Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:48:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RomeuFO_DISSERT.pdf: 4788717 bytes, checksum: 385df6854e63e9219358e4b7d5fe1ee8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-26 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / In the context of Software Engineering, web accessibility is gaining more room, establishing itself as an important quality attribute. This fact is due to initiatives of institutions such as the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and the introduction of norms and laws such as Section 508 that underlie the importance of developing accessible Web sites and applications. Despite these improvements, the lack of web accessibility is still a persistent problem, and could be related to the moment or phase in which this requirement is solved within the development process. From the moment when Web accessibility is generally regarded as a programming problem or treated when the application is already developed entirely. Thus, consider accessibility already during activities of analysis and requirements specification shows itself a strategy to facilitate project progress, avoiding rework in advanced phases of software development because of possible errors, or omissions in the elicitation. The objective of this research is to develop a method and a tool to support requirements elicitation of web accessibility. The strategy for the requirements elicitation of this method is grounded by the Goal-Oriented approach NFR Framework and the use of catalogs NFRs, created based on the guidelines contained in WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guideline) proposed by W3C / No contexto de Engenharia de Software, a Acessibilidade Web vem ganhando cada vez mais espa?o, se firmando como um importante atributo de qualidade. Esse fato se deve a iniciativas de institui??es como a W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) e ao surgimento de normas e leis como a Section 508 que fundamentam a import?ncia de elaborar sites e aplica??es Web acess?veis. Apesar dessas melhorias, a falta de acessibilidade na web ainda ? um problema persistente, e pode est? relacionada ao momento ou a fase em que este requisito ? tratado dentro do processo de desenvolvimento. Tendo em vista que a Acessibilidade Web geralmente ? considerada como um problema de programa??o ou tratada quando o aplicativo j? est? totalmente desenvolvido. Dessa forma, considerar a acessibilidade j? durante as atividades de an?lise e especifica??o de requisitos se mostra uma estrat?gia para facilitar o andamento do projeto, evitando retrabalho em fases avan?adas do desenvolvimento de software por causa de poss?veis erros, falhas ou omiss?es na elicita??o. O objetivo desta pesquisa ? desenvolver um m?todo e uma ferramenta para apoiar a elicita??o dos requisitos de acessibilidade web. A estrat?gia de elicita??o presente neste m?todo ? fundamentada atrav?s da abordagem orientada a metas do NFR Framework e na utiliza??o de cat?logos de RNFs, criados com base nas diretrizes contidas no WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guideline) proposto pela W3C

Wind power is one of the fastest growing energy sources, which have advantages in terms of delivering clean, cheap and fast energy. Many actors and organizations have realized this potential, which has lead to exponential growth of the wind power over recent couple of years. Despite promising future of clean and green energy through wind there are still areas to be improved to tackle main hinders for further development on a larger scale. The larger scale development of wind power has up-to-date been reached in only few countries such asDenmarkandGermany. The most potential can be found through offshore wind turbines due to, among other, lesser height and noise restrictions than inland wind turbines as well as better wind resources. This thesis is mainly characterized by the mixed-method method, which is in its turn characterized by mixing different research methods such as induction, deduction and abduction as they might be suitable to apply during the different stages of the research process. In this thesis the system approach will be considered to model the scope of this study’s context. As this thesis was constructed as a theoretical study the systematic literature review was used as the main source for data collection. The synthesis of the reviewed articles was initially performed in a broad manner to show overall picture of research related to the scope of this thesis. In the following step, the adopted LCM tool was used to extract study specific data from the reviewed and additional articles. This enabled to link some of the current problems, in wind power area, and ‘unfulfilled’ stakeholder requirements.    This thesis aim was to identify important stakeholders and to address their respective requirements within the scope of supportability engineering applied in the wind power context, particularly stakeholder requirements that have not been considered by previous research. The purpose of it was to compare different requirements with current issues in the wind power sector. Conducted systematic literature review showed significant and costly (development) issues related to the supportability engineering such as reliability, availability, maintainability, accessibility problems etc. This was fully in line with the stakeholders’ requirements, which in several cases demanded higher dependability i.e. availability performance and its influencing factors.  The thesis also included definition of supportability engineering framework, through comparing several widely accepted and standardized theoretical concepts. This comparison enabled definition of more focused approach with requirements on the ‘supported system’ and to lesser extent the ‘support system’. These requirements are usually mixed within the different theoretical concepts.  The main findings from this study are that application of supportability engineering framework would lead to earlier identification of important stakeholders and their requirements. Considering these requirements, for instance availability and maintainability of the wind turbines, at earlier stages of the life cycle through better design and improved supportability infrastructure could potentially decrease amount of current problems in the wind energy sector in particular for the offshore part. Another result was that different stakeholders and their requirements were identified. Thesis contribution overall was a new ‘refined approach’ to deal with supportability issues through supportability engineering framework, whose main focus is the ‘supported system’.

