on the expert effort estimation. In order to do this, paper examines relations across empirical data on a studied project. Study findings are the following: a) it is necessary to distinguish types of turnover, b) the general and planned turnover do not necessarily have a negative effect on estimation accuracy, and c) the unplanned turnover can have a significant negative impact on the reliability of the estimates and therefore should be treated with special attention. Results suggest that these facts should be taken into account both by the management and human resources