Abstract

Abstract
Bug localization (BL) from the bug report is the strategic activity of the software maintaining process. Because BL is a costly and tedious activity, BL techniques information retrieval-based and machine learning-based could aid software engineers. We propose a method for BUg Localization with word embeddings and Network Regularization (BULNER). The preliminary results suggest that BULNER has better performance than two state-of-the-art methods.

Abstract
Software Operational Profile (SOP) is a software specification based on how users use the software. This specification corresponds to a quantitative representation of software that identifies the most used software parts. As software reliability depends on the context in which users operate the software, ones use SOP in software reliability engineering. However, there are evidence of a misalignment between the software tested parts and SOP. Therefore, this paper investigates a possible misalignment between SOP and the tested software parts to obtain, based on experimental data, more evidence of this misalignment. We performed an exploratory study composed of three activities to verify: a) whether there are significant variations in how users operate the software; b) whether there is a misalignment between SOP and the tested software parts; c) if failures occur in untested SOP parts in case of misalignment. To perform these verifications, we defined the term”test profile” and presented it in this paper. We instrumented three software to collect data from them while the users were operating this software. Posteriorly, we analyzed these collected data in an attempt to reach the goals of this paper. To evaluate the originality of this research, we performed a Literature Systematic Review (SLR) and presented its conclusions. The obtained results evidence that there are significant variations in how users operate the software and also that there was a misalignment between SOP and the tested software parts when we evaluated the three software mentioned above. There were also indications of the occurrence of failures in the untested SOP parts. These results indicate that SOP becomes relevant not only to software reliability engineering but also to contribute to testing activities, regardless of the adopted strategy.

Abstract
In the past few years, the literature has shown that the practice of reuse through requirement patterns is an effective alternative to address specification quality issues, with the additional benefit of time savings. Due to the interactions between requirements engineering and other phases of the software development life cycle (SDLC), these benefits may extend to the entire development process. This paper describes a revisited systematic literature mapping (SLM) that identifies and analyzes research that demonstrates those benefits from the use of requirement patterns for software design, construction, testing, and maintenance. In this extended version, the SLM protocol includes automatic search over two additional sources of information and the application of the snowballing technique, resulting in ten primary studies for analysis and synthesis. In spite of this new version of the SLM protocol, results still point out a small number of studies on requirement patterns at the SDLC (excluding requirements engineering). Results indicate that there is yet an open field for research that demonstrates, through empirical evaluation and usage in practice, the pertinence of requirement patterns at software design, construction, testing, and maintenance.

Abstract
The software industry still struggles with adverse effects of a weak alignment between requirements and testing. The Software Pattern Metamodel (SoPaMM) aligns requirements and test patterns under the influence of agile practices. However, these patterns will be more beneficial for professionals if development activities are supported by a software tool. This paper presents the behaviour-DRivEn Application Model generator (DREAM) tool, automatically generating requirements and test specifications from SoPaMM-based patterns. We show how DREAM supports requirements elicitation and specification, test case elaboration, and software documentation using a patterns catalogue for electronic health record systems.

Abstract
Context: Software process improvement (SPI) aims to increase the effectiveness of a software organization. Many studies indicate that the strategic alignment is a critical factor for the SPI success. However, little is known about practical approaches to achieving and maintaining such alignment. Objective: The goal of this study is to evaluate the validation evidence of the existing approaches to the strategic alignment of SPI. Method: We develop a search protocol that combines database search and snowballing to perform the systematic literature review and evaluate empirical studies by applying rigor and relevance criteria. To evaluate the efficiency of our protocol, we use a “quasi-gold standard” to compute the sensitivity and precision of the search. Result: We identified 30 studies (18 empirical) and 19 approaches to strategic alignment of SPI from 495 retrieved studies. Only three out of the 18 empirical studies were rated as high in the categories rigor and relevance, suggesting the need for a stronger validation of the approaches. Conclusion: We conclude that the lack of empirical validation indicates that the results of the existing approaches have not been adequately transferred to practitioners yet, calling for more rigorous studies on the subject.