The agile manifesto has certainly changed the way software is produced in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry. However, many persistent challenges cripple agile software development. One challenge is that the constant change in technology makes the requirements hard to implement. Another is that issues of the agile requirements engineering (ARE) process are abundant and pervasive throughout software projects. The aim of this study is to determine common issues in agile requirements engineering in the South African software industry and identify tools and frameworks to mitigate risks emanating from such problems. This includes finding out how much value software practitioners put in the agile principles. This study was essentially quantitative, based on a cross-sectional survey. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect required data which was then subjected to exploratory data analysis using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), a tool for statistical analysis. The results show that software practitioners have a strong penchant for principles of the Agile Manifesto. Major issues in agile requirements engineering include lack of proper validation tools and techniques, scope problems, lack of proper documentation, issues of prioritisation, as well as unavailability of customer representative. A detailed baseline of issues in agile requirements engineering was created along with a set of recommended tools and techniques used in the software industry. As for the recommendation, it is suggested that companies invest more on validation tools and techniques and consider non-functional requirements integration during software development. / School of Computing / M. Sc. (Computing)

The aim of the thesis is to explore which attributes of expression and attributes of manifestation are commonly found in bibliographic records and compare them with the information needs of users. The research is focused on the Union catalog of the Czech Republic - CASLIN. In the theoretical part there are presented problems with attributes of expression and attributes of manifestation in model FRBR. In the research part there was performed content analysis of several bibliographic records owing to problems of attributes of expression and attributes of manifestation. In the research section there was made the analysis of information needs of users, too. As qualitative research methods were selected observation of participants and semi-structured interviews with respondents. The result of this thesis should be a comparison between reality in library catalogs and information needs of users.

(in English): The diploma thesis deals with the conceptual model functional requirements for bibliographic records and its implementation or FRBRisation of library information systems abroad. The introduction of the thesis presents in brief the FRBR conceptual model and its family. The second chapter discusses the development of FRBRisation activities since the creation of the FRBR study to the present. The third chapter presents a more detailed description of the FRBRisation process and presents the benefits and challenges of these projects. In connection with this, the impact on cataloging standards and data structures is also mentioned, as well as the currently debated issue concerning the possible ways of presenting the FRBRised data. The last chapter of the diploma thesis contains analysis and comparison of two selected FRBRised systems (BORéAL union catalog and Primo discovery system), with emphasis on the means and scope of FRBR implementation and user interface.

Bostadsbristen för unga växer i takt med att fler byggherrar avstår från att bygga små lägenheter, då rådande lagar gör det svårt att på ett gynnsamt sätt producera kostnads- och yteffektiva bostäder. Bostäder har i dag krav på sig från kommuner och beställare att uppfylla svensk standard. Däri har handikapporganisationer drivit fram tillgänglighetskrav som medför att alla nyproducerade bostäder är tillgänglighetsanpassade. Genom att ifrågasätta svensk funktionshinderspolitik i samband med bostadsbyggande har detta examensarbete som mål att hitta lösningar för att öka nyproduktionen av små bostäder. Granskningen resulterade i ett förslag till en ny standard för ungdoms- och studentbostäder vilken underlättar vid projektering av mindre enskilda bostadslägenheter. / The housing shortage for young people is growing as more developers refrain from building small houses since current laws make it difficult to favorably produce space-efficient buildings. Buildings must, as requirements from municipalities and clients, achieve the Swedish Standard. A standard where disability organizations have driven the availability requirements that entail that all new buildings are adapted for accessibility. By questioning the Swedish disability policy related to the building trade this thesis aims to find solutions to increase the new constructions of small apartments. The result became a proposal to a new standard for youths and students apartments, simplifying the planning of small apartments.

