Open source projects do have requirements; they are, however, mostly informal, text descriptions found in requests, forums, and other correspondence. Understanding such requirements provides insight into the nature of open source projects. Unfortunately, manual analysis of natural language requirements is time-consuming, and for large projects, error-prone. Automated analysis of natural language requirements, even partial, will be of great benefit. Towards that end, I describe the design and validation of an automated natural language requirements classifier for open source software development projects. I compare two strategies for recognizing requirements in open forums of software features. The results suggest that classifying text at the forum post aggregation and sentence aggregation levels may be effective. Initial results suggest that it can reduce the effort required to analyze requirements of open source software development projects. Software development organizations and communities currently employ a large number of software development techniques and methodologies. This implied complexity is also enhanced by a wide range of software project types and development environments. The resulting lack of consistency in the software development domain leads to one important challenge that researchers encounter while exploring this area: specificity. This results in an increased difficulty of maintaining a consistent unit of measure or analysis approach while exploring a wide variety of software development projects and environments. The problem of specificity is more prominently exhibited in an area of software development characterized by a dynamic evolution, a unique development environment, and a relatively young history of research when compared to traditional software development: the open-source domain. While performing research on open source and the associated communities of developers, one can notice the same challenge of specificity being present in requirements engineering research as in the case of closed-source software development. Whether research is aimed at performing longitudinal or cross-sectional analyses, or attempts to link requirements to other aspects of software development projects and their management, specificity calls for a flexible analysis tool capable of adapting to the needs and specifics of the explored context. This dissertation covers the design, implementation, and evaluation of a model, a method, and a software tool comprising a flexible software development analysis framework. These design artifacts use a rule-based natural language processing approach and are built to meet the specifics of a requirements-based analysis of software development projects in the open-source domain. This research follows the principles of design science research as defined by Hevner et. al. and includes stages of problem awareness, suggestion, development, evaluation, and results and conclusion (Hevner et al. 2004; Vaishnavi and Kuechler 2007). The long-term goal of the research stream stemming from this dissertation is to propose a flexible, customizable, requirements-based natural language processing software analysis framework which can be adapted to meet the research needs of multiple different types of domains or different categories of analyses.

Global software development has been a phenomenon of growing interest for almost past decade or so; and its adoption trend continues to gain momentum. Globally distributed work istaken up as an alternative to single-site mainly because of the economic and strategic benefits itoffers. Software development at geographically distributed environment is not a straightforwardtask and entails numerous challenges which are unique to this form of development. Requirements change management is considered challenging even in the best of conditions andit becomes even harder when performed at geographically distributed development locations.There is no existing model for managing requirements change in globally distributed softwaredevelopment context. This study uses qualitative research method to explore requirements change managementprocess and investigates the underlying causes of requirements change in geographicallydistributed software development. The research work proposes a model for requirementschange management for global software development. This model tries to incorporate the roles,activities and artifacts identified in the change management models.

The Feature-Oriented Requirements Modelling (FORM) combines the requirement engineering style structuring of requirements documents with the feature-orientation of the Feature Oriented Software Development, resulting in a feature-oriented model of the functional requirements of a system-under-development (SUD). A feature is a distinguishable unit of added value to the SUD. The objectives of FORM are to model features as independent modules, to allow the addition of new features with minimal changes to the existing features, and to enable automatic generation and checking of properties like correctness, consistency, and non-determinism. FORM structures requirements into three models: a domain model, a collection of behavioural models, and a collection of functional models. A feature is modelled by a distinct behavioural model. This dissertation evaluates FORM by applying it to a new application that can be thought of in terms of features, namely an online trading system (OTS) that receives requests from customers about buying or selling securities on a stock market. The OTS offers variability in terms of the types of orders that customers can request, (e.g. market order, limit order and stop order). The case study revealed six deficiencies of the FORM notation, three of which were easily overcome. The dissertation presents the results of the case study, resolutions to three of the six deficiencies, and an outline of an approach to resolve the other three deficiencies.

<p>Det problemområde som behandlas i arbetet är den del av systemutvecklarens arbete avsett att hantera förändringar i kravbilden under systemutvecklingens hela livscykel, kallat Requirements Management (RM). Arbetet fokuseras på detaljer kring spårbarhet inom förändringshantering.</p><p>För att lyckas i spårbarhetsarbetet gäller det för systemutvecklaren att se hur de olika krav som finns i kravbilden är relaterade till varandra och var kraven har sitt ursprung. Det skiljs inom spårbarhetsområdet mellan framåt- och bakåtriktad spårbarhet. Vardera spårbarhetsriktningen delas sedan in i två steg från kravursprung framåt via kravdokumentation till realisering då det gäller den framåtriktade och från realisering via kravdokumentation till kravursprung då det gäller den bakåtriktade.</p><p>En studie har genomförts där litteraturens syn har jämförts med ett antal respondenters då det gäller att dels kartlägga vilka typer av spårbarhet som behövs inom systemutvecklingsprojekt och dels vilket stöd som behövs för att etablera och underhålla denna spårbarhet.</p>

