Open-source software in operations research in engineering teaching

ENEGI 2013: Atas do 2º Encontro Nacional de Engenharia e Gestão Industrial, Universidade de Aveiro, 17 e 18 de maio de 2013, Aveiro, Portugal.

Open to the users' needs : combining user-centered design, standards and open source software

This case study introduces our continuous work to enhance the virtual classroom in order to provide faculty and students with an environment open to their needs, compliant with learning standards and, therefore compatible with other e-learning environments, and based on open source software. The result is a modulable, sustainable and interoperable learning environment that can be adapted to different teaching and learning situations by incorporating the LMS integrated tools as well as wikis, blogs, forums and Moodle activities among others.

Open source software expectations in retail businesses of Igualada : an exploratory study

The emergence of open source software in the last years has become a common topic of study in different fields, from the most technical characteristics to the economical aspects. This paper examines the current status about the literature dealing with economics of open source and explores the uses, infrastructure and expectations of retail businesses and institutions of the town of Igualda about it. This qualitative case study finds out that the current equipment and level of uses of ICTs are low and that the current situation of the town stores is receptive to a potential introduction of open source software.

Free-and open source software for a course on network management: authoring and enactment of scripts based on collaborative learning strategies

This paper describes a Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) case study in engineering education carried out within the context of a network management course. The case study shows that the use of two computing tools developed by the authors and based on Free- and Open-Source Software (FOSS) provide significant educational benefits over traditional engineering pedagogical approaches in terms of both concepts and engineering competencies acquisition. First, the Collage authoring tool guides and supports the course teacher in the process of authoring computer-interpretable representations (using the IMS Learning Design standard notation) of effective collaborative pedagogical designs. Besides, the Gridcole system supports the enactment of that design by guiding the students throughout the prescribed sequence of learning activities. The paper introduces the goals and context of the case study, elaborates onhow Collage and Gridcole were employed, describes the applied evaluation methodology, anddiscusses the most significant findings derived from the case study.

A virtual exhibition of open source software for libraries

Frequently the choice of a library management program is conditioned by social, economic and/or political factors that result in the selection of a system that is not altogether suitable for the library’s needs, characteristics and functions. Open source software is quickly becoming a preferred solution, owing to the freedom to copy, modify and distribute it and the freedom from contracts, as well as for greater opportunities for interoperability with other applications. These new trends regarding open source software in libraries are also reflected in LIS studies, as evidenced by the different courses addressing automated programs, repositorymanagement, including the Linux/GNU operating system, among others. The combination of the needs of the centres and the new trends for open source software is the focus of a virtual laboratory for the use of open source software for library applications. It was the result of a project, whose aim was to make a useful contribution to the library community, that was carried out by a group of professors of the School of Library and Information Science of the University of Barcelona, together with a group of students, members of a Working Group on Open Source Software for Information Professionals, of the Professional Library Association of Catalonia.

Open source software in translator training

La formació de traductors implica l´ús de procediments i eines que permetin els estudiants familiaritzar-se amb contextos professionals. El software lliure especialitzat inclou eines de qualitat professional i procediments accessibles per a les institucions acadèmiques i els estudiants a distància que treballen a casa seva. Els projectes reals que utilitzen software lliure i traducció col·laborativa (crowdsourcing) constitueixen recursos indispensables en la formació de traductors.

Open Source Software : the Intersection of IP and Security in Open Source

The use of open source software continues to grow on a daily basis. Today, enterprise applications contain 40% to 70% open source code and this fact has legal, development, IT security, risk management and compliance organizations focusing their attention on its use, as never before. They increasingly understand that the open source content within an application must be detected. Once uncovered, decisions regarding compliance with intellectual property licensing obligations must be made and known security vulnerabilities must be remediated. It is no longer sufficient from a risk perspective to not address both open source issues.

Free Open Source Software and Dual-Use: Loophole or Dissent?

The Free Open Source Software (FOSS) seem far from the military field but in some cases, some technologies normally used for civilian purposes may have military applications. These products and technologies are called dual-use. Can we manage to combine FOSS and dual-use products? On one hand, we have to admit that this kind of association exists - dual-use software can be FOSS and many examples demonstrate this duality - but on the other hand, dual-use software available under free licenses lead us to ask many questions. For example, the dual-use export control laws aimed at stemming the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Dual-use export in United States (ITAR) and Europe (regulation 428/2009) implies as a consequence the prohibition or regulation of software exportation, involving the closing of source code. Therefore, the issues of exported softwares released under free licenses arises. If software are dual-use goods and serve for military purposes, they may represent a danger. By the rights granted to licenses to run, study, redistribute and distribute modified versions of the software, anyone can access the free dual-use software. So, the licenses themselves are not at the origin of the risk, it is actually linked to the facilitated access to source codes. Seen from this point of view, it goes against the dual-use regulation which allows states to control these technologies exportation. For this analysis, we will discuss about various legal questions and draft answers from either licenses or public policies in this respect.

