@article {CarrillodeGea2016, title = {Are the expected benefits of requirements reuse hampered by distance? An experiment}, journal = {SpringerPlus}, volume = {5}, number = {1}, year = {2016}, note = {cited By 0}, abstract = {Background: Software development processes are often performed by distributed teams which may be separated by great distances. Global software development (GSD) has undergone a significant growth in recent years. The challenges concerning GSD are especially relevant to requirements engineering (RE). Stakeholders need to share a common ground, but there are many difficulties as regards the potentially variable interpretation of the requirements in different contexts. We posit that the application of requirements reuse techniques could alleviate this problem through the diminution of the number of requirements open to misinterpretation. Results: This paper presents a reuse-based approach with which to address RE in GSD, with special emphasis on specification techniques, namely parameterised requirements and traceability relationships. An experiment was carried out with the participation of 29 university students enrolled on a Computer Science and Engineering course. Two main scenarios that represented co-localisation and distribution in software development were portrayed by participants from Spain and Morocco. The global teams achieved a slightly better performance than the co-located teams as regards effectiveness, which could be a result of the worse productivity of the global teams in comparison to the co-located teams. Subjective perceptions were generally more positive in the case of the distributed teams (difficulty, speed and understanding), with the exception of quality. Conclusions: A theoretical model has been proposed as an evaluation framework with which to analyse, from the point of view of the factor of distance, the effect of requirements specification techniques on a set of performance and perception-based variables. The experiment utilised a new internationalisation requirements catalogue. None of the differences found between co-located and distributed teams were significant according to the outcome of our statistical tests. The well-known benefits of requirements reuse in traditional co-located projects could, therefore, also be expected in GSD projects. {\textcopyright} 2016, The Author(s).}, doi = {10.1186/s40064-016-3782-0}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85006395692\&doi=10.1186\%2fs40064-016-3782-0\&partnerID=40\&md5=9460f4e677fce457e990913a04d0898d}, author = {Carrillo de Gea, J.M.a and Nicol{\'a}s, J.a and Fern{\'a}ndez-Alem{\'a}n, J.L.a and Toval, A.a and Idri, A.b} } @article {CarrilloDeGea2016205, title = {Co-located and distributed natural-language requirements specification: Traditional versus reuse-based techniques}, journal = {Journal of Software: Evolution and Process}, volume = {28}, number = {3}, year = {2016}, note = {cited By 1}, pages = {205-227}, abstract = {{Requirements Engineering (RE) includes processes intended to elicit, analyse, specify and validate systems and software requirements throughout the software life cycle. Mastering the principles of RE is key to achieving the goals of better, cheaper and quicker systems and software development projects. It is also important to be prepared to work with remote teammates, as distributed and global projects are becoming more common. This paper presents an experiment with a total of 31 students from two universities in Spain and Morocco who were assigned to either a co-located or a distributed team. Both traditional and reuse-based requirements specification techniques were applied by the participants to produce requirements documents. Their outcomes were then analysed, and the approaches were compared from the point of view of their effect on a set of performance-based and perception-based variables in co-located and distributed settings. We found significant differences in only productivity (Z = -2.320}, doi = {10.1002/smr.1772}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84977867180\&doi=10.1002\%2fsmr.1772\&partnerID=40\&md5=8d208a58af8dc0f155d3918e16591c20}, author = {Carrillo de Gea, J.M.a and Nicol{\~A}{\textexclamdown}s, J.a and Fern{\~A}{\textexclamdown}ndez Alem{\~A}{\textexclamdown}n, J.L.a and Toval, A.a and Ouhbi, S.b and Idri, A.b} } @article {Fern{\'a}ndez-Alem{\'a}n2016105, title = {Effects of Using Requirements Catalogs on Effectiveness and Productivity of Requirements Specification in a Software Project Management Course}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Education}, volume = {59}, number = {2}, year = {2016}, note = {cited By 2}, pages = {105-118}, abstract = {{This paper presents the results of two educational experiments carried out to determine whether the process of specifying requirements (catalog-based reuse as opposed to conventional specification) has an impact on effectiveness and productivity in co-located and distributed software development environments. The participants in the experiments were 76 students enrolled in three courses on project management for software development at the University of Murcia, Spain, and the Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco. The results of a fixed effects meta-analysis (Hedges{\textquoteright} g) obtained a medium effect (-0.495}, doi = {10.1109/TE.2015.2454472}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84938513136\&doi=10.1109\%2fTE.2015.2454472\&partnerID=40\&md5=b0869dc6ab42c4703c94727e3de076c7}, author = {Fern{\'a}ndez-Alem{\'a}n, J.L.a and Carrillo-De-Gea, J.M.a and Vidal Meca, J.a and Nicol{\'a}s Ros, J.a and Toval, A.a and Idri, A.b} } @article {Ouhbi2015, title = {Compliance of Blood Donation Apps with Mobile OS Usability Guidelines}, journal = {Journal of Medical Systems}, volume = {39}, number = {6}, year = {2015}, note = {cited By 10}, abstract = {The aim of this paper is to employ the guidelines of Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone to analyze the usability compliance of free blood donation (BD) apps. An analysis process based on a systematic review protocol is used to select free BD apps. An assessment is conducted using a questionnaire composed of 13 questions concerning the compliance of free BD apps with Android, Blackberry, iOS and Windows Phone usability guidelines. A total of 133 free BD apps have been selected from the 188 BD apps identified. Around 63 \% of the free BD apps selected have a good compliance with mobile OS usability recommendations. Around 72 \% of Android, 57 \% of Windows Phone, 33 \% of iOS and 33 \% of Blackberry BD apps have a high usability score. The aspect of BD app behavior should be improved along with some style components: the use of pictures to explain ideas and the adaptation of the app to both horizontal and vertical orientations. Structure patterns should also be used to improve the structure aspect of a BD app. Usability is a quality aspect that should be improved in current BD apps. Our study provides smartphone users with a list of usable free BD apps and BD app developers with recommendations. {\textcopyright} 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.