<p>Denna rapport behandlar den marknadsinriktade Requirements Engineering (RE) processen. Allt fler företag väljer idag att implementera standardsystem i sina verksamheter. Den situation som ett standardsystem utvecklas i är annorlunda jämfört med den som ett kundspecifikt system utvecklas i. Detta innebär att den traditionella RE-processen inte är anpassad till dessa nya förhållanden.</p><p>Syftet med denna rapport är därför att utreda vad som kännetecknar en marknadsinriktad RE-process som stödjer kravhanteringsarbetet vid utvecklingen av ett standardsystem. Rapporten avser även att undersöka hur RE tillämpas av marknadsinriktade systemtillverkare i praktiken. Detta har gjorts genom en litteraturstudie och intervjuer med tre marknadsinriktade systemtillverkare.</p><p>Rapporten resulterar i en beskrivning av den marknadsinriktade RE-processens kännetecken och centrala aktiviteter samt en översiktlig sammanställning över hur marknadsinriktade systemtillverkare tillämpar RE i praktiken. Resultatet belyser att de teorier och aktiviteter som betraktas som centrala i den marknadsinriktade RE-processen även tillämpas i praktiken.</p>

Requirements management is an important part of the software development process. The success of a project may depend on how this is handled. Even though several research studies indicates that more attention should be paid on non-functional requirements, the primary focus in practical projects still regards identifying functional requirements. Especially the prioritization of the non-functional requirements has been proven to be of great importance for the success of a project. This report investigates basics in agile requirements management involving opinions from experts from a software development company. This is done with help of existing literature and interviews with key actors involved in prioritization at the company. I investigate prioritization of non-functional requirements and possibilities for agile project development. The results contribute to developing an overall understanding of the agile way of working. The methodology of this report follows a qualitative approach. It is based on secondary data from literature and documents, but also on data collected via interviews. The results are acknowledging earlier findings from the literature and illustrate with examples actual prioritization of non-functional requirements, and how and why prioritization is a complex activity at a company. However, according to one of the most important findings of this study, the strict use of prioritization techniques is not the most urgent necessity for the success of a project. / Kravhanteringen är en viktig del av systemutvecklingsprocessen. Ett projekts framgång kan kopplas till hur detta genomförs. Även om flera studier pekar på att mer uppmärksamhet bör läggas på icke-funktionella krav är den primära fokusen i flera projekt fortfarande att identifiera funktionella krav. Speciellt prioriteringen av de icke-funktionella kraven har visat sig vara av stor betydelse för ett lyckat projekt.  Den här rapporten undersöker grunderna i den agila kravhanteringen som involverar åsikter från experter i ett företag inom mjukvaruutveckling. Detta görs med hjälp av befintlig litteratur samt intervjuer med nyckelaktörer involverade i prioriteringen hos företaget. Jag undersöker prioriteringen av icke-funktionella krav och möjligheter för agil projektutveckling hos företaget. Följaktligen kommer resultatet bidra till att ge läsaren en allmän förståelse om det agila arbetssättet. Metodologin för den här rapporten följer ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt. Den baseras på sekundär data från litteratur och dokument, men även data insamlat via intervjuer. Resultaten medger tidigare upptäckter från litteraturen och visar med exempel verklig prioritering av icke-funktionella krav samt hur och varför prioriteringen är en komplex aktivitet hos ett företag. Dock är, enligt en av de viktigaste upptäckterna i den här rapporten, ett strikt användande av prioriteringstekniker inte den viktigaste nödvändigheten för ett lyckat projekt.

Context is important to today's mobile and ubiquitous systems as operational requirements are only valid under certain context conditions. Detecting context and adapting automatically to that context is a key feature of many of these systems. However, when the operational context associated with a particular requirement changes drastically in a way that designers could not have anticipated, many systems are unable to effectively adapt their operating parameters to continue meeting user needs. Automatically detecting and implementing this system context evolution is highly desirable because it allows for increased uncertainty to be built into the system at design time in order to efficiently and effectively cope with these kinds of drastic changes. This thesis is an empirical investigation and discussion towards integrating data mining algorithms into self-adaptive systems to analyze and de fine new context relevant to specific system requirements when current system context parameters are no longer sufficient. / Graduate / 0984 / arook@uvic.ca

The Feature-Oriented Requirements Modelling (FORM) combines the requirement engineering style structuring of requirements documents with the feature-orientation of the Feature Oriented Software Development, resulting in a feature-oriented model of the functional requirements of a system-under-development (SUD). A feature is a distinguishable unit of added value to the SUD. The objectives of FORM are to model features as independent modules, to allow the addition of new features with minimal changes to the existing features, and to enable automatic generation and checking of properties like correctness, consistency, and non-determinism. FORM structures requirements into three models: a domain model, a collection of behavioural models, and a collection of functional models. A feature is modelled by a distinct behavioural model. This dissertation evaluates FORM by applying it to a new application that can be thought of in terms of features, namely an online trading system (OTS) that receives requests from customers about buying or selling securities on a stock market. The OTS offers variability in terms of the types of orders that customers can request, (e.g. market order, limit order and stop order). The case study revealed six deficiencies of the FORM notation, three of which were easily overcome. The dissertation presents the results of the case study, resolutions to three of the six deficiencies, and an outline of an approach to resolve the other three deficiencies.

