The increase in complexity in software development is followed by higher pressure on several factors such as time-to-market. Software development projects are, however, found to often run over time due to many uncertainties throughout the project. Agile methodologies have become popular in managing software development projects due to their flexible, short-term, and iterative approach to working and planning. There is however a dilemma between being agile without fixed plans, and simultaneously having pressure from management and customers to set and meet a deadline, based on long-term plans. The Agile way of working includes self-organized teams that are involved in project management tasks such as planning and estimating. Agile teams create their own variances of different Agile frameworks as well as their own team characteristics, planning methods, and working ways. Important characteristics of Agile teams are, for instance, cross-functionality and adaptation. Agile planning includes activities such as the breakdown of work, effort estimation, prioritization, task assignment, and planning of iterations. These activities are commonly used in software development teams to manage their work and increase the ability to deliver on time.  This study aims to investigate how software development teams plan their work in practice and what Agile planning activities and Agile team characteristics are regarded, by the development teams, to be important for on-time delivery. Furthermore, it is interesting to investigate how the identified activities and characteristics are reflected in the teams’ actual planning. A case study is conducted on two software development teams at Ericsson’s organization Cloud RAN to investigate this matter.  The studied software development teams are found to use variations of Agile methodologies. The thesis identifies a number of Agile planning activities and team characteristics to be regarded, by the teams, as important for on-time delivery. Many of these activities and characteristics are also reflected in how the teams actually plan. However, there are some contrasting opinions regarding the activities and team characteristics. It can therefore not be stated that all the identified Agile activities and team characteristics are reflected in the actual team-level planning. The thesis also includes other findings impacting teams to deliver on time as well as factors affecting team-level planning.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) has gained popularity and attractiveness in the past years’ thanks to its dynamic and programmable nature. The possibility to decouple the data plane and control plane allows for the implementation of Internet networks in an innovative way. Thanks to its ease in changing flow rules in network switches, SDN allows network resources optimization. In the case of critical applications, an essential aspect is to ensure connectivity on the network even in case of link failures. Even when a failure causes an interruption of connectivity, the challenge also stays in recovering as fast as possible. Nonetheless, the SDN controller should have the policy to decide which pairs of end-hosts to disable connectivity when there is a shortage of resources to keep the most important connections active. In this thesis, we developed a proactive-reactive SDN controller coded in Python that copes with restoring end-hosts connectivity as fast as possible. The controller prioritizes the couples of end-hosts that need connectivity based on their importance. During a shortage of network resources, the connectivity of pairs of end-hosts with low importance is disabled, and the connectivity between the most important couples can be ensured. We tested our solution with a reactive-only SDN controller and a proactive-reactive SDN controller that does not consider any prioritization order between end-hosts connectivity. Both the benchmark SDN controllers were developed in the thesis. Experiments were run on the same network topology, with the same couple of endhosts involved. The comparison between the proactive-reactive and reactive-only controllers showed the first one to be faster in restoring the connectivity after a failure. It saves time restoring the connectivity and has fewer packets lost under certain conditions in the relationship between the switch-to-switch and the switchto-controller transmission delay. The comparison between the proactive-reactive iii controller and the controller with no prioritization confirms that without an ordered queue of priorities, it may be the most important couple of end-hosts to lose connectivity in case of shortages of network resources. To simulate a realistic scenario, the project considers the case study of electric power transmission networks using SDN. In particular, the focus is on reconnecting Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU)s to the power grid to ensure system observability. During our experiments, we adopted the typical measurement transmission frequency used by PMUs (50Hz). The SDN switches are deployed with P4, and the SDN controller is coded in Python. Furthermore, it exploits P4Runtime to communicate with the switches in run-time. / Software Defined Networking (SDN) har vunnit popularitet och attraktionskraft under de senaste åren tack