A Hybrid Model for Dynamic Simulation of Custom Software Projects in a Multiproject Environment

This paper describes SimHiProS, a hybrid simulation model of software production. The goal is to gain insight on the dynamics induced by resource sharing in multiproject management. In order to achieve it the hierarchy of decisions in a multiproject organization is modeled and some resource allocation methods based on algorithms from the OR/AI domain are used. Other critical issues such as the hybrid nature of software production and the effects of measurement and control are also incorporated in the model. Some first results are presented.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2004-06689-C03-03Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2007-67843-C06-0

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Software process simulation modeling : an extended systematic review

Software Process Simulation Modeling (SPSM) research has increased in the past two decades, especially since the first ProSimWorkshop held in 1998. Our research aims to systematically assess how SPSM has evolved during the past 10 years in particular whether the purposes for SPSM, the simulation paradigms, tools, research topics, and the model scopes and outputs have changed. We performed a systematic literature review of the SPSM research in two subsequent stages, and identified 156 relevant studies in four categories. This paper reports the review process of the second stage and the preliminary results by aggregating studies from the two stages. Although the load of SPSM studies was dominated in ProSim/ICSP community, the outside research presented more diversity in some aspects. We also perceived an immediate need for refining and updating the reasons and the classification scheme for SPSM introduced by Kellner, Madachy and Raffo (KMR)

An empirical investigation into social productivity of a software process.

The actual and expected benefits of fostering the alignment of people factors and cooperation among software development teams enables software development organization to improve software development productivity. Furthermore, software development productivity presents a significant challenge for both understanding and quantifying the performance characteristics of software development organizations. This paper introduces an approach to model software development productivity by using structural equation modeling (SEM), a technique that can be used for testing and estimating relationships using empirical data. We also present preliminary results from an exploratory study about the enabling social factors that affect software development productivity. Our quantitative analysis involves grouping productivity and social productivity factors for studying and identifying their implicit relationship. To this end, we issue questionnaires to test our hypothesis and to gather sample data. The paper concludes by showing initial results, limitations, and directions for future research