Even if software handover is a critical process in the lifecycle of a software system, there is still very little research   done within its domain. In this paper, we evaluate the taxonomy of handover activities as defined in EM3: Handover Process Model. We do it in an industrial setting in a context where a software system is handed over from a vendor conducting system development, evolution and maintenance to an acquirer using the system and conducting front-end support. Our results show that the taxonomy is realistic in the context studied. However, it misses some important deployment and training activities. / © 2010 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.QC 20120223

Today rise in oil and gas demand, energy crisis, issues concerning energy security and increase in oil prices in the world provoke further exploration and production of oil and gas. The Arctic Sea is the last frontier of abundant hydrocarbon reserves. Having effective regulations, innovative technologies and adequate safety norms, the world has still seen some major accidents such as Gulf of Mexico accident. Knowing that offshore petroleum industry is moving further north in Arctic poses additional challenges due to harsh climatic conditions and remoteness from existing oil and gas infrastructure. The objective of this thesis is to provide an overview of offshore petroleum activity in arctic and sub-arctic areas as well as the accidents which took place in these areas. Furthermore, the accidents are analyzed with respect to the emergency preparedness handling of accidents using the NORSOK Z-013 standard as one basis. The thesis also discusses the anticipated emergency preparedness challenges for arctic and sub-arctic areas. The Arctic Sea is the final destination in the north having enormous amount of hydrocarbons. The harsh weather conditions of the Arctic Sea characterized by polar lows, long nights, extreme fog and sub-zero temperatures have not prevented the countries bordering the Arctic Sea in exploiting the oil and gas resources. Russia, having extended pipeline infrastructure, has the most active part in the Arctic region followed by the US and Norway. The offshore exploration and production activities in the Canadian and Greenland Arctic Sea are gradually progressing. Up to date, there have been very few accidents in the Arctic Sea thereby providing a limited knowledge base for emergency response in the Arctic Sea. The accidents which we have been able to account for are mainly related to blowout, pipeline leak, ship collision and capsize accidents. The accidents have occurred in the Russian Arctic Sea and the Alaskan Arctic Sea.The NORSOK Z-013 standard refers to alert, danger limitation, rescue, evacuation, and normalization as the five emergency preparedness phases and their detailed description is available in the Activities Regulation by the Petroleum Safety Authority in Norway (PSAN). It is stated in the NORSOK Z-013 standard that a set of Defined Situation of Hazard and Accident (DSHA) needs to be defined as part of the risk and emergency preparedness analysis. The set of DSHAs provided in the “Trends in risk level” project is used in this thesis for the classification and analysis of the accidents in the Arctic Sea.The analysis of the accidents in the Arctic Sea shows that all the emergency operations went through the phases of alert and normalization while the oil spill related accidents did not pass through escape and evacuate operations as there were no personnel involved in these accidents. All the emergency operations were affected by bad and tough weather conditions. Advanced emergency preparedness tools, equipment and technology are needed for effective emergency operations under such conditions. Due to scarcity of accidents in the Arctic Sea, only four DSHAs (out of 12) have been experienced, or at least reported. It may be that some of the remaining DSHAs are not reported due to minor consequences. In addition to the lessons learned from the emergency response operations for the accidents experienced in the Arctic Sea, there are also some emergency preparedness challenges which can be anticipated. The challenging weather conditions due to sudden polar lows, strong winds, spray icing, snowstorms and severe fog can hamper the emergency operations. Furthermore, long distances and lack of infrastructure can create communication and logistic problems and can result in delay of rescue and evacuation operations. Robust and reliable ice and weather data is a challenge due to global warming and may become a limiting factor for the adequate design of offshore equipment. The use and maintenance of emergency response equipment is also a challenge in sometimes dark, snowy and foggy areas of the Arctic Sea and the Barents Sea.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Schrage, Daniel; Committee Member: Loewy, Robert; Committee Member: O'Neill, Gary; Committee Member: Saleh, Joseph; Committee Member: Volovoi, Vitali. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Manutenção, para as organizações, possui a função estratégica de garantir a confiabilidade buscada com a disponibilidade projetada para os processos. Enquanto um serviço, a conformidade da execução dos serviços de manutenção é o resultado dos recursos envolvidos, da capacidade técnica, de logística, dos meios, do planejamento, do controle das condições de trabalho e do ambiente. Mantenabilidade é a adequada execução destes serviços, que acontece pela necessária adoção de requisitos para atender a normas, legislação e melhores praticas, particularmente associados ao ambiente em que as atividades e tarefas de manutenção serão desenvolvidas. Este estudo contempla um conjunto de quatro artigos que têm por finalidade identificar os requisitos de mantenabilidade a serem atendidos na execução dos serviços de manutenção. Para tanto, a partir de um estudo sistemático, identifica na literatura os principais requisitos, estruturando-os em áreas, e aplica pesquisa junto a especialistas de manutenção para classificá-los quanto à importância e aplicabilidade. Na sequência, agrupa estes requisitos em criticidade, estabelece um ranqueamento quanto à sua observação e debate a ocorrência na literatura e o operado nas organizações, bem como a possível defasagem existente entre o operado e o concebido em discussões acadêmicas. Como resultado, além de apresentar os principais requisitos de mantenabilidade na execução dos serviços de manutenção, caracteriza o impacto da adoção dos requisitos de mantenabilidade nas organizações e conclui que a mantenabilidade gerenciada é responsável pela conformidade da execução dos serviços e pelos resultados organizacionais buscados. O estudo aponta para a necessidade de construir uma sistemática capaz de diagnosticar o nível de observação dos requisitos de mantenabilidade em uma organização e de introduzir melhorias nos processos e execução de serviços de manutenção existentes. / Maintenance, for the organizations, comprises the strategic function of assuring the sought reliability by the planned availability for the processes. As a service, the conformity in the performance of maintenance services results from the involved resources, technical capacity, logistics, means, planning, control of work conditions and environment. Maintainability is the adequate performance of these services, which occur by the adoption of requirements that observe norms, legislation, and best practices, particularly connected to the environment where the maintenance activities and tasks will be developed. This study consists of a block of four articles, which aim to verify the necessary maintainability requirements to be attended in the performance of maintenance services. For the accomplishment, it takes a systematic study to identify in the literature the major requirements, organizing them by sections, and applies a research to maintenance experts in order to categorize these requirements on levels of importance and applicability. Subsequently, it groups these requirements on emergency levels, establishes a ranking board based on their observation, and discusses their occurrences in the literature towards what is performed in the organizations, as well as the possibly existent hiatus between the operated procedures and the concepts raised from academic discussions. As a result, besides presenting the major maintainability requirements in the performance of maintenance services, it characterizes the impact of the adoption of maintainability requirements by the organizations and concludes that the managed maintainability is responsible for the conformity in the performance of services and for the sought organizational results. The study reveals the necessity of structuring a systematics able to diagnose the level of attendance of maintainability requirements by an organization and to attach improvements to the processes and performance of existing maintenance services.

