Towards a reference framework for open source software adoption

Nowadays, the use of Open Source Software (OSS) components has become a driver for the primary and secondary information technology (IT) sector, among other factors, by the openness and innovation benefits that can give to the organizations, regardless of its business model and activities' nature. Nevertheless, IT companies and organizations still face numerous difficulties and challenges when making the strategic move to OSS. OSS is aligned with new challenges, which mainly derive from the way OSS is produced and the culture and values of OSS communities. In fact, OSS adoption impacts far beyond technology, because it requires a change in the organizational culture and reshaping IT decision-makers mindset. Therefore, this research work proposes a framework to support OSS adopters (i.e., software-related organizations that develop software and/or offer services relate to software) to analyze and evaluate the impact of adopting OSS as part of their software products and/or services offered to their customers/users, mainly in terms of their software related activities.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Dealing with goal models complexity using topological metrics and algorithms

The inherent complexity of business goal-models is a challenge for organizations that has to analyze and maintaining them. Several approaches are developed to reduce the complexity into manageable limits, either by providing support to the modularization or designing metrics to monitor the complexity levels. These approaches are designed to identify an unusual complexity comparing it among models. In the present work, we expose two approaches based on structural characteristics of goal-model, which do not require these comparisons. The first one ranksthe importance of goalsto identify a manageable set of them that can be considered as a priority; the second one modularizes the model to reduce the effort to understand, analyze and maintain the model.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Towards an OSS adoption business impact assessment

Nowadays, the adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) by organizations is becoming a strategic need in a wide variety of application areas. Organizations adopt OSS in very diverse ways. The way in which they adopt OSS affects and shapes their businesses. Therefore, knowing the impact of different OSS adoption strategies in the context of an organization may help improving the processes undertaken inside this organization and ultimately pave the road to strategic moves. However, there is a lack of support for assessing the impact of the OSS adoption over the business of the adopter organizations. Based on the goal-oriented characterization of some OSS adoption strategies, in this paper, we propose a preliminary approach to assess the business impact of the OSS adoption strategies over the adopter organizations. The proposal is based on the Business Model Canvas and graph theory notions to support the elicitation and assessment of the impact of each goal over the adopter organization. We illustrate the application of the approach in the context of a telecommunications company.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Towards a reference framework for open source software adoption

Nowadays, the use of Open Source Software (OSS) components has become a driver for the primary and secondary information technology (IT) sector, among other factors, by the openness and innovation benefits that can give to the organizations, regardless of its business model and activities' nature. Nevertheless, IT companies and organizations still face numerous difficulties and challenges when making the strategic move to OSS. OSS is aligned with new challenges, which mainly derive from the way OSS is produced and the culture and values of OSS communities. In fact, OSS adoption impacts far beyond technology, because it requires a change in the organizational culture and reshaping IT decision-makers mindset. Therefore, this research work proposes a framework to support OSS adopters (i.e., software-related organizations that develop software and/or offer services relate to software) to analyze and evaluate the impact of adopting OSS as part of their software products and/or services offered to their customers/users, mainly in terms of their software related activities.Peer Reviewe

Dealing with goal models complexity using topological metrics and algorithms

The inherent complexity of business goal-models is a challenge for organizations that has to analyze and maintaining them. Several approaches are developed to reduce the complexity into manageable limits, either by providing support to the modularization or designing metrics to monitor the complexity levels. These approaches are designed to identify an unusual complexity comparing it among models. In the present work, we expose two approaches based on structural characteristics of goal-model, which do not require these comparisons. The first one ranksthe importance of goalsto identify a manageable set of them that can be considered as a priority; the second one modularizes the model to reduce the effort to understand, analyze and maintain the model.Peer Reviewe

Dealing with goal models complexity using topological metrics and algorithms

The inherent complexity of business goal-models is a challenge for organizations that has to analyze and maintaining them. Several approaches are developed to reduce the complexity into manageable limits, either by providing support to the modularization or designing metrics to monitor the complexity levels. These approaches are designed to identify an unusual complexity comparing it among models. In the present work, we expose two approaches based on structural characteristics of goal-model, which do not require these comparisons. The first one ranksthe importance of goalsto identify a manageable set of them that can be considered as a priority; the second one modularizes the model to reduce the effort to understand, analyze and maintain the model.Peer Reviewe