vare sin dynamiska och programmerbara natur. Möjligheten att frikoppla dataplanet från kontrollplanet gör det möjligt att genomföra Internetnät på ett innovativt sätt. Tack vare att det är lätt att ändra flödesreglerna i nätverksväxlar gör SDN det möjligt att optimera nätverksresurserna. När det gäller kritiska tillämpningar är en viktig aspekt att säkerställa konnektiviteten i nätet även vid länkfel. Även när ett fel orsakar ett avbrott i konnektiviteten är utmaningen också att återhämta sig så snabbt som möjligt. Trots detta bör SDNstyrenheten ha en policy för att avgöra vilka par av slutvärdar som ska inaktivera anslutningen när det råder brist på resurser för att hålla de viktigaste anslutningarna aktiva. I den här avhandlingen har vi utvecklat en proaktiv-reaktiv SDN-styrenhet kodad i Python som klarar av att återställa slutvärdarnas anslutning så snabbt som möjligt. Styrenheten prioriterar paren av slutvärdar som behöver anslutning utifrån deras betydelse. Vid brist på nätverksresurser inaktiveras anslutningen för par av slutvärdar med låg betydelse, och anslutningen mellan de viktigaste paren kan säkerställas. Vi testade vår lösning med en enbart reaktiv SDN-styrenhet och en proaktiv-reaktiv SDN-styrenhet som inte tar hänsyn till någon prioriteringsordning mellan slutvärdarnas konnektivitet. Båda riktmärkeskontrollerna SDN utvecklades i avhandlingen. Experimenten genomfördes på samma nätverkstopologi med samma antal slutvärdar. Jämförelsen mellan den proaktivt-reaktiva och den enbart reaktiva kontrollören visade att den förstnämnda kontrollören var snabbare när det gäller att återställa anslutningen efter ett fel. Den sparar tid för att återställa anslutningen och har färre förlorade paket under vissa förhållanden i förhållandet mellan överföringsfördröjningen från switch till switch och från switch till styrenhet. Jämförelsen mellan den proaktiva-reaktiva styrenheten och v styrenheten utan prioritering bekräftar att utan en ordnad kö av prioriteringar kan det vara det viktigaste paret av slutvärdar som förlorar konnektiviteten vid brist på nätverksresurser. För att simulera ett realistiskt scenario används SDN i projektet som fallstudie för elöverföringsnät. Fokus ligger särskilt på att återansluta Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU)s till elnätet för att säkerställa systemets observerbarhet. Under våra experiment antog vi den typiska överföringsfrekvensen för mätningar som används av PMUs (50Hz). SDN-växlarna installeras med P4, och SDN-styrenheten är kodad i Python. Dessutom utnyttjas P4Runtime för att kommunicera med växlarna i körtid.

This thesis develops the prioritization guidance and action guidance provided by Iris Marion Young’s Social Connection Model of responsibility for injustice. Young’s parameters of reasoning are limited in their ability to assist responsible agents in determining what they ought to do to fulfill their responsibilities, as they are severed from the structural analysis characteristic of the rest of the SCM. This thesis addresses the resulting limitations by developing categories of prioritization and an action guidance framework. I develop 6 categories of prioritization: power, benefit, interest, centrality, contribution, and control. Applied to social-group-based analysis, these categories determine the strength of the prioritization claim which a given injustice holds over a given social group. The action guidance framework takes the perspective of the political community and works its way through three questions and their corresponding considerations: “What can we do?” –structural change, altering practices, and harm alleviation; “How can we do it?” –understanding sub-issues and sub-options, determining interests, and organizing collectives; and “What can I do?” –eliminating contributory behaviours, and considering personal circumstances. Through this framework, agents can analyze the capacities of the political community and the structures of an injustice to determine which projects should be undertaken and how agents ought to contribute. Finally, the developments of this thesis are applied to the case of landlords and housing, therein establishing the necessity of landlords abandoning rental profits so as to fulfill and not contradict their responsibility to eliminate housing injustice. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This thesis develops the prioritization guidance and action guidance provided by Iris Marion Young’s Social Connection Model of responsibility for injustice. Young’s parameters of reasoning, meant to provide this guidance, are limited in their ability to assist responsible agents in determining what they ought to do to fulfill their responsibilities. This thesis addresses these limitations by developing 6 categories of prioritization and an action guidance framework. The categories of prioritization determine which social groups ought to prioritize a given injustice. Through the action guidance framework, agents can analyze the capacities of the political community and the structures of an injustice to determine which projects should be undertaken and how agents ought to contribute to them. The developments of this thesis are applied to the case of landlords and housing injustice, therein establishing the necessity of landlords abandoning rental profits.

