Reasons for bottlenecks in very large-scale system of systems development

ContextSystem of systems (SoS) is a set or arrangement of systems that results when independent and useful systems are to be incorporated into a larger system that delivers unique capabilities. Our investigation showed that the development life cycle (i.e. the activities transforming requirements into design, code, test cases, and releases) in SoS is more prone to bottlenecks in comparison to single systems.ObjectiveThe objective of the research is to identify reasons for bottlenecks in SoS, prioritize their significance according to their effect on bottlenecks, and compare them with respect to different roles and different perspectives, i.e. SoS view (concerned with integration of systems), and systems view (concerned with system development and delivery).MethodThe research method used is a case study at Ericsson AB.ResultsResults show that the most significant reasons for bottlenecks are related to requirements engineering. All the different roles agree on the significance of requirements related factors. However, there are also disagreements between the roles, in particular with respect to quality related reasons. Quality related hinders are primarily observed and highly prioritized by quality assurance responsibles. Furthermore, SoS view and system view perceive different hinders, and prioritize them differently.ConclusionWe conclude that solutions for requirements engineering in SoS context are needed, quality awareness in the organization has to be achieved end to end, and views between SoS and system view need to be aligned to avoid sub optimization in improvements.     

Past and future of software architectural decisions – A systematic mapping study

ContextThe software architecture of a system is the result of a set of architectural decisions. The topic of architectural decisions in software engineering has received significant attention in recent years. However, no systematic overview exists on the state of research on architectural decisions.ObjectiveThe goal of this study is to provide a systematic overview of the state of research on architectural decisions. Such an overview helps researchers reflect on previous research and plan future research. Furthermore, such an overview helps practitioners understand the state of research, and how research results can help practitioners in their architectural decision-making.MethodWe conducted a systematic mapping study, covering studies published between January 2002 and January 2012. We defined six research questions. We queried six reference databases and obtained an initial result set of 28,895 papers. We followed a search and filtering process that resulted in 144 relevant papers.ResultsAfter classifying the 144 relevant papers for each research question, we found that current research focuses on documenting architectural decisions. We found that only several studies describe architectural decisions from the industry. We identified potential future research topics: domain-specific architectural decisions (such as mobile), achieving specific quality attributes (such as reliability or scalability), uncertainty in decision-making, and group architectural decisions. Regarding empirical evaluations of the papers, around half of the papers use systematic empirical evaluation approaches (such as surveys, or case studies). Still, few papers on architectural decisions use experiments.ConclusionOur study confirms the increasing interest in the topic of architectural decisions. This study helps the community reflect on the past ten years of research on architectural decisions. Researchers are offered a number of promising future research directions, while practitioners learn what existing papers offer.     

The continuity of underperforming ICT projects in the public sector

There is a growing body of research on the successes and failures of information and communications technology (ICT) projects in the public sector. However, this literature has rarely addressed the question of why some projects persist and continue despite functioning poorly in several areas. In this paper, we suggest that the notions of institutional logics and status differences provide useful insights into the structure and trajectory of this type of continuity. We build our arguments through an in-depth qualitative case study of a public information and communications technology (PICT) project in India. From our findings, we develop a process model of PICT project continuity. We explain how the employment of bureaucratic posturing – a manifestation of bureaucratic logic – as a tactic by high status groups could lead to poor performance on several fronts. The paper elaborates on two levels of continuity: policy-level continuity, which in our case was enabled by the logics of decentralization and technocracy, and operational-level continuity, which was achieved when groups with contrasting status-related motivations supported the project.     

Kinetic study of the curing behavior of bismaleimide modified with diallylbisphenol A

The curing kinetics of bismaleimide modified with diallylbisphenol A were investigated for different ratios of 1,1′‐(methylene di‐4,1‐phenylene) bismaleimide and diallylbisphenol A with differential scanning calorimetry. Multiheating‐rate and isothermal methods were used to study the kinetics of the curing process. The results indicated that the activation energy changed with the extent of conversion. The activation energy obtained by the multiheating‐rate method was higher than that obtained by the isothermal method. Two kinetic models (autocatalytic and nth‐order) were successfully used to model the curing process. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 2229–2240, 2003     

悬浮类果品饮料稳定性问题的初步实验研究

悬浮类果品饮料如粒粒苹果、粒粒菠萝、各类果茶等,以其味道鲜美、营养丰富以及诱人的外观,很受广大消费者的喜爱,但其悬浮稳定性问题一直是许多类果品饮料生产的一个关键问题。以苹果粒悬浮饮料粒粒苹果为例,在实验基础上,详细地讨论了影响其悬浮稳定性的因素,提出了解决问题的方法和措施,供有关的生产和研究参考。     

乙酸乙酯反应精馏生产工艺模拟研究

以实际生产数据为基础，运用化工稳态模拟计算软件ASPEN PLUS，在建立现有乙酸乙酯酯化工艺仿真模型的基础上，对现有工艺进行改进，采用催化剂循环的方式，建立了生产乙酸乙酯的反应精馏新体系的计算机仿真模型。模拟研究结果表明：乙酸乙酯的带循环反应精馏新工艺是可行的，在相同的进料条件、相同的设备规格下，相比于现有生产工艺，新工艺提高生产能力约24％，同时降低了能耗和节省了设备投资。     

重钙装置改产磷铵后氨化造粒机内部构件的配置研究

重钙装置改产磷铵后,造粒机内的物料行为发生了变化,即“料浆涂布－水分蒸发－氨化反应”这一物理化学过程。喷氨孔与水平线的夹角是影响这一过程的重要因素,本文对夹角的确定进行了理论分析。在实验基础上,对造粒机预中和料浆喷头位置、氨分布管的长度和角度进行了重新配置。生产表明,重新配置的造粒机内部构件具有很好的造粒效果。     

国内沉淀法制备氧化镁的研究现状

介绍了国内沉淀法制备氧化镁的工艺概况。     

项目评价方法的比较与发展趋势

项目评价方法一类是对项目自身进行研究,分析项目的可行性;另一类是将项目看作企业的有机组成部分,从企业的核心能力及战略的角度来分析项目的可行性。目前,国内企业的项目评价主要是利用财务数据作为判断的标准,对项目竞争力则研究不足,对将项目投资与公司核心能力及公司战略结合起来进行分析重视的不够。认为随着我国市场经济的进一步深化,项目评价技术必须与公司核心能力及公司战略更紧密的结合在一起。     

新型包膜尿素的制备及其特性的研究

以桐油为主要成膜物质制备新型包膜尿素。研究结果表明，包膜后尿素颗粒的粒径分布更加均匀，有外密封层时可在包膜尿素表面形成连续致密的包膜，包膜尿素因之获得逐步释放特性。使用溶解率和无土柱淋溶率可以评价包膜尿素的养份释放特性。