Does laser etching have an effect on application mode of a universal adhesive?—A microleakage and scanning electron microscopy evaluation

This study aimed to evaluate the microleakage of a universal adhesive's different application modes incorporated with Er,Cr:YSGG laser on Class V resin composite restorations. Sound human molar teeth (n = 30) were used for microleakage evaluations. Specimens with 60 standardized Class V cavities were divided into five groups according to the adhesive modes of universal adhesive, Adhese Universal (n = 12). Group 1‐etch‐and‐rinse mode with phosphoric acid; Group 2‐etch‐and‐rinse mode with Er,Cr:YSGG laser; Group 3‐selective‐etch mode with phosphoric acid; Group 4‐selective‐etch mode with Er,Cr:YSGG laser; Group 5‐self‐etch. After restorations were performed with a resin composite, Tetric N‐Ceram, the specimens were polished and subjected to thermocycling (10,000X). Following immersion in 0.5% basic fuschin for a day, the teeth were sectioned and the degree of microleakage was determined along the tooth‐resin composite interface using a light microscopy(40X). Five specimens from each group were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The Kruskal–Wallis, Siegel Castello, and Wilcoxon tests were used for statistical analyses (α = .05). At the enamel margins, significant differences were obtained among the groups (p < .05). Significantly higher microleakage scores were detected in Group 5 in comparison with Groups 1, 2, and 3. There were no significant differences between different adhesive strategies at the dentin margins (p > .05). While analyzing enamel and dentin microleakage scores, no statistically significant differences were observed in Groups 4 and 5 (p > .05). The laser application time and the adhesive modes of universal adhesives could affect the microleakage at the enamel margins. Different adhesive modes of universal adhesives combined with laser etching had no influence on the microleakage scores of dentin margins.     

The impact of project capabilities on project performance: Case of open source software projects

Open Source Software (OSS) projects are contingent on volunteer developers and voluntary contributions from users, accordingly, traditional performance measures used for software projects, like being on time and budget, and satisfying specifications, may not be relevant for such projects. Although researchers have studied some predictors of OSS project performance, there is a lack of empirical work that studies the impact of project capabilities on the performance of OSS projects. Therefore, this paper studies project capabilities as potential predictors of OSS project performance. The data, gathered from 607 OSS projects over time (in two snap-shots), were consistent with Dynamic Capability Theory (DCT). In other words, the results showed that in order to achieve higher project performance, OSS projects need to have strong capabilities in terms of proactive and efficient defect-removal as well as proactive and efficient functionality-enhancement. The implications of these results for the OSS research community are discussed, followed by recommendations for OSS practitioners.     

Resources contributing to gaining competitive advantage for open source software projects: An application of resource-based theory

Open Source Software (OSS) is an important asset in today's software-intensive society. The success of OSS projects is highly dependent on a number of factors. These factors must be understood and managed as an OSS project progresses. Thus, project management of an OSS project has a decisive role in ensuring the success of its software. The objective of the research is to increase the understanding of the resources affecting the competitiveness of OSS projects. Herewith, the responsiveness of OSS projects to users' needs is assessed via an investigation of the defect-fixing process. A Resource-Based View of the firm (RBV) is used to build theoretical justifications for a set of hypotheses proposed in this study. Data gathered from 427 OSS projects confirmed that developers' interest in and users' contribution to the project as well as frequently updating and releasing the software affect the project's ability to gain competitive advantage through effective defect-fixing. It is also shown that OSS projects that are more popular and have a higher level of organizational communication than others are more likely to gain competitive advantage through effective defect-fixing. Finally, implications of the results for practitioners and the research community are presented.     

Creating Software Product Value in China

China has become a formidable player and continues to experience strong growth in a dynamic global market for software development. This highly competitive environment makes maximizing the creation of software product value both difficult and important. When looking at a software product, different stakeholder groups—purchasers, users, software managers, and developers—have different notions of value. This study examines the stakeholder perspectives and criteria used to select and prioritize software release requirements in three groups of software development companies: Chinese companies with a domestic market, Chinese companies with an international market, and Western companies operating in China. The results are similar for all three groups, except for after-sales support, which was a significantly greater concern for Chinese companies with an international market.     

A field study of the requirements engineering practice in Australian software industry

Empirical studies have demonstrated that requirements errors introduced during software development are most numerous in the software life-cycle, making software requirements critical determinants of software quality. This article reports an exploratory study which provides insight into industrial practices with respect to requirements engineering (RE). A combination of both qualitative and quantitative data is collected, using semi-structured interviews and a detailed questionnaire from 28 software projects in 16 Australian companies. The contribution of this RE study is threefold: Firstly, it includes a detailed examination of the characteristics of the RE activities involved in the projects. Secondly, it reconstructs the underlying practiced process models. Thirdly, it compares these models to one another and with a number of well-known process models from RE literature to give insight into the gap between RE theory and practice.     

Competency rallying in electronic markets: implications for open source project success

This paper studies the success of Open Source Software (OSS) projects in attracting developer interest and achieving project efficiency. The focus of our study is on examining the relationship between the four sets of capabilities proposed in the Theory of Competency Rallying (TCR) and the success of OSS projects. The data collected from 607 OSS projects mainly confirm that the capabilities proposed in the TCR are necessary for the success of OSS projects. The results of this study show that in order to succeed, OSS projects should constantly identify their market??s quality and functionality needs. Ability of OSS project managers to know which developers possess certain skills required to meet a particular market need is also found to be critical. Another capability that is recognised to be crucial in predicting project success is the ability of OSS developers in effectively addressing market needs and continuously learning from such experiences. Finally, the ability of stakeholders involving in addressing a particular market need to efficiently collaborate and fulfil that specific market need is found to be another essential capability required for OSS projects to succeed. Implications of the results for practitioners and the research community are presented.     

Antecedents to IT personnel's intentions to leave: A systematic literature review

This paper undertakes a systematic review to gain insight into existing studies on the turnover of information technology (IT) personnel. Our systematic review of 72 studies from 1980 to 2008 examines the background and trend of research into IT personnel's intentions to leave their workplaces, in addition to providing a taxonomy of the determinants of their intentions to quit as captured in IT literature. We note a huge growth in the number of academic papers on the topic since 1998. Moreover, most of the research on IT turnover has been undertaken in North America, followed by Asia. Based on the 72 extracted studies, we found a total of 70 conceptually distinct IT turnover drivers. We classified them into the 5 broad categories of individual, organisational, job-related, psychological, and environmental, each containing three to four sub-categories. Finally, this paper presents insightful recommendations for IT practitioners as well as for the research community.