Software Development Expertise Research Articles

A demonstration-based model transformation approach to automate model scalability

An important aspect during software development is the ability to evolve and scale software models in order to handle design forces, such as enlarging and upgrading system features, or allocating more resources to handle additional users. Model scalability is the ability to refactor a base model, by adding or replicating the base model elements, connections or substructures, in order to build a larger and more complex model to satisfy new design requirements. Although a number of modeling tools have been developed to create and edit models for different purposes, mechanisms to scale models have not been well supported. In most situations, models are manually scaled using the basic point-and-click editing operations provided by the modeling environment. Manual model scaling is often tedious and error-prone, especially when the model to be scaled has hundreds or thousands of elements and the scaling process involves entirely manual operations. Although model scaling tasks can be automated by using model transformation languages, writing model transformation rules requires learning a model transformation language, as well as possessing a great deal of knowledge about the metamodel. Model transformation languages and metamodel concepts are often difficult for domain experts to understand. This requirement to learn a complex model transformation language exerts a negative influence on the usage of models by domain experts in software development. For instance, domain experts may be prevented from contributing to model scalability tasks from which they have significant domain experience. This paper presents a demonstration-based approach to automate model scaling. Instead of writing model transformation rules explicitly, users demonstrate how to scale models by directly editing the concrete model instances and simulate the model replication processes. By recording a user's operations, an inference engine analyzes the user's demonstration and generalizes model transformation patterns automatically, which can be reused to scale up other model instances. Using this approach, users are able to automate scaling tasks without learning a complex model transformation language. In addition, because the demonstration is performed on model instances, users are isolated from the underlying abstract metamodel definitions.

Enhancing Electronic Health Record Usability in Pediatric Patient Care: A Scenario-Based Approach

Usability of electronic health records (EHRs) is an important factor affecting patient safety and the EHR adoption rate for both adult and pediatric care providers. A panel of interdisciplinary experts (the authors) was convened by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to generate consensus recommendations to improve EHR usefulness, usability, and patient safety when supporting pediatric care, with a focus on critical user interactions. The panel members represented expertise in the disciplines of human factors engineering (HFE), usability, informatics, and pediatrics in ambulatory care and pediatric intensive care. An iterative, scenario-based approach was used to identify unique considerations in pediatric care and relevant human factors concepts. A draft of the recommendations were reviewed by invited experts in pediatric informatics, emergency medicine, neonatology, pediatrics, HFE, nursing, usability engineering, and software development and implementation. Recommendations for EHR developers, small-group pediatric medical practices, and children's hospitals were identified out of the original 54 recommendations, in terms of nine critical user interaction categories: patient identification, medications, alerts, growth chart, vaccinations, labs, newborn care, privacy, and radiology. Pediatric patient care has unique dimensions, with great complexity and high stakes for adverse events. The recommendations are anticipated to increase the rate of EHR adoption by pediatric care providers and improve patient safety for pediatric patients. The described methodology might be useful for accelerating adoption and increasing safety in a variety of clinical areas where the adoption of EHRs is lagging or usability issues are believed to reduce potential patient safety, efficiency, and quality benefits.

The development of cluster tool controllers (CTC) for semiconductor manufacturing: the case of KAIST and Jusung Engineering, Co.

This is a case study of cluster tool controller (CTC) development for semiconductor manufacturing, a software programme Jusung Engineering has developed in association with an R&D team at Korea Institute of Advanced Science and Technology (KAIST). The case demonstrates how the cross-boundary coordination of technology transfer, using the method of 'asset matching' between firms and individuals within public R&D institutions, can be successful despite qualms of various governance issues. Jusung Engineering boldly used a means of virtual networking to occupy an open space in the market that had not been exploited by its competitors. A professor at KAIST and his team provided their expertise in software development to this mutual project, as they were selected not through strong ties but through virtual ties. By reinforcing the virtual ties through visiting each other's physical spaces, both parties of the technology transfer avoided disastrous governance failures and created value in a market that has been dominated by a monopoly supplier.

