This study evaluates different levels of proactivity in socially assistive robots (SARs) within elderly care, focussing on user acceptance and comfort. Using the mPLiCA model, we categorise proactive behaviours from basic presence to full autonomy. A series of video scenarios was created to represent varying degrees of proactive interactions with SHARA, a socially assistive robot. Participants rated these scenarios based on usefulness, appropriateness, perceived intrusiveness and naturalness. Results indicate that higher levels of proactivity are perceived as more useful but also more intrusive. Intermediate levels, particularly dialogue-based interactions, were the most acceptable. This research offers insights into designing SARs that balance autonomy and user comfort in elderly care, contributing to the development of more effective assistive technologies.

Context . Technical debt (TD) prevention allows software practitioners to apply practices to avoid potential TD items in their projects. Aims . To uncover and prioritize, from the point of view of software practitioners, the practices that could be used to avoid TD items, the relations between these practices and the causes of TD, and the practice avoidance reasons (PARs) that could explain the failure to prevent TD. Method . We analyze data collected from six replications of a global industrial family of surveys on TD, totaling 653 answers. We also conducted a follow up survey to understand the importance level of analyzed data. Results . Most practitioners indicated that TD could be prevented, revealing 89 prevention practices and 23 PARs for explaining the failure to prevent TD. The article identifies statistically significant relationships between preventive practices and certain causes of TD. Further, it prioritizes the list of practices, PARs, and relationships regarding their level of importance for TD prevention based on the opinion of software practitioners. Conclusion . This work organizes TD prevention practices and PARs in a conceptual map and the relationships between practices and causes of TD in a Sankey diagram to help the visualization of the body of knowledge reported in this study.

This article exposes the way in which the creation of a new method for calculating the popularity of stake holders in social networks can support political data analysis experts. The definition of a new formula for estimating popularity allowed us to have a new method that, together with other previously existing ones, allows us to build a multidimensional interpretation of reality. The construction of a method that would seem like a computational scientific curiosity has significant impacts for experts who carry out political analysis. The new ranking algorithm called BOPRank made it possible to identify political actors in a different way than known algorithms. While a wellknown algorithm showed popularity as a result of the work of campaign teams on social networks, the new algorithm reflected popularity obtained as a result of the reaction of the public on social networks.

Context: Technical debt (TD) is a challenge for companies who develop software on which their critical operations depend. To properly manage TD, it is necessary to make it visible to the different stakeholders involved to support informed decisions. Objective: To validate a TD visualization approach based on hybrid Sankey diagrams that makes the TD visible by showing (a) technical and business aspects, and (b) the flow of value and TD impacts. This approach regards visualizations as boundary objects. Method: We performed a multi-case study in a large multi-industry state-owned company. The objective was to validate the effectiveness of such visualizations and to explore their possible uses in TD management. We first used a retrospective case study on a TD decision-making scenario and, later, visualization usage scenarios using focus groups to evaluate its usefulness. Results: The results suggest that the proposed approach: (a) provides a structured process for systematic TD visualization to help the decision-making process; (b) enables the communication at knowledge boundaries between stakeholders to make informed decisions; (c) uses flow representations that are important for assessing the impact in multiple functional areas; and (d) enables documentation and reuse. Conclusion: The study results suggest that TD decision-making events can benefit from using our TD visualizations based on hybrid Sankey diagrams as boundary objects to portray the impact of TD in business, services, and technical aspects.

Together with many success stories, promises such as the increase in production speed and the improvement in stakeholders’ collaboration have contributed to making agile a transformation in the software industry in which many companies want to take part. However, driven either by a natural and expected evolution or by contextual factors that challenge the adoption of agile methods as prescribed by their creator(s), software processes in practice mutate into hybrids over time. Are these still agile? In this article, we investigate the question: what makes a software development method agile? We present an empirical study grounded in a large-scale international survey that aims to identify software development methods and practices that improve or tame agility. Based on 556 data points, we analyze the perceived degree of agility in the implementation of standard project disciplines and its relation to used development methods and practices. Our findings suggest that only a small number of participants operate their projects in a purely traditional or agile manner (under 15 percent). That said, most project disciplines and most practices show a clear trend towards increasing degrees of agility. Compared to the methods used to develop software, the selection of practices has a stronger effect on the degree of agility of a given discipline. Finally, there are no methods or practices that explicitly guarantee or prevent agility. We conclude that agility cannot be defined solely at the process level. Additional factors need to be taken into account when trying to implement or improve agility in a software company. Finally, we discuss the field of software process-related research in the light of our findings and present a roadmap for future research.

Technical debt is a concept used to describe technical decisions that can benefit companies in the short term but can produce costs and software quality issues in the long term. Technical debt management can help enterprise profitability, sustainability, and the software industry's credibility. This paper presents a replication of the InsighTD survey (a globally distributed family of industrial surveys on causes and effects of TD), focusing on Costa Rica and comparing other regional countries. In total, 145 practitioners from the Costa Rican IT industry participated. Results show that the leading cause of technical debt is not technical (not only in Costa Rica but also in the region). On the other hand, the main effects reported are delivery delay and general dissatisfaction of the parties involved. A comparative study of InsighTD survey results in various countries is also included.

Since the establishment of Computer Supported Collaborative Work as a research area, computer advances have change the paradigm of how technology is applied to improve the performance in collaborative scenarios. Notifications are an important part of this improvement. Technological systems have been applied in order to provide collaborators with the sufficient awareness to keep a task going. In this paper we present the protocol and results of a Systematic Literature Review that delves in the application of new technologies to provide awareness in collaborative systems. Moreover, we classify the collaborative systems found in literature using two traditional taxonomies for CSCW in order to understand which notification mechanisms are used to support which systems. Our review covers the last 10 years and classifies system prototypes based on the context in which they are applied, the notification and information gathering mechanism used, and the assessment performed. With over 400 papers reviewed, 83 that met the review requirements were included. The review results show that traditional interfaces and mobile devices are still the most common notification mechanisms. However, ubiquitous devices and non-traditional interfaces have also been used.

The processes to design, develop, and evaluate augmented objects are complex and should adhere to a Software Engineering methodology with a user-centered approach. This article presents a framework for creating augmented objects focused on the interaction of the final users with these objects. The article applies the framework in three cases of study: an augmented Post-it note for important e-mail notifications, an augmented pajama for capturing vital signs on infants, and an augmented door that is able to capture and send messages when the user is out of office.