This dissertation introduces a hybrid strategy for automated testing of Android applications that combines reinforcement learning and test suite prioritization. These approaches aim to improve the effectiveness of the testing process by employing reinforcement learning algorithms, namely Q-learning and SARSA (State-Action-Reward-State-Action), for automated test case generation. The studies provide compelling evidence that reinforcement learning techniques hold great potential in generating test cases that consistently achieve high code coverage; however, the generated test cases may not always be in the optimal order. In this study, novel test case prioritization methods are developed, leveraging pairwise event interactions coverage, application state coverage, and application activity coverage, so as to optimize the rates of code coverage specifically for SARSA-generated test cases. Additionally, test suite prioritization techniques are introduced based on UI element coverage, test case cost, and test case complexity to further enhance the ordering of SARSA-generated test cases. Empirical investigations demonstrate that applying the proposed test suite prioritization techniques to the test suites generated by the reinforcement learning algorithm SARSA improved the rates of code coverage over original orderings and random orderings of test cases.

Целью работы является моделирование существующего процесса информирования клиентов, оптимизация этого процесса, сравнительный анализ существующих систем информирования, проектирование архитектуры собственной системы. В ходе выполнения работы был проведен сравнительный анализ брокеров сообщений, выявлены достоинства и недостатки каждого из них. Для подключения к существующей корпоративной платформе был разработан план внедрения и выполнена миграция данных в целевую систему с помощью разработанной программы-синхронизатора. / The purpose of the work is to simulate the existing process of informing customers, to conduct a comparative analysis of existing informing systems, and to design the architecture of the same type system. In the course of the work, a comparative analysis of message broker programs was carried out and the advantages and disadvantages of each were identified. In order to connect to the existing corporate platform, an implementation plan was developed and data migration to the target system was performed with the help of the developed synchronization program.

The annual budget cycle in urban road/transport authorities by implication requires transport infrastructure projects to be ranked in terms of their relative value, to enable project selection by starting from the most deserving proposal. This follows from the fact that the total cost of feasible projects practically always exceeds available funds, signalling the need for some kind of selection protocol. Cost benefit analysis (CBA), when applied in a narrow sense, is not suitable for this purpose as it focuses on economic efficiency only. Attempts to broaden it have been criticized by some scholars. Although the diversity of impacts points to a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) approach, this is considered unscientific in certain quarters; at best, its practical value needs to be demonstrated. In the case of the City of Tshwane (CoT), problems with current project appraisal are evident in that different methods – none of which is defensible – are used, sometimes resulting in rankings that are contradictory. This thesis therefore attempts the following: (a) to develop a basic approach that combines the best elements of traditional methods; (b) to customize this approach to the specific context and needs of road authorities in the municipal sphere of government, using CoT as an example; and (c) to demonstrate the application of the resulting appraisal framework, utilizing appropriate decision-support software for this purpose. Recommendations include the following: An appraisal framework should combine CBA and MCA by adopting an overall MCA approach with economic efficiency – focusing on the optimal allocation of scarce resources – as one of the decision criteria. For completeness‟ sake, three additional decision criteria are deemed necessary: equity (focusing on income distribution impacts); sustainability (focusing on environmental impacts); and compatibility (focusing on the alignment of projects with stated goals and objectives). This framework may well apply to road authorities in other spheres of government – the optimum application in each case will depend on the composition of the relevant decision-making team. The inherent nature of project appraisal requires a two-phased approach in all cases: the evaluation of mutually exclusive alternatives, followed by the ranking of independent projects. State-of-the-art decision support software is indispensable for implementing this framework. / Transport Economics / D. Com. (Transport Economics)

