- I am a Professor in Software Engineering at the School of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. My resea... moreI am a Professor in Software Engineering at the School of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. My research is around Open Source Software, Software Project Management and Enterprise Information Systems.edit
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Before initiating a Business Process Re-engineering and Business Process Automation project an organization needs to understand the concept of Business Process Management and the problems that may arise. This usually requires a team of... more
Before initiating a Business Process Re-engineering and Business Process Automation project an organization needs to understand the concept of Business Process Management and the problems that may arise. This usually requires a team of experts to help, evaluate and perform such tasks. The purpose of this paper is to present the overall approach and the specific steps that were taken by the authors to record, manage, re-engineer and automate a few selected processes from the Municipality of Kalamaria.
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Modern Internet of Things (IoT) networks including vehicle networks face an increased demand for security and access control with respect to privacy for sensitive data. Data manipulation and tampering of emissions values due to the... more
Modern Internet of Things (IoT) networks including vehicle networks face an increased demand for security and access control with respect to privacy for sensitive data. Data manipulation and tampering of emissions values due to the economic incentives and environmental and health issues require a tamper-proof solution with the use of blockchain (BC) where the integrity of data is ensured. In this paper, we propose the integration of a public permissioned Self-Sovereign Identities (SSI) framework with a permissioned consortium BC based architecture. This innovatively supports the decentralization of the authentication and authorization processes to overcome the single point of failure problems and the use of SSI to assign identities to IoT devices. Additionally, it gives full control to the holders for their identities, whether they are humans, organizations or smart vehicles. With the practice of advanced zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) cryptographic techniques, the exposure of sensitive and private information is minimized to the absolute necessary and gains in performance and scalability are achieved. Furthermore, the way this ecosystem of technologies is combined guarantees a trusted environment for enabling and automating vehicles’ emissions certification according to emissions standards and regulations. Detailed descriptions of the processes required to integrate Hyperledger Indy (HLI) SSIs to authenticate and authorize entities on a Hyperledger Fabric (HLF) network are being quoted.
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Business processes are the driving force of organizations regardless of their size, type or age. There are some processes that are explicit, formal and well documented and others that are in tacit and informal form. Processes are usually... more
Business processes are the driving force of organizations regardless of their size, type or age. There are some processes that are explicit, formal and well documented and others that are in tacit and informal form. Processes are usually complex and require deep knowledge to understand them. For this reason, Business Process Management is a priority for organizations worldwide. Domain Specific Languages are programming languages that are designed to be implemented in specific fields. This paper introduces an open source toolset that will facilitate the reuse of processes in both the public and private sector through a Domain Specific Language and an Integrated Development Environment with a dedicated graphical tool for users that have no previous experience in modeling processes.
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Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERPs) are used as an automated solution for the company's operations in order to provide information to all levels of the organization. But the more businesses are obliged to implement an... more
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERPs) are used as an automated solution for the company's operations in order to provide information to all levels of the organization. But the more businesses are obliged to implement an information system to cope with competition, the less viable is the cost of acquisition and maintenance of the ERP cause of the unfavorable economic conditions. One solution is provided by the Open Source Software (OSS) for the transparency of software and the less expensive implementation. We have conducted an exploratory study about implementing an OSS ERP in a developing anonymous Greek industry. It included recording of the processes of the industry as well as interviews and meetings with company managers in order to elicit the system requirements. Overall, we found that the combination of the industry's ISO related information, the manager's interviews and the cost estimating of the additional requirements that the existing ERP system can't provide, by using the "Use Case Points" method, this can lead to an ERP system economically suitable for an industry.
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Abstract Purpose This chapter examines the existing work on tangible user interfaces (TUIs) and focuses on tangible programming with the scope to enlighten the opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in this particular domain.... more
Abstract Purpose This chapter examines the existing work on tangible user interfaces (TUIs) and focuses on tangible programming with the scope to enlighten the opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in this particular domain. Methodology/approach In the first section, we start by presenting in short the history of TUIs and then focus on tangible programming presenting the different design approaches. Then we present the opportunities for innovation and guidelines for future products. In the second section, we review the entrepreneurial activities that combine educational toys and TUIs. Findings The main finding of this chapter is that although TUI design and research are still in its infancy and more design guidelines and research are required to further bridge the digital and the physical world, the first signs of entrepreneurship promise a bright future. Research limitations Limitations arise from the fact that many companies keep many of their financial data confidential. Thus, it was impossible to include and validate all the information that we intended to present. Practical implications Initially, this chapter motivates and challenges scientist to find novel innovative solutions in the field. Then, reveals the entrepreneurial opportunities and potential customers. Finally, shows the funding sources and how tangible products are offered in the market. Social implications We propose a new kind of toys that might alter and expand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in education. Originality/value This chapter appears to be unique in the sense that is the first that reports simultaneously on TUIs, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
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Antipatterns describe commonly occurring solutions to problems that generate negative consequences. By defining a vocabulary of terms for commonly occurring problematic processes and implementations within organisations, antipatterns help... more
Antipatterns describe commonly occurring solutions to problems that generate negative consequences. By defining a vocabulary of terms for commonly occurring problematic processes and implementations within organisations, antipatterns help in the identification of poor design decisions and offer suggestions on how software can be refactored or improved. Seventeen years have passed since the first publication on Software Project Management (SPM) Antipatterns. Over this period of time a considerable amount of literature has been published on SPM Antipatterns and a significant amount of antipatterns has been listed and documented on Web pages. Despite the fact that a significant body of antipattern research focuses on the identification and documentation of new antipatterns, difficulties associated with SPM antipattern searches on research databases (i.e. the ACM Portal, IEEE Xplore, the Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar) are still being reported in the relevant literature. Furthermore, leveraging from the antipatterns that are listed on Web pages and consolidating them in a single knowledge base with open access remains an open issue. This paper presents a set of tools that transform SPM antipatterns to open SPM data in order to overcome the difficulties associated with detecting and using SPM antipatterns. The common characteristic of these tools is the open data architecture that is achieved with a combination of Semantic Web, Web Interface and Open Source technologies that allows open access to SPM antipattern data, collaborative development of antipatterns, as well as intelligent detection of antipatterns that exist in software projects. These tools have lead to the creation of good quality SPM antipattern data that can be easily accessed via the Web.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of question prompts on student learning in relation to their learning styles. The context of the study is technology-enhanced learning in an ill-structured domain.... more
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of question prompts on student learning in relation to their learning styles. The context of the study is technology-enhanced learning in an ill-structured domain. Design/methodology/approach The study conditions were ...