[pt] Considerando a disponibilidade do Big Data para engenharia de software, como no caso do GitHub, a semi-automação da elicitação de requisitos não funcionais (NFRs) é uma estratégia fundamental para a definição de requisitos. Como tal, a elicitação de NFRs, dentro da automação da leitura de documentos, pode gerenciar a massa de informações valiosas existentes nos dados disponíveis. Esta tese explora esse contexto em três partes, a escolha de fontes apropriadas de informação, uma elicitação de descoberta de fatos e a identificação de NFRs. As avaliações realizadas mostraram que a automação enfrenta um balance entre eficiência e eficácia. Esse equilíbrio é detalhado com diferentes estratégias inovadoras. O conhecimento adquirido é organizado como um catálogo SIG (Softgoal Interdependence Graph). / [en] Considering the availability of Big Data for software engineering, as the case of GitHub, the semi-automation of non-functional requirements (NFRs) elicitation is a key strategy towards requirements definition. As such, NFRs elicitation, within the automation of document reading, can manage the mass of valuable information existing in available data. This thesis explores this context in three parts, the choice of proper sources of information, a fact-finding elicitation, and NFRs identification. The assessments performed showed that the automation faces a trade-off between efficiency and efficacy. This trade-off is detailed with different novel strategies. The acquired knowledge is organized as a SIG (Softgoal Interdependence Graph) catalog.

Denna studie presenterar en jämförelse mellan KL-trä och olika former av betong (armerad/oarmerad och platsgjuten/prefabricerad) som väggmaterial i byggnadskonstruktioner. Syftet är att analysera deras respektive miljöpåverkan och kostnadseffektivitet. Trots en initialt högre kostnad per kvadratmeter, har KL-trä en betydligt lägre miljöpåverkan, vilket medför en nettovinst för miljön jämfört med betongväggarna. Bland betongalternativen uppvisar oarmerad platsgjuten betong en balans mellan lägre kostnader och mindre CO2-utsläpp. Studien lyfter fram behovet av standardiserade, pålitliga data om miljöpåverkan inom byggindustrin för att stödja hållbara beslut. Den pekar på potentialen i ytterligare forskning som syftar till att reducera både kostnader och miljöpåverkan för KL-trä, för att främja dess bredare användning i byggsektorn. Studien erbjuder därmed viktiga insikter för att driva en mer hållbar och ekonomiskt lönsam byggindustri. / This study presents a comparison between CLT and various kinds of concrete (reinforced/unreinforced and cast in place versus prefabricated) as wall material in building constructions. The purpose is to analyse their respective environmental impact and cost efficiency. Despite an initially higher cost per square meter CLT has a considerably lower environmental impact, which entails a net profit for the environment compared to the concrete walls. Among the concrete options, walls without rebar and cast in place exhibits a balance between lower costs and CO2eemissions. This study highlights the need of standardized, trustworthy data of the environmental impact in the construction industry to support sustainable decisions. It points to the potential in further research which intends to reduce both cost and environmental impact for CLT, to further promote its use in the construction industry. The study thus offers important insights for driving a more sustainable and economically profitable construction industry.