}, doi = {10.1007/s10916-015-0243-1}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84927595740\&doi=10.1007\%2fs10916-015-0243-1\&partnerID=40\&md5=c023ade3c0fdf215297c09380aabc9de}, author = {Ouhbi, S.a and Fern{\'a}ndez-Alem{\'a}n, J.L.a and Pozo, J.R.b and Bajta, M.E.c and Toval, A.a and Idri, A.c} } @article {Zapata20151, title = {Empirical Studies on Usability of mHealth Apps: A Systematic Literature Review}, journal = {Journal of Medical Systems}, volume = {39}, number = {2}, year = {2015}, note = {cited By 27}, pages = {1-19}, abstract = {The release of smartphones and tablets, which offer more advanced communication and computing capabilities, has led to the strong emergence of mHealth on the market. mHealth systems are being used to improve patients{\textquoteright} lives and their health, in addition to facilitating communication between doctors and patients. Researchers are now proposing mHealth applications for many health conditions such as dementia, autism, dysarthria, Parkinson{\textquoteright}s disease, and so on. Usability becomes a key factor in the adoption of these applications, which are often used by people who have problems when using mobile devices and who have a limited experience of technology. The aim of this paper is to investigate the empirical usability evaluation processes described in a total of 22 selected studies related to mHealth applications by means of a Systematic Literature Review. Our results show that the empirical evaluation methods employed as regards usability could be improved by the adoption of automated mechanisms. The evaluation processes should also be revised to combine more than one method. This paper will help researchers and developers to create more usable applications. Our study demonstrates the importance of adapting health applications to users{\textquoteright} need. {\textcopyright} 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.}, doi = {10.1007/s10916-014-0182-2}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84921369632\&doi=10.1007\%2fs10916-014-0182-2\&partnerID=40\&md5=bdc93c6effe3b950d143f7753814b14a}, author = {Zapata, B.C.a and Fern{\'a}ndez-Alem{\'a}n, J.L.a and Idri, A.b and Toval, A.a} } @article {Ouhbi20151, title = {Free Blood Donation Mobile Applications}, journal = {Journal of Medical Systems}, volume = {39}, number = {5}, year = {2015}, note = {cited By 8}, pages = {1-20}, abstract = {Blood donation (BD) is a noble act and mobile applications (apps) can help increase awareness about it. This paper analyzes and assesses the characteristics of free apps for BD as regards features and functionality. A search in Google Play, Apple Apps store, Blackberry App World and Windows Mobile App store was carried out to select 169 free BD apps from the 188 apps identified. The results presented in this paper show that the majority of the apps selected have been developed for the Android operating system. Moreover, most of the apps selected are available to help users search for donors. Few of the apps could not be installed and/or accessed. Of those that could be installed: half of them do not require any kind of authentication; a few of them are available in more than one language; half of them have a geographical restriction; around 60 \% of them do not notify the user of BD events and requests; one, which is available for Android and iOS, can connect with a laboratory; around 45 \% of them allow users to share information via social networks, and the majority of them do not provide BD recommendations. These results are used as a basis to provide app developers with certain recommendations. There is a need for better BD apps with more features in order to increase the number of volunteer donors. {\textcopyright} 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.}, doi = {10.1007/s10916-015-0228-0}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84924066427\&doi=10.1007\%2fs10916-015-0228-0\&partnerID=40\&md5=0b81a39c8b99408d80fa8b2c470bf493}, author = {Ouhbi, S.a and Fern{\'a}ndez-Alem{\'a}n, J.L.a and Toval, A.a and Idri, A.b and Pozo, J.R.c} } @article {CruzZapata2014, title = {Mobile PHRs compliance with android and ios usability guidelines mobile systems}, journal = {Journal of Medical Systems}, volume = {38}, number = {8}, year = {2014}, note = {cited By 15}, abstract = {Mobile Personal Health Records (PHRs) have achieved a particularly strong market share since the appearance of more powerful mobile devices and popular worldwide mobile application markets such as Apple{\textquoteright}s App Store and Android{\textquoteright}s Google Play. However, Android and Apple have a set of recommendations on design and usability targeted towards developers who wish to publish apps in their stores: Android Design Guidelines and iOS Human Interface Guidelines. This paper aims to evaluate compliance with these guidelines by assessing the usability recommendations of a set of 24 selected mobile PHR applications. An analysis process based on a well-known Systematic Literature Review (SLR) protocol was used. The results show that the 24 mobile PHR applications studied are not suitably structured. 46 \% of these applications do not use any of the recommended patterns, using instead lists or springboards, which are deprecated patterns for top-level menus. 70 \% of the PHRs require a registration to be able to test the application when these interactions should be delayed. Our study will help both PHR users to select user-friendly mobile PHRs and PHR providers and developers to identify the good usability practices implemented by the applications with the highest scores. {\textcopyright} 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.}, doi = {10.1007/s10916-014-0081-6}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84904039765\&doi=10.1007\%2fs10916-014-0081-6\&partnerID=40\&md5=6c10e4e66d8521cf01c2571845e3920c}, author = {Cruz Zapata, B.a and Hern{\'a}ndez Ni{\~n}irola, A.a and Idri, A.b and Fern{\'a}ndez-Alem{\'a}n, J.L.a and Toval, A.a} }