Manutenção, para as organizações, possui a função estratégica de garantir a confiabilidade buscada com a disponibilidade projetada para os processos. Enquanto um serviço, a conformidade da execução dos serviços de manutenção é o resultado dos recursos envolvidos, da capacidade técnica, de logística, dos meios, do planejamento, do controle das condições de trabalho e do ambiente. Mantenabilidade é a adequada execução destes serviços, que acontece pela necessária adoção de requisitos para atender a normas, legislação e melhores praticas, particularmente associados ao ambiente em que as atividades e tarefas de manutenção serão desenvolvidas. Este estudo contempla um conjunto de quatro artigos que têm por finalidade identificar os requisitos de mantenabilidade a serem atendidos na execução dos serviços de manutenção. Para tanto, a partir de um estudo sistemático, identifica na literatura os principais requisitos, estruturando-os em áreas, e aplica pesquisa junto a especialistas de manutenção para classificá-los quanto à importância e aplicabilidade. Na sequência, agrupa estes requisitos em criticidade, estabelece um ranqueamento quanto à sua observação e debate a ocorrência na literatura e o operado nas organizações, bem como a possível defasagem existente entre o operado e o concebido em discussões acadêmicas. Como resultado, além de apresentar os principais requisitos de mantenabilidade na execução dos serviços de manutenção, caracteriza o impacto da adoção dos requisitos de mantenabilidade nas organizações e conclui que a mantenabilidade gerenciada é responsável pela conformidade da execução dos serviços e pelos resultados organizacionais buscados. O estudo aponta para a necessidade de construir uma sistemática capaz de diagnosticar o nível de observação dos requisitos de mantenabilidade em uma organização e de introduzir melhorias nos processos e execução de serviços de manutenção existentes. / Maintenance, for the organizations, comprises the strategic function of assuring the sought reliability by the planned availability for the processes. As a service, the conformity in the performance of maintenance services results from the involved resources, technical capacity, logistics, means, planning, control of work conditions and environment. Maintainability is the adequate performance of these services, which occur by the adoption of requirements that observe norms, legislation, and best practices, particularly connected to the environment where the maintenance activities and tasks will be developed. This study consists of a block of four articles, which aim to verify the necessary maintainability requirements to be attended in the performance of maintenance services. For the accomplishment, it takes a systematic study to identify in the literature the major requirements, organizing them by sections, and applies a research to maintenance experts in order to categorize these requirements on levels of importance and applicability. Subsequently, it groups these requirements on emergency levels, establishes a ranking board based on their observation, and discusses their occurrences in the literature towards what is performed in the organizations, as well as the possibly existent hiatus between the operated procedures and the concepts raised from academic discussions. As a result, besides presenting the major maintainability requirements in the performance of maintenance services, it characterizes the impact of the adoption of maintainability requirements by the organizations and concludes that the managed maintainability is responsible for the conformity in the performance of services and for the sought organizational results. The study reveals the necessity of structuring a systematics able to diagnose the level of attendance of maintainability requirements by an organization and to attach improvements to the processes and performance of existing maintenance services.