När en grupp utvecklare jobbar med samma kodbas kan konflikter uppstå med avseende på implementationen av moduler eller delsystem som varje utvecklare individuellt jobbar på. Dessa konflikter måste snabbt lösas för att projektet ska fortskrida och inte stagnera. Utvecklare som sällan kommunicerar framför ofta okompatibla moduler eller delsystem som kan vara svåra eller omöjliga att integrera i kodbasen, detta leder ofta till s.k. “integration hell” där det kan ta väldigt lång tid att anpassa ny kod till en befintlig kodbas.En strategi som man kan ta till är “continuous integration”, ett arbetssätt som erbjuder en rad fördelar när man jobbar i grupp på en gemensam kodbas. Continuous integration är möjligt att tillämpa utan verktyg eftersom detta är ett arbetssätt. Däremot kan processen stödjas av ett s.k. “CI-system” som är något av en teknisk implementation eller påtagligt införlivande och stöd för arbetsmetoden “continuous integration”.Denna rapport syftar till att ge en inblick i vad ett CI-system är och vad den principiellt består av. Vi undersöker vad ett CI-system absolut måste bestå av genom en litteraturundersökning och en marknadsundersökning. Vi ställer upp dessa beståndsdelar som “funktionella” och “icke-funktionella” krav för ett typiskt CI-system. Vi kan på så vis kvantifiera och kategorisera olika komponenter och funktionaliteter som bör innefattas i ett typiskt CI-system. I denna rapport finns även ett bihang som visar hur man kommer igång med att bygga en egen CI-server mha. CI-systemmjukvaran “TeamCity”.Slutsatsen av vår rapport är att CI-system är ett viktigt redskap som kan underlätta mjukvaruutveckling. Med hjälp av CI-system kan man stödja utvecklingsprocessen genom att bl.a. förhindra integrationsproblem, automatisera vissa delar av arbetsprocessen (kompilering av källkod, testning av mjukvara, notifikation om stabilitet av kodbas och distribution av färdig mjukvara) samt snabbt hitta och lösa integrationsfel. / When a group of developers work on the same code base, conflicts may arise regarding the implementation of modules or subsystems that developers individually work on. These conflicts have to be resolved quickly in order for the project to advance at a steady pace. Developers who do not communicate changes or other necessary deviations may find themselves in a situation where new or modified modules or subsystems are impossible or very difficult to integrate into the mainline code-base. This often leads to so called “integration hell” where it could take huge amounts of time to adapt new code into the current state of the code-base. One strategy, which can be deployed to counteract this trend is called “continuous integration”. This practice offers a wide range of advantages when a group of developers collaborates on writing clean and stable code. Continuous integration can be put into practice without the use of any tools as it is a “way to do things” rather than an actual tool. With that said, it is possible to support the practice with a tangible tool called a CI-system.This study aims to give insight into the makings of a CI-system and what it fundamentally consists of and has to be able to do. A study of contemporary research reports regarding the subject and a survey was performed in order to substantiate claims and conclusions. Core characteristics of CI-systems are grouped into “functional requirements” and “non-functional requirements (quality attributes)”. By doing this, it is possible to quantify and categorize various core components and functionalities of a typical CI-system. This study also contains an attachment which provides instructions of how to get started with implementing your own CI-server using the CI-system software ”TeamCity”. The conclusion of this study is that a CI-system is an important tool that enables a more efficient software development process. By making use of CI-systems developers can refine the development process by preventing integration problems, automating some parts of the work process (build, test, feedback, deployment) and quickly finding and solving integration issues.

The growing need for computer software in different sectors of activity, (health, agriculture, industries, education, aeronautic, science and telecommunication) together with the increasing reliance of the society as a whole on information technology, is placing a heavy and fast growing demand on complex and high quality software systems. In this regard, the anticipation has been on non-functional requirements (NFRs) engineering and formal methods. Despite their common objective, these techniques have in most cases evolved separately. NFRs engineering proceeds firstly, by deriving measures to evaluate the quality of the constructed software (product-oriented approach), and secondarily by improving the engineering process (process-oriented approach). With the ability to combine the analysis of both functional and non-functional requirements, Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) approaches have become de facto leading requirements engineering methods. They propose through refinement/operationalisation, means to satisfy NFRs encoded in softgoals at an early phase of software development. On the other side, formal methods have kept, so far, their promise to eliminate errors in software artefacts to produce high quality software products and are therefore particularly solicited for safety and mission critical systems for which a single error may cause great loss including human life. This thesis introduces the concept of Complementary Non-functional action (CNF-action) to extend the analysis and development of NFRs beyond the traditional goals/softgoals analysis, based on refinement/operationalisation, and to propagate the influence of NFRs to other software construction phases. Mechanisms are also developed to integrate the formal technique Z/Object-Z into the standardised User Requirements Notation (URN) to formalise GRL models describing functional and non-functional requirements, to propagate CNF-actions of the formalised NFRs to UCMs maps, to facilitate URN construction process and the quality of URN models. / School of Computing / D. Phil (Computer Science)