Research Interests: Psychology, Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Mathematics Education, Student support, and 12 moreLearning Styles, Technology Enhanced Learning, Cognitive Style, Learning Style, Experiential Learning, Intervention, Student Learning, Design Methodology, Task analysis, Task Performance, Multicultural, and Test Methods
Software project management (SPM) is an ill-structured domain, where past experiences of project management can become valuable learning resources for novices. To support instruction in the domain, we have developed the eCASE-SPM Web... more
Software project management (SPM) is an ill-structured domain, where past experiences of project management can become valuable learning resources for novices. To support instruction in the domain, we have developed the eCASE-SPM Web environment, for engaging students in case-based instruction and help them develop SPM related problem solving skills. This work presents major design issues of the environment and initial research results regarding (a) a student-based evaluation, connecting also students' attitudes to their learning styles, and (b) the learning effectiveness of the environment, investigating the use of embedded question prompts as students' cognitive scaffolds. Results so far reveal interesting interactions between students' learning styles and their attitudes towards learning in the eCASE-SPM environment. Furthermore, there is strong indication that using question prompts may have beneficial effect on students' learning and problem solving abilities, although fading out of the scaffolding should be implemented to moderate students' workload.
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This paper presents the results after four years of running of an instructional method that utilizes free/libre open source software (FLOSS) projects as tools for teaching software engineering in formal education. In the last four... more
This paper presents the results after four years of running of an instructional method that utilizes free/libre open source software (FLOSS) projects as tools for teaching software engineering in formal education. In the last four academic years, a total of 408 juniors majoring in Informatics (in a 4-year program) participated in the study, assuming the roles of requirements engineers, testers, developers, and designers/analysts. Students appreciated the benefits gained by the method and identified aspects that require further improvement. In the paper, we present (a) the details of our method, (b) students’ opinions as recorded through a questionnaire including both closed and open ended questions, and (c) conclusions on how the use of FLOSS projects can be applied, and be beneficial for the students.
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Research Interests: Computer Science, Epistemology, Educational Technology, Cognition, Case Studies, and 15 moreKnowledge Transfer, Computers in Education, Epistemological beliefs, Case Study, Computer Education, Factorial Design, Cognitive Process, Domain Knowledge, Cognitive processes, Interactive Learning Environment, Pedagogical Issues, Case Based Learning, Information Presentation, Individual Learning, and Experimental Group
In this study we empirically investigate the integration of User-Centered Design (UCD) practices into agile Web development. We propose a hybrid process framework which extends the agile development process, adding lightweight usability... more
In this study we empirically investigate the integration of User-Centered Design (UCD) practices into agile Web development. We propose a hybrid process framework which extends the agile development process, adding lightweight usability engineering practices. We conducted a case study in academia with postgraduate students to empirically evaluate the impact of the hybrid process to the quality of the web products, based on a defect quality analysis through the development phases from user stories gathering up to delivery of the products. The statistical analysis of the quantitative data showed a great improvement in the distribution of the closing-defects across the development phases and full reduction of the defects number, leading to increased quality.
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... Hein, 1991; Hippel, 2001; Kim, 2003) so that learners and experts alike can better take ... F/OSS developers use to manage knowledge (Kim, 2003) and how people learn by sharing ... serendipitous behaviors are directly corre-lated with... more
... Hein, 1991; Hippel, 2001; Kim, 2003) so that learners and experts alike can better take ... F/OSS developers use to manage knowledge (Kim, 2003) and how people learn by sharing ... serendipitous behaviors are directly corre-lated with the activities and roles we have described. ...