<p>У тези су анализиране карактеристичне компензационе стратегије, за<br />које је уочено да их човек често примењује. На основу анализе су<br />дефинисане предности и мане сваке од стратегија. Након тога је<br />приказан систем за приоритетизацију задатака, ради истраживања<br />могућности симултане реализације више задатака. Да би се омогућило<br />укључивање различитих задатака и ограничења развијен је формални<br />начин њиховог записивања. Посебна пажња је дата ограничењима која<br />настају као последица контакта са околином. Развијена је методологија<br />којом се утврђује да ли неки од постојећих контаката може бити<br />раскинут а да жељени покрет буде изводив, као и да ли је ради<br />реализације намераваног покрета потребно успоставити нови контакт.<br />Укључивањем ограничења у систем за приоритетизацију је добијена<br />методологија за модификацију покрета у присуству ограничења.</p> / <p>U tezi su analizirane karakteristične kompenzacione strategije, za<br />koje je uočeno da ih čovek često primenjuje. Na osnovu analize su<br />definisane prednosti i mane svake od strategija. Nakon toga je<br />prikazan sistem za prioritetizaciju zadataka, radi istraživanja<br />mogućnosti simultane realizacije više zadataka. Da bi se omogućilo<br />uključivanje različitih zadataka i ograničenja razvijen je formalni<br />način njihovog zapisivanja. Posebna pažnja je data ograničenjima koja<br />nastaju kao posledica kontakta sa okolinom. Razvijena je metodologija<br />kojom se utvrđuje da li neki od postojećih kontakata može biti<br />raskinut a da željeni pokret bude izvodiv, kao i da li je radi<br />realizacije nameravanog pokreta potrebno uspostaviti novi kontakt.<br />Uključivanjem ograničenja u sistem za prioritetizaciju je dobijena<br />metodologija za modifikaciju pokreta u prisustvu ograničenja.</p> / <p>The thesis analyzes the characteristic compensation strategies, which are<br />observed to be often applied by men. Based on the analysis benefits and<br />disadvantages each of the strategies are defined. After that, the task<br />prioritization framework is shown, which enables simultaneous realiztation of<br />multiple tasks. In order to include different tasks and constraints in the<br />framework, the formal way of their notation is developed. Special attention is<br />given to the constraints that arise as a consequence of contacts with the<br />environment. Methodology for determining whether some of the existing<br />contacts can be broken, but that the desired movement is feasible, and<br />whether is it necessary to establish a new contact for the realization of the<br />intended movement. By including the constraints in the task prioritization<br />framework, methodology for modification of the movement in the presence of<br />constraints is obtained.</p>

L’arthrite est l’une des causes principales de douleur et d’incapacité auprès de la population canadienne. Les gens atteints d’arthrite rhumatoïde (AR) devraient être évalués par un rhumatologue moins de trois mois suivant l’apparition des premiers symptômes et ce afin de débuter un traitement médical approprié qui leur sera bénéfique. La physiothérapie et l’ergothérapie s’avèrent bénéfiques pour les patients atteints d’ostéoarthrite (OA) et d’AR, et aident à réduire l’incapacité. Notre étude a pour but d’évaluer les délais d’attente afin d’obtenir un rendez-vous pour une consultation en rhumatologie et en réadaptation dans le système de santé public québécois, et d’explorer les facteurs associés. Notre étude est de type observationnel et transversal et s’intéresse à la province de Québec. Un comité d’experts a élaboré trois scénarios pour les consultations en rhumatologie : AR présumée, AR possible, et OA présumée ; ainsi