Manutenção, para as organizações, possui a função estratégica de garantir a confiabilidade buscada com a disponibilidade projetada para os processos. Enquanto um serviço, a conformidade da execução dos serviços de manutenção é o resultado dos recursos envolvidos, da capacidade técnica, de logística, dos meios, do planejamento, do controle das condições de trabalho e do ambiente. Mantenabilidade é a adequada execução destes serviços, que acontece pela necessária adoção de requisitos para atender a normas, legislação e melhores praticas, particularmente associados ao ambiente em que as atividades e tarefas de manutenção serão desenvolvidas. Este estudo contempla um conjunto de quatro artigos que têm por finalidade identificar os requisitos de mantenabilidade a serem atendidos na execução dos serviços de manutenção. Para tanto, a partir de um estudo sistemático, identifica na literatura os principais requisitos, estruturando-os em áreas, e aplica pesquisa junto a especialistas de manutenção para classificá-los quanto à importância e aplicabilidade. Na sequência, agrupa estes requisitos em criticidade, estabelece um ranqueamento quanto à sua observação e debate a ocorrência na literatura e o operado nas organizações, bem como a possível defasagem existente entre o operado e o concebido em discussões acadêmicas. Como resultado, além de apresentar os principais requisitos de mantenabilidade na execução dos serviços de manutenção, caracteriza o impacto da adoção dos requisitos de mantenabilidade nas organizações e conclui que a mantenabilidade gerenciada é responsável pela conformidade da execução dos serviços e pelos resultados organizacionais buscados. O estudo aponta para a necessidade de construir uma sistemática capaz de diagnosticar o nível de observação dos requisitos de mantenabilidade em uma organização e de introduzir melhorias nos processos e execução de serviços de manutenção existentes. / Maintenance, for the organizations, comprises the strategic function of assuring the sought reliability by the planned availability for the processes. As a service, the conformity in the performance of maintenance services results from the involved resources, technical capacity, logistics, means, planning, control of work conditions and environment. Maintainability is the adequate performance of these services, which occur by the adoption of requirements that observe norms, legislation, and best practices, particularly connected to the environment where the maintenance activities and tasks will be developed. This study consists of a block of four articles, which aim to verify the necessary maintainability requirements to be attended in the performance of maintenance services. For the accomplishment, it takes a systematic study to identify in the literature the major requirements, organizing them by sections, and applies a research to maintenance experts in order to categorize these requirements on levels of importance and applicability. Subsequently, it groups these requirements on emergency levels, establishes a ranking board based on their observation, and discusses their occurrences in the literature towards what is performed in the organizations, as well as the possibly existent hiatus between the operated procedures and the concepts raised from academic discussions. As a result, besides presenting the major maintainability requirements in the performance of maintenance services, it characterizes the impact of the adoption of maintainability requirements by the organizations and concludes that the managed maintainability is responsible for the conformity in the performance of services and for the sought organizational results. The study reveals the necessity of structuring a systematics able to diagnose the level of attendance of maintainability requirements by an organization and to attach improvements to the processes and performance of existing maintenance services.

