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Sentiment analysis is one of the fastest growing research areas in computer science, making it challenging to keep track of all the activities in the area. We present a computer-assisted literature review, where we utilize both text mining and qualitative coding, and analyze 6996 papers from Scopus. We find that the roots of sentiment analysis are in the studies on public opinion analysis at the beginning of 20th century and in the text subjectivity analysis performed by the computational linguistics community in 1990’s. However, the outbreak of computer-based sentiment analysis only occurred with the availability of subjective texts on the Web. Consequently, 99% of the papers have been published after 2004. Sentiment analysis papers are scattered to multiple publication venues, and the combined number of papers in the top-15 venues only represent ca. 30% of the papers in total. We present the top-20 cited papers from Google Scholar and Scopus and a taxonomy of research topics. In recent years, sentiment analysis has shifted from analyzing online product reviews to social media texts from Twitter and Facebook. Many topics beyond product reviews like stock markets, elections, disasters, medicine, software engineering and cyberbullying extend the utilization of sentiment analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic genealogy (AG) provides valuable insights into the transmission of knowledge from mentors to mentees, revealing the evolution of knowledge within the academic community. This study explores the intricate dynamics of knowledge evolution within academic genealogies, utilizing on a dataset comprising 16,852 computer science researchers, 613,277 papers, and 11,988 mentorship relationships. By focusing on small-scale knowledge units, our analysis aims to uncover patterns of knowledge inheritance and mutation across different subfields of computer science and highlights several aspects of knowledge evolution in computer science. Firstly, computer science is characterized by strong mentorship ties, indicating the significance of knowledge transmission within the field. Additionally, there is a mix of foundational and developing areas, suggesting a field that is growing and diversifying rather than declining, as indicated by linear regression outcomes. Secondly, our research reveals a surge in collaborative knowledge exchange in computer science since 2000, with fields such as Computer-Communication Networks and Software Engineering leading in terms of output and impact. Furthermore, areas like Computer Graphics and Artificial Intelligence stand out for their depth and novelty. Thirdly, we categorize researchers into three types: roots, branches, and leaves, reflecting their role in knowledge transmission. Branch researchers tend to innovate, while leaf researchers show a combination of traditional knowledge uptake and new contributions, illustrating the dynamic flow of ideas within the field. Future research endeavors are encouraged to embrace larger datasets and further fortify our understanding of the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term solution space is widely used in the engineering community; yet there is little known about their evolution. Theoretical research in the field of systems science indicates that requirements can only reduce the solution space. Yet, some authors state that on the contrary requirements can be used to expand to or open new solution spaces. Furthermore, some practitioners defend that the requirement to use a previously nonexistent technology would actually increase the solution space or move it to a new area, while others state that more requirements make life more difficult. Who is right then? The present paper provides initial answers to this question using systems theory. In order to achieve this, the present paper differentiates between various types of solutions spaces, which depend on the systems they include. Finally, the paper provides practical examples to showcase the results of the theoretical findings within real contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will produce three areas of discussion in the field of cost estimation for unmanned autonomous systems. First, this paper will propose a common definition of an Unmanned Autonomous system. Second, it will introduce a method to estimate the cost of unmanned autonomous systems utilizing existing parametric cost estimation tools: SEER – HDR, COCOMO II, COSYSMO, and two relationships – weight and performance. The third discussion will focus on challenges surrounding autonomy. To address these challenges from a cost perspective, this paper recommends modifications to parameters within COCOMO II – via the use of object oriented function points in lieu of current methods, and COSYSMO – via the introduction of two cost driving parameters, namely, TVED and HRI-T. Finally, in summary this paper will identify areas of further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With every passing day, software becomes more and more important to the success of the artifacts that we make, sell, buy, use, and evolve. Software increasingly provides a competitive differentiator for products, ways of tailoring them for various uses and users, and ways of fixing or evolving them without expensive product recalls. Unfortunately, as software becomes more and more ubiquitous and complex, an increasing number of new computer science (CS) courses in web services, big-data analytics, computing security, and machine learning fill up CS students' schedules, leaving little room for non-CS courses providing skills outside of CS. This paper summarizes our experiences in developing and evolving an MS-level software engineering (MSCS-SE) curriculum that takes I-shaped CS BA graduates and enables them to become sufficiently T-shaped to be able to immediately contribute to overall system definition and development on being hired, and to improve their T-shaped skills along their careers. Section 2 summarizes the primary origins and problems with an I-shaped software workforce. Section 3 describes the origins, development, and evolution of the USC MSCS-Software Engineering program and its foundation-stone, real-client, 2-semester project course. Section 4 elaborates on the team-project course and its mechanisms for strengthening the transition from I-shaped to T-shaped systems thinking. Section 5 provides conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • An architectural assumption management process with guidelines is developed. • Two case studies were conducted to validate the process. • The process can help to make architectural assumptions explicit. • The process can help to identify and reduce invalid architectural assumptions. Abstract Context Architectural assumption management is critical to the success of software development projects. In this paper, we propose an Architectural Assumption Management (AAM) process, comprised of four AAM activities: Architectural Assumption Making, Description, Evaluation, and Maintenance. Objective Evaluating the AAM process in architectural assumption management, regarding the ease of understanding and the effort of conducting the AAM process, as well as the