Towards an OSS adoption business impact assessment

Nowadays, the adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) by organizations is becoming a strategic need in a wide variety of application areas. Organizations adopt OSS in very diverse ways. The way in which they adopt OSS affects and shapes their businesses. Therefore, knowing the impact of different OSS adoption strategies in the context of an organization may help improving the processes undertaken inside this organization and ultimately pave the road to strategic moves. However, there is a lack of support for assessing the impact of the OSS adoption over the business of the adopter organizations. Based on the goal-oriented characterization of some OSS adoption strategies, in this paper, we propose a preliminary approach to assess the business impact of the OSS adoption strategies over the adopter organizations. The proposal is based on the Business Model Canvas and graph theory notions to support the elicitation and assessment of the impact of each goal over the adopter organization. We illustrate the application of the approach in the context of a telecommunications company.Peer Reviewe

Language learning strategies and affect

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3278.245(no 59) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Aligning business goals and risks in OSS adoption

Increasing adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) requires a change in the organizational culture and reshaping IT decision-makers mindset. Adopting OSS software components introduces some risks that can affect the adopter organization’s business goals, therefore they need to be considered. To assess these risks, it is required to understand the socio-technical structures that interrelate the stakeholders in the OSS ecosystem, and how these structures may propagate the potential risks to them. In this paper, we study the connection be-tween OSS adoption risks and OSS adopter organizations’ business goals. We propose a model-based approach and analysis framework that combines two ex-isting frameworks: the i* framework to model and reason about business goals, and the RiskML notation to represent and analyse OSS adoption risks. We illus-trate our approach with data drawn from an industrial partner organization in a joint EU project.Peer Reviewe

Global variation in postoperative mortality and complications after cancer surgery: a multicentre, prospective cohort study in 82 countries

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licenseBackground: 80% of individuals with cancer will require a surgical procedure, yet little comparative data exist on early outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared postoperative outcomes in breast, colorectal, and gastric cancer surgery in hospitals worldwide, focusing on the effect of disease stage and complications on postoperative mortality. Methods: This was a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of consecutive adult patients undergoing surgery for primary breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer requiring a skin incision done under general or neuraxial anaesthesia. The primary outcome was death or major complication within 30 days of surgery. Multilevel logistic regression determined relationships within three-level nested models of patients within hospitals and countries. Hospital-level infrastructure effects were explored with three-way mediation analyses. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03471494. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and Jan 31, 2019, we enrolled 15 958 patients from 428 hospitals in 82 countries (high income 9106 patients, 31 countries; upper-middle income 2721 patients, 23 countries; or lower-middle income 4131 patients, 28 countries). Patients in LMICs presented with more advanced disease compared with patients in high-income countries. 30-day mortality was higher for gastric cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (adjusted odds ratio 3·72, 95% CI 1·70–8·16) and for colorectal cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (4·59, 2·39–8·80) and upper-middle-income countries (2·06, 1·11–3·83). No difference in 30-day mortality was seen in breast cancer. The proportion of patients who died after a major complication was greatest in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (6·15, 3·26–11·59) and upper-middle-income countries (3·89, 2·08–7·29). Postoperative death after complications was partly explained by patient factors (60%) and partly by hospital or country (40%). The absence of consistently available postoperative care facilities was associated with seven to 10 more deaths per 100 major complications in LMICs. Cancer stage alone explained little of the early variation in mortality or postoperative complications. Interpretation: Higher levels of mortality after cancer surgery in LMICs was not fully explained by later presentation of disease. The capacity to rescue patients from surgical complications is a tangible opportunity for meaningful intervention. Early death after cancer surgery might be reduced by policies focusing on strengthening perioperative care systems to detect and intervene in common complications. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Unit