que deux scénarios pour les consultations en réadaptation : AR diagnostiquée, OA diagnostiquée. Les délais d’attente ont été mesurés entre le moment de la requête initiale et la date de rendez-vous fixée. L’analyse statistique consiste en une analyse descriptive de même qu’une analyse déductive, à l’aide de régression logistique et de comparaison bivariée. Parmi les 71 bureaux de rhumatologie contactés, et pour tous les scénarios combinés, 34% ont donné un rendez-vous en moins de trois mois, 32% avaient une attente de plus de trois mois et 34% ont refusé de fixer un rendez-vous. La probabilité d’obtenir une évaluation en rhumatologie en moins de trois mois est 13 fois plus grande pour les cas d’AR présumée par rapport aux cas d’OA présumée (OR=13; 95% Cl [1.70;99.38]). Cependant, 59% des cas d’AR présumés n’ont pas obtenu rendez-vous en moins de trois mois. Cent centres offrant des services publics en réadaptation ont été contactés. Pour tous les scénarios combinés, 13% des centres ont donné un rendez-vous en moins de 6 mois, 13% entre 6 et 12 mois, 24% avaient une attente de plus de 12 mois et 22% ont refusé de fixer un rendez-vous. Les autres 28% restant requéraient les détails d’une évaluation relative à l’état fonctionnel du patient avant de donner un rendez-vous. Par rapport aux services de réadaptation, il n’y avait aucune différence entre les délais d’attente pour les cas d’AR ou d’OA. L’AR est priorisée par rapport à l’OA lorsque vient le temps d’obtenir un rendez-vous chez un rhumatologue. Cependant, la majorité des gens atteints d’AR ne reçoivent pas les services de rhumatologie ou de réadaptation, soit physiothérapie ou ergothérapie, dans les délais prescrits. De meilleures méthodes de triage et davantage de ressources sont nécessaires. / Arthritis is a leading cause of pain and disability in Canada. Persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should be seen by a rheumatologist within three months of symptom onset to begin appropriate medical treatment and improve health outcomes. Early physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) are beneficial for both osteoarthritis (OA) and RA and may prevent disability. The objectives of the study are to describe wait times from referral by primary care provider to rheumatology and rehabilitation consultation in the public system of Quebec and to explore associated factors. We conducted a cross-sectional study in the province of Quebec, Canada whereby we requested appointments from all rheumatology practices and public rehabilitation departments using case scenarios that were created by a group of experts. Three scenarios were developed for the rheumatology referrals: Presumed RA; Possible RA; and Presumed OA and two scenarios for the rehabilitation referrals: diagnosed RA and diagnosed OA. Wait times were evaluated as the time between the initial request and the appointment date provided. The statistical analysis consisted primarily of descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics (bivariate comparisons and logistic regression). Seventy-one rheumatology practices were contacted. For all scenarios combined, 34% were given an appointment with a rheumatologist within three months of referral, 32% waited longer than three months and 34% were refused services. The odds of getting an appointment with a rheumatologist within three months was 13 times greater for the Presumed RA scenario versus the Presumed OA scenario (OR=13; 95% Cl[1.70;99.38]). However, 59% of the Presumed RA cases did not receive an appointment within three months. One hundred rehabilitation departments were also contacted. For both scenarios combined, 13% were given an appointment within 6 months, 13% within 6 to 12 months, 24% waited longer than 12 months and 22% were refused services. The remaining 28% were told that they would require an evaluation appointment based on functional assessment prior to being given an appointment. There was no difference with regards to diagnosis, RA versus OA, for the rehabilitation consultation. RA is prioritized over OA when obtaining an appointment to a rheumatologist in Quebec. However, the majority of persons with RA are still not receiving rheumatology or publicly accessible PT or OT intervention in a timely manner. Better methods for triage and increased resource allocation are needed.

