In recent years many tools and techniques have been proposed and even implemented which support maintenance programmers to gain an understanding of existing source code. However, studies have found that some tools are of marginal benefit and not appropriate for all maintenance tasks. This may be due to tools having been designed with little regard to the common behavioural practices that occur during software maintenance tasks because the current state of knowledge of such practices is quite limited. The aim of this study is to alleviate the above situation by performing a detailed behavioural analysis of software maintenance tasks undertaken under laboratory experiment conditions. To support this aim an experiment was conducted in which twenty-nine student subjects experienced in C programming independently undertook one of two maintenance tasks on the same C program in a university environment. The data produced from the experiment included subjects??? interactions with documents and code and their responses to program comprehension questions at the end of the task. The results indicate that maintenance task success is associated with a heightened concentration on high-level procedures that control the execution of lower level procedures. Among subjects, IT industry experience was linked to efficient comprehension of program and task documentation and the performance of more code searches. In general, code searches mainly involved searches for procedure name references. Compared to subjects undertaking the enhancement task, subjects performing the complex corrective task utilised program documentation more but also obtained a greater understanding of the elementary operations and control-flow of the program. In addition, this study illustrates a method to identify common information usage strategies from the recorded maintenance behaviour of subjects. Largely unsuccessful attempts were also made to sequentially analyse maintenance behaviour. This lack of success is possibly attributable to the as-needed comprehension approach adopted by subjects. The results of this research suggest that cost-effective maintenance of software is best supported using tools implementing facilities for feature location and visualisation of the control-flow of a program. The former facility would be most helpful to maintainers undertaking corrections, whereas the latter would particularly assist maintainers undertaking enhancements.

A growing uncertainty in the global economy is forcing many manufacturers to reassess their corporate outlook towards the environment. Today there is a growing attention to sustainability in industry accompanied by a paradigm shift towards realizing a sustainable society. It is now very common to hear about Green Production and Green Systems, but few literature exist that deal with the relatively newer subject of Green Maintenance. The term green production is often used to describe production with a sustainable perspective. Also, lean production has been proposed as a means of achieving sustainability. Lean and Green production systems require efficient production and low use of resources such as energy, materials, etc. One major facilitator of this is effective maintenance. Sometimes regarded as the necessary evil, maintenance still has a negative image in the industry. But as the paradigm on manufacturing shift towards realizing a sustainable society, we should also begin to realize the changing role of maintenance. Still, the impact of maintenance on sustainability and Green production is not very well described in research.   This Master Thesis within the School of Innovation Design and Engineering at Mälardalen University presents a literature review on green maintenance by trying to identify and assess the key factors of maintenance effects on green production, life cycle assessment and sustainability of maintenance activities. In addition, a brief introduction to the greening of remanufacturing activity, part of a green process by itself, is provided. The research is based upon extensive literature study, questionnaire survey and interviews with relevant industry as well as academic personnel. A discussion of the results of the interview followed by a conclusion on the key factors of maintenance on sustainability is provided. Future research areas have also been suggested.       Keywords: Green maintenance, Production maintenance, Sustainable maintenance,     Total Productive Maintenance

This qualitative research study was created to examine four individual creative producers in the field of the visual and performing arts from different walks of life to determine if any similarities between the producers emerged. More specifically, the researcher was interested in (a) investigating how creative thinkers became creative producers and (b) investigating how these creative producers maintained and sustained high levels of creative production. After thoroughly utilizing the constant comparative method of data collection and analyzation, which includes peer debriefs, member checks, and other various qualitative techniques to keep the study internally valid, three themes emerged from the grounded data. Theme one is that a continuous evolution of the artist exists. This is brought about by parental support and critical incidents. Furthermore, these participants hold an enduring feeling of passion and responsibility for their field of creative endeavor. Theme two is that each creative producer spoke of having an intense inner sense of self. This sense of self first emerged within these participants at an early age, and its adult presence is evident in how these producers (a) cannot separate the artist from the person, (b) are aware of their personal and artistic growth, (c) are aware of their personal metacognitive strategies of generating ideas, and they sometimes use their art as a source of personal therapy. Theme three talks about how these creative producers see art as a greater whole. Its evidence is manifested within these participants perception that art has a very humanistic purpose by its effect on their communities.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Field problem. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

In recent years many tools and techniques have been proposed and even implemented which support maintenance programmers to gain an understanding of existing source code. However, studies have found that some tools are of marginal benefit and not appropriate for all maintenance tasks. This may be due to tools having been designed with little regard to the common behavioural practices that occur during software maintenance tasks because the current state of knowledge of such practices is quite limited. The aim of this study is to alleviate the above situation by performing a detailed behavioural analysis of software maintenance tasks undertaken under laboratory experiment conditions. To support this aim an experiment was conducted in which twenty-nine student subjects experienced in C programming independently undertook one of two maintenance tasks on the same C program in a university environment. The data produced from the experiment included subjects??? interactions with documents and code and their responses to program comprehension questions at the end of the task. The results indicate that maintenance task success is associated with a heightened concentration on high-level procedures that control the execution of lower level procedures. Among subjects, IT industry experience was linked to efficient comprehension of program and task documentation and the performance of more code searches. In general, code searches mainly involved searches for procedure name references. Compared to subjects undertaking the enhancement task, subjects performing the complex corrective task utilised program documentation more but also obtained a greater understanding of the elementary operations and control-flow of the program. In addition, this study illustrates a method to identify common information usage strategies from the recorded maintenance behaviour of subjects. Largely unsuccessful attempts were also made to sequentially analyse maintenance behaviour. This lack of success is possibly attributable to the as-needed comprehension approach adopted by subjects. The results of this research suggest that cost-effective maintenance of software is best supported using tools implementing facilities for feature location and visualisation of the control-flow of a program. The former facility would be most helpful to maintainers undertaking corrections, whereas the latter would particularly assist maintainers undertaking enhancements.

Report (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-152). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-109). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-101). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Breslau, 1933. / Includes bibliographical references (iv-vi).