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Requirements engineering is an extremely crucial phase in the software development lifecycle, because mishaps in this stage are usually expensive to fix in later development phases. In the domain of computer games, requirements... more
Requirements engineering is an extremely crucial phase in the software development lifecycle, because mishaps in this stage are usually expensive to fix in later development phases. In the domain of computer games, requirements engineering is a heavily studied research field (39.3% of published papers are dealing with requirements [1]), since it is considered substantially different from traditional software requirements engineering (see [1] and [14]). The main point of differentiation is that almost all computer games share a common key-driver as requirement, i.e. user satisfaction. In this paper, we investigate the most important user satisfaction factors from computer games, though a survey on regular gamers. The results of the study suggest that, user satisfaction factors are not uniform across different types of games (game genres), but are heavily dependent on them. Therefore, this study underlines the most important non-functional requirements that developers and researchers should focus on, while dealing with game engineering.
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Knowledge is a strategic resource; that should be timely acquired and exploited to manage and control software development. Software development is a knowledge intensive process characterized by increased uncertainty, presenting large... more
Knowledge is a strategic resource; that should be timely acquired and exploited to manage and control software development. Software development is a knowledge intensive process characterized by increased uncertainty, presenting large variations among different development environments. Project uncertainty and volatility confounds the traditional knowledge-based processes since at any time traditional software project management techniques and patterns may be considered out of scope. In this chapter a dynamic and constantly adaptive knowledge encapsulation framework is presented. This framework analytically describes (a) metric collection methods along with metrics that attribute to knowledge creation regarding successful software development (b) representation mechanisms of the knowledge created in the form of anti-patterns (c) Bayesian Network analysis technique for converting the data to knowledge allowing inference mechanisms for testing the applicability of the anti-pattern. The presented approach is demonstrated into a case study showing both its feasibility and applicability.
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Open Source Software (OSS) component certification is a prerequisite for the reuse of these components in diverse application domains. However, a particular challenge for software development Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is the... more
Open Source Software (OSS) component certification is a prerequisite for the reuse of these components in diverse application domains. However, a particular challenge for software development Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is the usually unacceptable high cost of certification which contradicts the economic benefits of OSS reuse. The OPEN-SME European funded project introduces an OSS software reuse service for SMEs in which SME Associations act as reuse service providers of OSS components for their member SMEs. In this work we describe the reuse and certification services of the OPEN-SME project for trustworthy OSS components, that aligns the benefits of OSS reuse with an effective reduction of the certification costs. Cost reduction is achieved with (a) The smaller scale of the certification subject (i.e. components instead of systems), (b) The use of a carefully selected toolset that increases automation and minimizes the human involvement as much as possible, and (c) The economies of scale introduced by the sharing of application domain specific components from a number of SMEs developing applications for the same application domain.
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With almost 20 years of research, Process Mining can now be considered to be in a mature phase allowing its application to a variety of sectors. In this article, the bug closure process that is followed by a community of an open source... more
With almost 20 years of research, Process Mining can now be considered to be in a mature phase allowing its application to a variety of sectors. In this article, the bug closure process that is followed by a community of an open source software project is investigated in order to perform process conformance checking. Actual data that reveal the process steps have been extracted from the project’s Bugzilla database and have been used as input in Disco process mining tool. The data includes extracted information for more than 19,000 bugs for the past 15 years in a csv form, formatted appropriately to construct an event log suitable for process mining. The extracted models have been compared to the process described in the project’s blogs and wikis by the community. The same models are also compared to the bug closure process that Bugzilla suggests to be used by the projects using this software for bug tracking purposes. The findings reveal that indeed the process followed in the OSS p...
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Game mechanics are high‐level descriptions of common game requirements; however, they do not provide any guidance on their code implementation. Nevertheless, their implementation involves high volumes of essential complexity, which in... more
Game mechanics are high‐level descriptions of common game requirements; however, they do not provide any guidance on their code implementation. Nevertheless, their implementation involves high volumes of essential complexity, which in turn leads to the introduction of accidental complexity (long methods, code repetition, etc.). A possible solution to this problem is to map game mechanics to design patterns, in order to provide template instantiations that handle structural complexity. The aim of this study is twofold: (a) introduce template instantiations of game mechanics with Gang of Four (GoF) patterns and (b) evaluate such mappings in terms of extendibility and reusability. To achieve these objectives, we developed an online repository of mappings between GoF patterns and game mechanics and conducted an experiment to explore the benefits of the mapping. The results of the study suggest that the implementation of game mechanics with GoF patterns is beneficial, because the time to...
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This work describes a research collaboration between universities and industry with the aim to provide a low-cost prototype based on Augmented Reality technologies, that assists with maintaining correct information in Warehouse Management... more
This work describes a research collaboration between universities and industry with the aim to provide a low-cost prototype based on Augmented Reality technologies, that assists with maintaining correct information in Warehouse Management Systems. The component interacts with the central server of an existing commercial WMS to provide up-to-date information on the actual state of the warehouse. The low-cost requirement restricts the solution to smartphones and other inexpensive equipment readily available, such as drones, as well as mostly Open Source Software. This requirement also introduces several interesting architectural issues that we discuss in this work. A prototype was built for the proposed architecture and several tests were carried out.