More and more companies experience problems with maintainability and time-consuming development of automated testing tools. The MPC department at Ericsson Software Technology AB use methods and tools often developed during time pressure that results in time-consuming testing and requires more effort and resources than planned. The tools are also such nature that they are hard to expand, maintain and in some cases they have been thrown out between releases. For this reason, we could identify two major objectives that MPC want to achieve; efficient and maintainable test automation. Efficient test automation is related to mainly how to perform tests with less effort, or in a shorter time. Maintainable test automation aims to keep tests up to date with the software. In order to decide how to achieve these objectives, we decided to investigate which test to automate, what should be improved in the testing process, what techniques to use, and finally whether or not the use of automated testing can reduce the cost of testing. These issues will be discussed in this paper.

Context.In the context of Software Architecture, AADL (ArchitectureAnalysis and Design Language) is one of the latest standards (SAE StandardAS5506) used for analyzing and designing of architectures of software sys-tems. Dependability evaluation of an avionic system, modeled in AADL, isconducted using petri nets standard PNML (ISO standard ISO/IEC15909-2).A maintainability analysis of PNML dependability model is also con-ducted. Objectives. In this study we investigate maintainability analysis of PNMLdependability model of an avionic system designed in AADL. Structural,functional, fault-tolerance and recovery dependencies are modeled, imple-mented, simulated and validated in PNML. Maintainability analysis withrespect to ‘changeability’ factor is also conducted. Methods.This study is a semi-combination of ’case-study’ and ’implemen-tation’ research methodologies. The implementation of case-study systemis conducted by modeling the case-study system in AADL using OSATE2tool and simulating the dependability models in PNML using Wolfgangtool. PNML dependability models are validated by comparing with GSPNdependability models of previously published research. Results. As a result of this research, PNML dependability model was ob-tained. The difficulties that influenced the research in AADL Error ModelAnnex and the OSATE2 tool are also analyzed and documented. PNMLand GSPN are compared for complexity. And maintainability analysis forPNML dependability model w.r.t ‘changeability’ factor is also an outcomeof this research. This research is recommended for software testing at ar-chitecture level as a standardized way for testing the software componentsfor faults and errors and their impact on dependable components. Conclusions. We conclude that PNML is an ISO standard and is the al-ternative for GSPN for dependability. Also, AADL Error Model Annex isstill evolving and there is a need of availability of proper literature publiclyfor better understanding. Also, PNML dependability model possesses the‘changeability’ factor of maintainability analysis and therefore it is able toadapt changes in the architecture. Also, dependability factors of a softwarecan be tested at architecture level using the standards; AADL and PNML

M. Phil. / Concrete is worldwide the most commonly used construction material and, although concrete is durable when exposed to aggressive conditions, it requires some maintenance. If this maintenance is neglected for a prolonged period of time, intrinsic and extrinsic factors will cause the concrete to degrade necessitating repair and rehabilitation. The correct diagnosis of the root cause of degradation, proper specification of repair materials and quality execution of the concrete repairs all contribute to the reliability of the repairs. The correct management of the repair process is necessary to ensure reliability in order for the structure to be returned to an acceptable state.

Since the start of software, comprehension has always been an issue solved through various methods, such as bottom-up models or visualizing code, specifically graphs. They are used to obtain a bird’s-eye view and the execution path of the software. Although these tools exist, they must include important usability features. When creating software, it is essential to prioritize usability as a crucial factor. This thesis aims to identify gaps in call graph-generating software in terms of its usability. Through this, we aim to fill the gaps by creating a new call graph-generating tool with improved usability and functionality. We conducted a literature review to identify the gaps in the understanding of software comprehension. Our findings emphasize the significance of software comprehension in enhancing maintainability, usability, and guidelines. These guidelines were used to assess the open-source tools available. The gaps found helped build a foundation for creating the tool code while following the five usability guidelines. Subsequently, we conducted a within-subject study with interviews with developers and managers using our tool (CodeViz) and an open-source tool. During the interviews, we took note of the participants' feedback and completed a form. Using this data, we created graphs for the Likert data and categorizing of the text questions. We found various improvements in these aspects through Likert data, with 31\% responding more positively to comprehending the graph. With the categorizing of the questions, we found that the participants found the interactivity very useful. The simplicity of obtaining an overview of the project helped improve its effectiveness and comprehension. Furthermore, being able to aid their comprehension helps software maintainability.