Choquet integral based aggregation approach to software development risk assessment

Software is a crucial component of today’s business environment, and a superior risk management effort is required to adeptly steer software development projects. Software development risks are inherently dependent, in other words, mutually positive or negative assessments of some risks can influence the decision to accept or reject a project. This fact cannot be modeled with a traditional best compromise seeking method. Aggregation operations based on the family of fuzzy integrals include many operators and thus can express a variety of decision maker behaviors. This study proposes an integrated multi-criteria evaluation methodology for software development experts and managers to better enable them to position their projects in terms of the associated risks. The method relies on a special fuzzy operator, namely a two-additive Choquet integral that enables modeling various effects of importance and interactions among risks. The potential of the proposed methodology is exposed through a case study conducted in a Turkish software company.

Metadesign: Guidelines for Supporting Domain Experts in Software Development

Our collaborative research activities in software development (at the University of Colorado's Center for Lifelong Learning and Design, the University of Tokyo, and Software Research Associates) have focused on understanding the implications of the quickly disappearing distinction between users and developers. We've also concentrated on establishing new software development methodologies by viewing software systems as continuously evolving sociotechnical systems driven by design activities of both professional software engineers and users. We believe that domain experts, as the owners of problems, need to be in charge of developing the software they require. Toward that end, we've created the metadesign framework, which reformulates software development activities as a continuum of different degrees of design and use. In addition, on the basis of our research and our findings in the research literature, we've developed a set of guidelines for supporting domain experts in software development.

Research perspectives on innovation through information technology management in a networked world

The role of IT in organizations has evolved from the execution of back-office transaction processing to enabling strategic-level decisions. The rapid growth of new types of IT such as wireless communications, mobile commerce, inter-organizational systems, and Web 2.0 technologies (such as social networking sites) has enabled firms to develop new types of disruptive business models that transcend organizational boundaries. Firms can tap software development expertise and leverage these resources across a global network, using collaboration tools to connect employees with customers, suppliers, and business partners. Firms can also tap into the expertise of their extended value network, comprised of their partners, suppliers, and customers, to solve problems creatively that benefit the entire corporate ecosystem. At the same time, technology evolution has given rise to new challenges that frustrate both researchers and practitioners. While there is widespread recognition of the tremendous benefits IT can bring to firms, there is also a fear that in an increasingly volatile and unstable world, IT can sow the seeds of rigidity that inadvertently lock firms into an outdated and increasingly ineffective business strategy. Accordingly, the challenge facing firms that are trying to remain at the head of their respective industries is one of using IT to be innovative while remaining flexible in the face of an unpredictable future. While prior research has explored the role of IT in terms of its business impact within organizations, little work has been done to explore IT’s impact in the presence of network effects in an increasingly networked world. In this special issue of Information Technology and Management, we have brought together five papers that reflect the theme of IT-enabled innovation and its impact in a networked world. Two of these papers were first presented at the Tenth INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST) held in San Francisco in November 2005. We also invited other authors whose work resonates with the theme of this special issue to submit their papers to be considered for possible publication. In all, we invited authors of six papers to consider having their work competitively reviewed for possible publication in the special issue. Our approach involved developmental reviewing which entailed working with authors to improve the overall quality of their submissions through constructive, yet challenging reviews. We also provided authors with the option of submitting papers that were derivative works of their presentations at INFORMS CIST. Most papers underwent two rounds of review; all papers were diligently and extensively edited to ensure a uniform level of quality. We offer these papers to the information systems research community with the hope that readers will benefit from coverage of these issues, as well as to provide a platform to deepen the research dialogue in this emerging research domain. This special issue begins with a theme piece, by Robert Kauffman of Arizona State University and Ajay Kumar of the Government of Kerala, India, titled ‘‘Network effects and embedded options: Decision-making under uncertainty for network technology investments.’’ The analysis of network effects in technology-based networks continues to I. R. Bardhan (&) The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA e-mail: bardhan@utdallas.edu

Performance of an Automatic Feedback Control Vapor Generation System during Near-Continuous Inhalation Exposures

