Requirements engineering in health care: the example of chemotherapy planning in paediatric oncology

Health care is characterized by highly complex processes of patient care that require unusual amount of communication between different health care professionals of different institutions. Sub-optimal processes can significantly impact on the patient’s health, increase the consumption of services and resources and in severe cases can lead to the patient death. For these reasons, requirements engineering for the development of information technology in health care is a complex process as well: without constant and rigorous evaluation, the impact of new systems on the quality of care is unknown and it is possible that badly designed systems significantly harm patients. To overcome these limitations, we present and discuss an approach to requirements engineering that we applied for the development of applications for chemotherapy planning in paediatric oncology. Chemotherapy planning in paediatric oncology is complex and time-consuming and errors must be avoided by all means. In the multi-hospital/multi-trial-centre environment of paediatric oncology, it is especially difficult and time-consuming to analyse requirements. Our approach combines a grounded theory approach with evolutionary prototyping based on the constant development and refinement of a generic domain model, in this case a domain model for chemotherapy planning in paediatric oncology. The prototypes were introduced in medical centres and final results show that the developed generic domain model is adequate.     

Using classification techniques for informal requirements in the requirements analysis-supporting system

In order to efficiently develop large-scale and complicated software, it is important for system engineers to correctly understand users’ requirements. Most requirements in large-scale projects are collected from various stakeholders located in various regions, and they are generally written in natural language. Therefore, the initial collected requirements must be classified into various topics prior to analysis phases in order to be usable as input in several requirements analysis methods. If this classification process is manually done by analysts, it becomes a time-consuming task. To solve this problem, we propose a new bootstrapping method which can automatically classify requirements sentences into each topic category using only topic words as the representative of the analysts’ views. The proposed method is verified through experiments using two requirements data sets: one written in English and the other in Korean. The significant performances were achieved in the experiments: the 84.28 and 87.91 F1 scores for the English and Korean data sets, respectively. As a result, the proposed method can provide an effective function for an Internet-based requirements analysis-supporting system so as to efficiently gather and analyze requirements from various and distributed stakeholders by using the Internet.     

Formal methods: The next generation of system design tools

Because of the growing demand for increasingly complex computer-based systems there is now an urgent need to provide tools to assist during the design of such systems. Formal specifications and formal methods provide such assistance but their widespread adoption has been hindered by the so-called ‘math fear’ and the perception that the tools are too difficult, too time consuming and too costly to use in a commercial environment. The aim of this article is to dispel the mystery surrounding the topic and to explain what formal methods are, how and why they are used, the benefits that accrue and why the technology should be accepted on a broader front. The application of formal methods to the design of computer-based systems will be discussed without resorting to jargon or mathematics. The discussion will concentrate more on the software content of systems but the arguments apply equally well to hardware. Some of the available tools will also be introduced.     

Stress testing of compilers for modula-2

During standardization discussions on Modula-2 the question was raised whether the future standard should need a clause stating a set of minimal requirements for conforming implementations regarding the ‘structuredness’ of lexical, syntactical and run-time constructs in programs written in this language. It was decided to test a number of compilers to find their actual limits on the structuredness of some of these constructs. The test results do not only show these limits, but the inability of some compilers to handle large and complex inputs is shown as well.     

一种从组织业务数据中获取软件需求的方法

针对隐藏于组织业务海量数据中的隐性软件需求获取提出一种方法。该方法的基本思想是：组织业务海量数据中隐含软件需求,它是以隐性知识形式存在于海量数据中的,隐性知识利用的解决方案就是组织及利益相关者对待开发软件系统的要求（软件需求）。首先,构建一个完整的、无冲突的、正确的待开发软件系统目标及其关系模型,并在待开发系统目标指导下,利用数据挖掘技术对数据进行挖掘,从中发现隐性知识;然后,识别知识的有用性和可用性;最后为可用性知识的利用提供解决方案。进而获取隐藏于大量数据中的隐性软件需求．     

C~4ISR系统需求仿真组件模型研究

研究面向C4ISR系统需求验证中的仿真支持过程,针对不同阶段、不同领域的需求仿真和重用问题,通过C4ISR系统需求的仿真概念模型,从系统功能、作战活动和系统状态等不同侧面抽象描述需求仿真的特性,建立了面向仿真的C4ISR系统需求组件模型,并用案例分析了C4ISR系统需求仿真组件模型的可行性。     

A systematic literature review of software requirements prioritization research

ContextDuring requirements engineering, prioritization is performed to grade or rank requirements in their order of importance and subsequent implementation releases. It is a major step taken in making crucial decisions so as to increase the economic value of a system.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to identify and analyze existing prioritization techniques in the context of the formulated research questions.MethodSearch terms with relevant keywords were used to identify primary studies that relate requirements prioritization classified under journal articles, conference papers, workshops, symposiums, book chapters and IEEE bulletins.Results73 Primary studies were selected from the search processes. Out of these studies; 13 were journal articles, 35 were conference papers and 8 were workshop papers. Furthermore, contributions from symposiums as well as IEEE bulletins were 2 each while the total number of book chapters amounted to 13.ConclusionPrioritization has been significantly discussed in the requirements engineering domain. However, it was generally discovered that, existing prioritization techniques suffer from a number of limitations which includes: lack of scalability, methods of dealing with rank updates during requirements evolution, coordination among stakeholders and requirements dependency issues. Also, the applicability of existing techniques in complex and real setting has not been reported yet.     

Start-Up and Optimization of the Ozone Disinfection Process At the Sebago Lake Water Treatment Facility

The purpose of the ozone process at the Sebago Lake Water Treatment Facility (SLWTF) is to meet the disinfection requirements of the Surface Water Treatment Rule with ozone and without filtration. The start-up experience is presented including initial operating strategies to meet disinfection requirements. An ozone system performance test conducted during the first month of plant operation is described and the results are reviewed. The initial and proposed activities of an ozone optimization project are discussed.     

基于问题框架的计算机辅助需求工程工具的研发

问题框架(Problem Frames,PF)已经得到需求工程界的广泛重视和研究。目前,问题框架在理论基础和开发方法等方面已经有很多研究成果,但如何把它们应用到实际的软件开发项目中仍是一个有待解决的问题。本工具可帮助系统分析员实现从用户需求到软件规约的平滑和可推理的变换,从而为软件开发项目中需求的沟通、建模及分析等提供技术支持。此外,该工具产生的结果也为下一步的软件设计提供帮助。它对促进问题框架方法的进一步发展和成熟,如从研究走向实用,具有重要的推动作用。