effectiveness of using the AAM process to make architectural assumptions explicit and to identify and reduce invalid architectural assumptions. Method An explanatory study with 88 first-year master students in software engineering, and an exploratory study with five practitioners from five companies. Results (1) the ease of understanding the AAM process is moderate for first-year master students but easy for practitioners; (2) the effort of conducting the AAM process is moderate for first-year master students; (3) Making and Evaluation took the students more time than Description and Maintenance; (4) the practitioners considered Evaluation as the most time consuming activity; (5) the AAM process can help to make architectural assumptions explicit and to identify and reduce invalid architectural assumptions in projects. The majority of the students and practitioners agreed that Architectural Assumption Evaluation is the most helpful activity for all these three aspects. For other activities, there are different opinions about their helpfulness; and (6) there are various factors identified that can impact the aforementioned results. Being aware of and properly adjusting these factors can facilitate the application of the AAM process in projects. Conclusions The AAM process aims at systematically managing architectural assumptions in software development. The results of the case studies provide preliminary empirical evidence for the evaluation of the AAM process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This year’s ICCS conference theme promotes the use of computational science as a means to foster multidisciplinarity and synergies with other fields. Our thesis is that this trend towards multidisciplinarity should be accompanied by the use of best practices issued from the software engineering community in order to avoid obtaining overly complex and tangled code, difficult to validate, to maintain and to port. In this paper we argue for the need of applying separation of concerns principles when the development involves scientists from various application fields. We overview several strategies that may be used to achieve this separation, focusing mainly on two approaches drawn from our previous experiences with multidisciplinary projects, addressing two distinct patterns of multi-domain interaction that may occur in scientific software development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defining security requirements is of prime importance for all systems; we usually study the generic ones like confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, non-repudiation and privacy. It is thus imperative to evaluate all the possible extended requirements. A literature review has shown that there are various and different security requirements models, some of which are examined and others are neglected. Moreover, security lacks a unified taxonomy of security requirements. In this paper, we refer to the variety of security requirements models from the literature to drive an aggregate model and move away from the individualistic proposed taxonomy to a hierarchical and standard security requirement model. We define and propose a novel and holistic security requirement taxonomy at two levels of abstraction that incorporates 13 basic and standard requirements and then refined in layers into 31 security requirements sub-factors. These requirements are discussed in the open literature. Our taxonomy offers a good understanding of security constraints relevant to the system functions in the field of computer security. When it comes to decision making, it is recommended to establish which security measures should be relevant to the entire security requirements taxonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, knowledge is the key to success in all software engineering processes. This valuable knowledge, obtained through analysis, design, development, and maintenance processes of the system, should be saved and reused in designing and developing current and similar systems. Using pre-existing knowledge is a practical approach which reduces design complexity, improves software architecture design and manages software quality. In this paper, we describe an approach to create architecture design knowledge using a hierarchical structure of architectural styles based on quality attributes. Knowledge is most importance asset of our approach that reuses similar domains, correlates architectures and reduces complexity by using and composing rules. Finally, we executed our approach on a standard case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The A3 Architecture Overviews introduced earlier provide a powerful communication medium in systems engineering and architecting. Intended originally for reverse architecting, they are now also applied for designing system architectures and for systems of systems. With the current development in user interaction and touch controlled interfaces, a new means of communicating in systems engineering opens: Interactive A3 Architecture Overviews. This paper gives an overview of the state of the art of A3 Architecture Overviews before we present an investigation into interactive possibilities and an evaluation of a demonstration using a proof of concept. The results of the demonstration with several experts are listed. The main conclusion is that Interactive A3 Architecture Overviews can convey more information, without impeding usability. We end with a proposal for further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has hypothesized that framing remains an uncontrolled variable impacting the performance of stakeholders and analysts engaging in tradespace exploration, with particularly negative consequences expected during multi-stakeholder tradespace exploration (MSTSE). This paper describes an experiment in which subjects engaged in a two-person negotiation using tradespace exploration software, with the goal of choosing a car that they would share. The control group was given a standard tradespace exploration tool and the treatment group was given a modified tool designed to emphasize the relevant multi-stakeholder aspects of the problem. Analysis of the resulting data confirms the original hypothesis that multi-stakeholder visualization can reduce fixation on the individual cost-benefit Pareto front and improve grasp of “true” gains and losses around the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) for each participant. Other outcomes and potential future directions for MSTSE experiments are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to explore the relationship between the disciplines of systems engineering and software engineering, professionals from academia, industry, and government gathered for a workshop to deliberate on the current state, to acknowledge areas of inter-dependence, to identify relevant challenges, and to propose recommendations for addressing those challenges with respect to four topical areas: 1) Development Approaches, 2) Technical, 3) People, and 4) Education. This paper presents the deliberations and recommendations that emerged from that workshop, and the proposed project to be launched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a definition of systems