Success factors of commercial open source software projects

Open source and open source software development have been interesting phenomena during the past decade. Traditional business models do not apply with open source, where the actual product is free. However, it is possible to make business with open source, even successfully, but the question is: how? The aim of this study is to find the key factors of successfully making business out of commercial open source software development. The task is achieved by finding the factors that influence open source projects, finding the relation between those factors, and find out why some factors explain the success more than others. The literature review concentrates first on background of open innovation, open source and open source software. Then business models, critical success factors and success measures are examined. Based on existing literature a framework was created. The framework contains categorized success factors that influence software projects in general as well as open source software projects. The main categories of success factors in software business are divided into community management, technology management, project management and market management. In order to find out which of the factors based on the existing literature are the most critical, empirical research was done by conducting unstructured personal interviews. The main finding based on the interviews is that the critical success factors in open source software business do not differ from those in traditional software business or in fact from those in any other business. Some factors in the framework came out in the interviews that can be considered as key factors: establishing and communicating hierarchy (community management), localization (technology management), good license know-how and IPR management (project management), and effective market management (market management). The critical success factors according to the interviewees are not listed in the framework: low price, good product and good business model development.

Using open source software for digital libraries A case study of CUSAT

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of a digital library at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India, using DSpace open source software. The study covers the structure, contents and usage of CUSAT digital library. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the possibilities of applying open source in libraries. An evaluative approach is carried out to explore the features of the CUSAT digital library. The Google Analytics service is employed to measure the amount of use of digital library by users across the world. Findings – CUSAT has successfully applied DSpace open source software for building a digital library. The digital library has had visits from 78 countries, with the major share from India. The distribution of documents in the digital library is uneven. Past exam question papers share the major part of the collection. The number of research papers, articles and rare documents is less. Originality/value – The study is the first of its type that tries to understand digital library design and development using DSpace open source software in a university environment with a focus on the analysis of distribution of items and measuring the value by usage statistics employing the Google Analytics service. The digital library model can be useful for designing similar systems

Free/Open Source Software in CUSAT: A Success Story

Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) concept is very important in the academic community. The open philosophy of FOSS is consistent with academic freedom and the open dissemination of knowledge and information in academia. FOSS can lower the barriers to access of ICTs by reducing the cost of the software. This article discusses the success story of CUSAT's adoption of Free/Open Source Software

Archiving News In A University Using Open Source Software

Newspapers cover a large amount of information everyday on topics of varied interests. To a university, newspapers are essential components of communication as they cover various happenings in a university. These items of information are neither stored properly nor put in retrieval systems for future use. The news and views appeared in newspapers can effectively be organized in a digital library making use of open source software. The CUSAT digital library (http://dspace.cusat.ac.in/dspace/) has organized some news items that appeared in local newspapers about the university under a special community named “CUSAT-News”. This article describes the methods of collecting, selecting, organizing, providing access and preserving news items required by a university using DSpace open source software.

Adoption of Koha Open Source Software in Libraries: a Web Based Study

Since last few years open source integrated library systems gaining attention of library and information science professionals. This paper tries to identify the extent of adoption of Koha, an open source ILS in libraries around the world through a Web based study. The study found that Koha adoption in libraries is still at infancy

Catalogue Interfaces of Integrated Library Management Systems (ILMS): Experiences in a Proprietary and Open Source Software

The Central Library of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) has been automated by proprietary software (Adlib Library) since 2000. After 11 years, in 2011, the university authorities decided to shift to an open source software (OSS), for integrated library management system (ILMS), Koha for automating the library housekeeping operations. In this context, this study attempts to share the experiences in cataloging with both type of software. The features of the cataloging modules of both the software are analysed on the badis of certain check points. It is found that the cataloging module of Koha is almost in par with that of proven proprietary software that has been in market for the past 25 years. Some suggestions made by this study may be incorporated for the further development and perfection of Koha.

Reliability Estimation of Open Source Software based Computational Systems

Software systems are progressively being deployed in many facets of human life. The implication of the failure of such systems, has an assorted impact on its customers. The fundamental aspect that supports a software system, is focus on quality. Reliability describes the ability of the system to function under specified environment for a specified period of time and is used to objectively measure the quality. Evaluation of reliability of a computing system involves computation of hardware and software reliability. Most of the earlier works were given focus on software reliability with no consideration for hardware parts or vice versa. However, a complete estimation of reliability of a computing system requires these two elements to be considered together, and thus demands a combined approach. The present work focuses on this and presents a model for evaluating the reliability of a computing system. The method involves identifying the failure data for hardware components, software components and building a model based on it, to predict the reliability. To develop such a model, focus is given to the systems based on Open Source Software, since there is an increasing trend towards its use and only a few studies were reported on the modeling and measurement of the reliability of such products. The present work includes a thorough study on the role of Free and Open Source Software, evaluation of reliability growth models, and is trying to present an integrated model for the prediction of reliability of a computational system. The developed model has been compared with existing models and its usefulness of is being discussed.