The Future of Software Engineering: Where Will Machine Learning, Agile, and Virtualization Take Us Next?

Software has become the lifeblood of the 21st century, enabling a broad range of commercial, medical, educational, agricultural, and government applications. These applications are designed and deployed through a variety of software best practices. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, developers have embraced virtualization (remote working) and a variety of strategies to manage the complexity of global development on multiple platforms. However, evolving hazards such as network security, algorithm bias, and the combination of careless developers and deliberate attacks continue to be a challenge. An XP2021 panel organized and chaired by Steven Fraser debated the future of software engineering and related topics such education, ethics, and tools. The panel featured Anita Carleton (CMU’s SEI), Priya Marsonia (Cognizant), Bertrand Meyer (SIT, Eiffel Software), Landon Noll (Independent Consultant), and Kati Vilkki (Reaktor). © 2021, The Author(s).

COVID-19 AKI: Risk factors and markers of disease from a large UK cohort

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a significant complication of COVID-19 infection. UK NICE guidelines have been developed. Aim: to examine our local patientlevel COVID-19 Hospitalisation in England Surveillance System (CHESS) database to elucidate potential risk factors for AKI vs guidelines. Methods: 564 COVID positive admissions between 7 March-24 May 2020 at University Hospital Southampton were examined using Python (Anacondas distribution) and SPSSTM. AKI was staged by RIFLE and AKIN criteria consistent with NICE guidance. X2, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and logistic regression were used to analyse the data. Results: AKI was present in 177 patients (31%). At peak, 108 (61%) stage 1;42 (24%) stage 2;27 (15%) stage 3. There were no significant differences in cohorts with respect to white vs non-white ethnicity, gender, obesity or anti-COVID-19 treatment. 44% of patients with AKI died vs 19% in the non-AKI group (p<0.001). AKI was associated with ICU admission (27% vs 10% p<0.001), requirement of non-invasive (13% vs 4%) and invasive ventilation (14% vs 4%) (both p<0.001). Prior diabetes (18% vs 8%), hypertension (47% vs 34%), chronic respiratory and cardiac disease (both 25% vs 15%) were more common in the AKI group (p<0.004). Increased age was associated with AKI (p=0.02) and length of stay (LOS) positively correlated to AKI stage(p<0.001). Peak levels of biomarkers: ferritin, D-dimer, C-reactive protein, high sensitivity troponin-I, neutrophil count and total white cell count, were all significantly raised (p<0.001) in the AKI group, increasing with stage of AKI (p<0.001). However, in multivariable analysis first clinical observations, neutrophil count, haemoglobin, D-Dimer and albumin came out as the most significant predictors of AKI: Specificity 88.7%, Sensitivity 43.6%. Conclusions: AKI is a frequent complication of COVID-19 and we identified similar risk factors to those in the NICE guidelines. In addition, we found hypertension and chronic respiratory disease to increase risk of AKI whilst ethnicity, gender, obesity and COVID-19 treatments did not. Furthermore, AKI was associated with increased mortality, ICU admissions and LOS, concordant with previous studies. This data also points to several biomarkers as possible predictors of AKI development and severity. Further analysis of this data is ongoing.

Covid-19’s influence on the future of agile

As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the way the world works, collaborates, and plays has changed. Commerce has stalled with travel, hospitality, education, retail, and health sectors particularly affected. This paper is based on an XP 2020 panel organized by Steven Fraser and featuring Aino Corry, Steve McConnell, and Rachel Reinitz. The panel discussed the impact of COVID-19 on knowledge workers, the acceleration of digital workplace transformation, and anticipated long term effects from the pandemic in the context of agile practices. Four key observations emerged from the discussion: First, virtual collaboration between those working from home is enabled by a variety of communication tools – substituting for face-to-face interactions. Second, agile work practices are harder to perform given the virtual nature of meetings and interactions. Third, communication tools are not always adequate for high-bandwidth or informal interactions, such as brainstorming, side discussions, or hallway conversations. Fourth, forming new teams and onboarding staff is challenging in a virtual work environment. © The Author(s) 2020.