thinking for use in a wide variety of disciplines, with particular emphasis on the development and assessment of systems thinking educational efforts. The definition was derived from a review of the systems thinking literature combined with the application of systems thinking to itself. Many different definitions of systems thinking can be found throughout the systems community, but key components of a singular definition can be distilled from the literature. This researcher considered these components both individually and holistically, then proposed a new definition of systems thinking that integrates these components as a system. The definition was tested for fidelity against a System Test and against three widely accepted system archetypes. Systems thinking is widely believed to be critical in handling the complexity facing the world in the coming decades; however, it still resides in the educational margins. In order for this important skill to receive mainstream educational attention, a complete definition is required. Such a definition has not yet been established. This research is an attempt to rectify this deficiency by providing such a definition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instead of developing each new product from scratch, firms strive to reuse prior components and technologies in new applications in order to improve robustness, reduce cost and shorten time-to-market. Technologies come in the forms of methods, designs and processes, and are suitable for reuse since they are concepts for solving certain problems that multiple products have use for. However, reuse of technology where the application context is different requires adaptation of both the technology and the product system into which it is introduced. In practice, the magnitude and sources for this effect are often underestimated, which leads to unanticipated uncertainty in product development projects with consequences for robustness and efficiency in development. Based on available literature and needs identified within a case company, this paper proposes a method for identifying potential challenges of technology reuse that may otherwise be overlooked or only implicitly acknowledged. The method features a scorecard that guides a workshop to be attended by technology experts and managers where the prospect for successful technology reuse is assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systems development, procurement and sustainment of a nation's military equipment is vital to its national interests, but the process is complex, constantly changing and highly adaptive, as well as time consuming and costly. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) expends both large amounts of capital and manpower to equip its armed forces. This research seeks to identify opportunities to gain better insight into the functioning of the defense acquisition system, building on previous simulations. A case is made that the DoD Requirements, Planning Acquisition, Technology and Logistics System is a complex adaptive system that has characteristics appropriate for exploration with agent-based modeling. This paper reviews relevant literature, existing models and presents preliminary analysis on an agent-based simulation of the DoD acquisition system. This research finds that agent-based modeling can provide insights to inform new acquisition theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many cases, leveraging non-development item (NDI) technologies in a system offers the potential for reduced lifecycle costs, shorter time to market, and superior technical performance compared to developing technologies in-house; however, there are inherent challenges. NDI technologies are often originally created for uses and operating environments that differ from that of the system of interest by communities with little or no stake in the system of interest. The potential benefits for integrating NDI technologies must be carefully weighed against the risks. In addition, when there are several NDI options, a formal method for evaluating risks and benefits relative to the overall system objectives can help determine the best selection. While technical risk is certainly important, program risk is often under analysed. This paper provides some key enablers to help ensure the right decisions are made about inserting NDI technologies in a system of interest. These enablers include an extensive set of technical and business-case related attributes and a set of strategies that can be used in conjunction with the attributes to guide decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) continues to mature into a popular approach as systems become more complex. Integrating MBSE architectural diagrams with external simulations that model a variety of different domains allows designers to perform sophisticated engineering design and analysis. To better understand how these external models support design decisions, we can leverage the statistical methods of design of experiments to identify insights into a complex system design problem. These insights include identifying the most important design parameters, the nature of their behaviour, their synergies between them, their diminishing or increasing rates of change, and thresholds that achieve a desired level of effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to propose a MBSE methodology that captures the insights identified during an experimental design study within the integrated system model while applying the MBSE approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Many software engineering curriculum contain a team-based project course. This is the case of Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley's masters of science in software engineering. In this context, we have been using Essence Reflection Meetings for five semesters with 17 teams and approximately 70 students. During these meetings, the teams reflect on various project's dimensions based on a systems thinking framework. The positive results have been published in research papers. Activity and Discussions Participants will learn about Essence Reflection Meetings for team-based project courses by practicing in a classroom environment. They will discuss challenges and solutions for team-based project courses, and how the proposed approach could potentially be leveraged in their own teaching environment. Organization We will start the tutorial with a discussion revealing the participants positive and negative experiences with team-based projects. After briefly introducing the Essence's systems thinking framework and our research results, we will use hands-on training exercises to demonstrate how to use the approach. This will be followed with guided debriefing. Finally, we will go deeper into the Essence framework, and discuss our research results and their applicability in various teaching environments. Learning Objectives By the end of the tutorial, participants will be familiar with a systems thinking framework that they can leverage to coach their students teams and monitor their progress. They will be able to articulate the pros and cons of applying the approach in their own teaching environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]