An automatic feedback control vapor generation system constructed from off-the-shelf hardware and software components was used to regulate near-continuous animal inhalation exposures to toluene over a 13-day period. The system functioned without operator intervention for up to 23.7 h/day. For a target concentration of 1000 ppm the system maintained time-weighted average (TWA) exposure concentrations at 1000 ° 1 ppm after a 30-min ramp-up period, or 992 ° 1 ppm for the entire exposure period including ramp-up. Root mean square variability about the target concentration was a maximum of 4%, and was reduced to less than 2% with minor system adjustments. Excursions above and below the target concentration were similarly reduced to generally less than 5% and rarely more than 10%. The system's control accuracy and precision over extended and repeated exposure periods were exceptional, and exceeded anything previously reported in the peer-reviewed literature. This performance demonstrated that accurate and precise systems may be constructed and operated without the need for custom hardware or software development or special expertise in either electronics or computer programming, and also demonstrated that such systems may offer reliable and economical unattended operation for extended periods.

Automatic feedback control of a vapor generation system using off-The-Shelf components

A solvent vapor generation and control system was assembled that provided accurate and reliable vapor concentrations over extended periods, functioned without operator intervention, used only off-the-shelf hardware and software components, and required no special programming or electronics expertise to construct, configure, or operate. Evaluations using toluene demonstrated excellent concentration control over 4- to 72-h periods of unattended operation. Time-weighted average toluene concentrations were maintained within 1 ppm of the target over a range of 100–900 ppm, with root-mean-square variability about the setpoint of 3–5% of setpoint for all but the lowest setpoint used. Concentrations were maintained within 5% of setpoint 80–90% of the time for higher setpoints, and within 10% of setpoint over 95% of the time for all but the lowest setpoint used. Excursions of more than 10% above or below the setpoint were rare. Reduced control effectiveness at the lower setpoints was attributed to inherent but reducible limitations in the system's design and operating mode. The system clearly demonstrated that accurate, precise, and reliable systems may be constructed and operated without the need for custom hardware or software development or special expertise in either electronics or computer programming. Additional study is needed to evaluate the performance of this and similar systems with the range of volatile and semivolatile materials of health or materials science interest; however, there appears to be no inherent limitations in the technology that would prevent its ready application to a variety of research uses.

Identifying foundations of software engineering expertise

The importance of software development expertise to our society and likewise the importance of education in this field are self-evident. At the same time it is undisputed that software development at the professional level is a complex activity. It must be presumed that the make-up of expertise required to successfully complete such activities will itself be non-simple, deserving of our attention. A hierarchical view of professional expertise is presented and a method for determining the fundamental principles making up lasting expertise is systematically derived. The method is applied to determine principles of software engineering expertise. The view presented provides a step towards a well founded understanding of the types of expertise needed for the activity of software development. Educators involved in courses releasing professionally recognised software developers should be interested to examine which aspects of the expertise-derivation they already utilise and which aspects could further benefit their courses.

Network and multidimensional representations of the declarative knowledge of human-computer interface design experts

A two-part experiment investigated human computer interface (HCI) experts' organization of declarative knowledge about the HCI. In Part 1, two groups of experts in HCI design—human factors experts and software development experts—and a control group of non-experts sorted 50 HCI concepts concerned with display, control, interaction, data manipulation and user knowledge into categories. In the second part of the experiment, the three groups judged the similarity of two sets of HCI concepts related to display and interaction, respectively. The data were transformed into measures of psychological distance and were analyzed using Pathfinder, which generates network representations of the data, and multidimensional scaling (MDS), which fits the concepts in a multidimensional space. The Pathfinder networks from the first part of the experiment differed in organization between the two expert groups, with human factors experts' networks consisting of highly interrelated subnetworks and software experts' networks consisting of central nodes and fewer, less interconnected sub-networks. The networks also differed across groups in concepts linked with such concepts as graphics, natural language, function keys and speech recognition. The networks of both expert groups showed much greater organization than did the non-experts' network. The network and MDS representations of the concepts for the two expert groups showed somewhat greater agreement in Part 2 than in Part 1. However, the MDS representations from Part 2 suggested that software experts organized their concepts on dimensions related to technology, implementation and user characteristics, whereas the human factors experts' organized their concepts more uniformly according to user characteristics. The discussion focuses on (1) the differences in cognitive models as a function of the amount and type of HCI design experience and (2) the role of cognitive models in HCI design and in communications within a multidisciplinary design team.