Contexte : Pour les patients atteints d’une polyarthrite rhumatoïde débutante (PARD), l’utilisation de médicaments antirhumatismaux à longue durée d’action améliore les résultats pour les patients de manière significative. Les patients traités par un rhumatologue ont une plus grande probabilité de recevoir des traitements et donc d’avoir de meilleurs résultats de santé. Toutefois, les délais observés entre le début des symptômes et une première visite avec un rhumatologue sont souvent supérieurs à la recommandation de trois mois énoncée par les guides de pratiques. Au Québec, le temps d’attente pour voir un rhumatologue à la suite d’une demande de consultation est généralement long et contribue aux délais totaux. Objectifs : Nous avons évalué la capacité d’un programme d’accès rapide avec un triage effectué par une infirmière à correctement identifier les patients avec PARD et à réduire leur temps d’attente, dans le but d’améliorer le processus de soin. Méthodes : Une infirmière a évalué tous les nouveaux patients référés en 2009 et 2010 dans une clinique de rhumatologie située en banlieue de Montréal. Un niveau de priorité leur a été attribué sur la base du contenu de la demande de consultation, de l’information obtenue à la suite d’une entrevue téléphonique avec le patient et, si requis, d’un examen partiel des articulations. Les patients avec PARD, avec une arthrite inflammatoire non différentiée, ou atteints d’une autre pathologie rhumatologique aiguë étaient priorisés et obtenaient un rendez-vous le plus rapidement possible. Les principales mesures de résultat étudiées étaient la validité (sensibilité et spécificité) du triage pour les patients atteints de PARD ainsi que les délais entre la demande de consultation et la première visite avec un rhumatologue. Résultats : Parmi les 701 patients nouvellement référés, 65 ont eu un diagnostic final de PARD. Le triage a correctement identifié 85,9% de ces patients et a correctement identifié 87,2% des patients avec l’une des pathologies prioritaires. Le délai médian entre la demande de consultation et la première visite était de 22 jours pour les patients atteints de PARD et de 115 pour tous les autres. Discussion et conclusion : Ce programme d’accès rapide avec triage effectué par une infirmière a correctement identifié la plupart des patients atteints de PARD, lesquels ont pu être vus rapidement en consultation par le rhumatologue. Considérant qu’il s’agit d’un programme qui requiert beaucoup d’investissement de temps et de personnel, des enjeux de faisabilités doivent être résolus avant de pouvoir implanter un tel type de programme dans un système de soins de santé ayant des ressources très limitées. / Background : In patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA), use of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs substantially improves patient outcomes. Patients treated by rheumatologists are more likely to receive these treatments and to have better disease outcomes. However, delays from symptoms onset to first rheumatologist visit often exceed the guideline recommendations of 3 months. Waiting time to see a rheumatologist after a referral is made, is generally long in Quebec and contributes to those delays. Objectives : We evaluated the ability of a nurse-led triage and rapid access program to identify patients with ERA and reduce their waiting time, in order to improve process of care. Methods : A nurse assessed all new referrals received between 2009 and 2010, in a suburban Montreal rheumatology clinic. Priority level was assigned based on the written content of the referral, a telephone interview with the patient and, if needed, an partial joint examination. Patients with ERA, including undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis, and other acute rheumatologic conditions were prioritized and given an appointment as early as possible. The main outcome measures were validity (sensibility and specificity) of the priority level for patients with ERA and delay from referral to first visit with rheumatologist. Results : Of 701 newly referred patients, 65 had a final diagnosis of ERA. The triage correctly identified 85.9% of patients with ERA and 87.2% of patients with other high priority conditions. The median delay between referral date and first visit was 22 days for patients with ERA and 115 days for all others. Discussion and implications : This nurse led triage and rapid access program correctly identified most patients with ERA and resulted in rapid consultation for these patients. Since this is a labor intensive program, feasibility issues need to be resolved before implementing this type of triage in a resource constrained healthcare system.

Subjects: This diploma thesis is dedicated to the topic of time management in nursing - it deals with four generations of time management and with its different techniques. Furthermore it describes functions and roles of a manager. Objectives: The main objective of this thesis is to analyse time management issues that concern nurse managers working in intensive care. The main goal of the research is to answer following question: How do nurse managers in intensive care use and organise their working time? Secondary goals are: to name priorities of nurse managers on an ordinary working day, to find out which timekeeping devices do nurse managers use for direct measuring of time consumption, to analyze managerial strategies used by nurse managers for their time management, to sum up the most frequent tasks postponed by nurse managers for a later time and find the reasons of procrastination. Methodology: Data were gained through a combined quantitative and qualitative research design. Quantitative research was done through the use of a time frame of a working day and a working week of nurse managers. Results were presented in boxes and charts to provide a better overview. Data for qualitative analysis were gained through semi-structured interviews in three focus groups. Qualitative data were processed...