Bibliography: leaves 223-247. / xiii, 247 p. : ill, maps ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Effects of water availability during grain filling is examined in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and barley (Hordum vulgare L.) genotypes. The study tests the accumulation of dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) in the grain and also their remobilization from the shoot to the grain. Water stress during grain filling was found to reduce DM and N accumulation and also to increase N concentration in both wheat and barley grain. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Plant Science, 1996

Thesis (MVoeding)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Objectives: To assess whether actual nutrient intake of hospitalized patients with tuberculosis differed from that served by the hospital and from that required according to current recommendations. Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Setting: Brooklyn Chest Hospital in Brooklyn, Cape Town, the Western Cape, South Africa. Subjects: Thirty patients, 23 male, seven female, with pulmonary tuberculosis, from Brooklyn Chest Hospital were enrolled in the study. Outcome measures: Assessment included dietary intake in order to calculate energy and nutrient intake and requirements, and height and weight at the beginning of the study in order to calculate BMI. Results: Patients were receiving and consuming sufficient macronutrients with the exception of protein in all patients, and micronutrients with the exceptions of calcium, iodine, folate and vitamin E in all patients, betacarotene, vitamin C and vitamin D in male patients, and selenium and pantothenate in female patients. Actual intake consumed in the hospital did not differ from that served by the hospital in the case of male patients, with the exception of iodine, however, due to significant plate wastage by female patients, consumed intake was less than that served by the hospital, with the exceptions of vitamin C and vitamin K. A total of 52% of the male patients, and 71% of the female patients, were normally nourished, according to their BMI. The remainder of the patients were mildly to severely malnourished on the basis of their BMI. Conclusions: According to current recommendations, the patients institutionalized at Brooklyn Chest Hospital for tuberculosis were receiving inadequate protein and selected micronutrients (calcium, iodine, folate and vitamin E in all patients, beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin D in male patients, and selenium and pantothenate in female patients). Therefore intervention programs, which serve as an adjunct to anti-tuberculosis therapy, should be introduced in order to rectify inadequate nutrient intake and to target malnourished patients. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Doelstellings: Om te bepaal of die werklike voedingstofinname van gehospitaliseerde pasiënte met tuberkulose verskil van dit wat deur die hospitaal voorgeskryf word, en dit wat huidiglik aanbeveel word. Ontwerp: ‘n Beskrywende, dwarssnit studie. Milieu: Brooklyn Chest Hospitaal, te Brooklyn, Kaapstad, Westelike Provinsie, Suid Afrika. Studie groep: Dertig pasiënte met pulmonale tuberkulose van Brooklyn Chest Hospitaal (23 manlik, en sewe vroulik) is ingesluit in die studie. Toets parameters: Ondersoeke het ingesluit dieëtinname met die doel om energie en voedingstofinname en behoeftes te bereken, asook lengte en gewig meetings aan die begin van die studie om liggaamsmassaindex (LMI) te bereken. Resultate: Pasiënte het genoegsame hoeveelhede makro-voedingstowwe ontvang en ingeneem, met die uitsondering van proteïene by alle pasiënte, asook mikro-voedingstowwe, met die uitsondering van kalsium, jodium, folaat, en vitamine E by alle pasiënte, beta-karoteen, vitamine C en vitamine D by manlike pasiënte en selenium en pantoteensuur by vroulike pasiënte. Die werklike inname van voedsel in die hospitaal het nie verskil van dit wat deur die hospitaal voorgeskryf is in die geval van manlike pasiënte nie, met die uitsondering van jodium. As gevolg van beduidende voedselvermorsing deur vroulike pasiënte was werklike inname egter minder as wat deur die hospitaal voorgeskryf is, met die uitsondering van vitamine C en vitamine K. ‘n Totaal van 52% van die manlike pasiënte en 71% van die vroulike pasiënte het ‘n normale voedingstatus gehad volgens hulle LMI. Die oorblywende pasiënte was gering tot ernstig wangevoed op grond van hul LMI. Gevolgtrekkings: Volgens huidige aanbevelings het pasiënte, wat by Brooklyn Chest Hospitaal gehospitaliseer is vir tuberkulose, nie genoegsame hoeveelhede proteïene of geselekteerde mikro-voedingstowwe ontvang nie (kalsium, jodium, folaat, en vitamine E by alle pasiënte, betakaroteen, vitamine C en vitamine D by manlike pasiënte, en selenium en pantoteensuur by vroulike pasiënte). Daarom word intervensie programme voorgestel om te dien as ‘n toevoeging tot anti-tuberkulose behandeling, met die doel om onvoldoende voedingstof innames reg te stel en om ondervoede pasiënte te teiken.