Development Process Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

- by
- •
- Social Work, Evidence Based Medicine, Evidence Based Practice, Intimate Partner Violence

The world rapidly growing demand for manganese has made it increasingly important to develop processes for economical recovery of manganese from low grade manganese ores and other secondary sources. Part I of this review outlines metallurgical processes for manganese production from various resources, particularly focusing on recent developments in direct hydrometallurgical leaching and recovery processes to identify potential sources of manganese and products which can be economically produced.

- by Chu Cheng
- •
- Hydrometallurgy, Solvent Extraction, Copper, Iron

The following paper exposes the results and conclusions of a prevention program about dating violence, carried out with teenagers, in high schools. The program was designed to produce changes in individual attitudes, knowledge and skills of the students, with the objective of being able to eliminate the myths and wrong ideas underlying gender violence, as well as to enable the students to detect and to recognize physical, psychological and sexual abuse. In accordance with the program objectives we decided to use techniques in which all the class group participated, such as analysis of documents and movies, Focus Groups technique and debates. This work presents the development process of the program, the most representative results of the experience and the final conclusions.

- by Ángel Hernando Gómez
- •
- Sexual Abuse, High School, Violencia De Género, Focus Group

Today, it can be maintained that the customer is a ‘king’ as he will buy only the products that satisfy his needs and wants. The companies of today are facing new challenges: global business and local operation, standardization, and individualization of products, demanding customers and fierce competition. The company wants to achieve shorter product development time, lower costs, high quality of the product, and finally, customer satisfaction. In order to achieve the set goals, the company has to take into account the customers wants and needs during the new-product-development process. This article presents the mode of description of processes that allow recognition of suitable natural systems and their transformation into technical systems and a model for management of development process. The phases of quality functions deployment (QFD) during the new product development process along with the location for collecting customer needs and wants are presented. A detailed description...

- by Joze Duhovnik
- •
- Business, Computer Science, Concurrent Engineering, Customer Satisfaction

The product development literature focuses largely on improving the efficiency and success rates of the development process, while largely neglecting the activities that comprise the predevelopment stages. The result is that little is known about how or why predevelopment practices differ among firms. Our study of fifteen firms in Ontario's integrated circuit board industry revealed interesting differences in predevelopment practices that directly affected the likelihood of new product success. It was revealed that firm size, age, and R&D intensity were significant predictors of predevelopment practices. In addition, activities were identified that serve as a prescriptive guide for the successful development and market launch of new products.

- by vinod kumar
- •
- Marketing, Business and Management, Product Development, Firm Size
- by Bram Pellens
- •
- Usability, Theory, Game Development, Model

The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) theory offers a useful conceptual framework for examining the social and cultural factors that may contribute to or detract from the successful integration of computer technology into educational environments. This theory, which grew out of studies in the history of technology and the sociology of science, suggests methods for studying the phenomenon of technological development, such as identifying the relevant social groups involved in the development process and the factors that either leave the technology in a state of interpretive flexibility or bring the interpretation of the technology to closure. This paper uses a SCOT approach to explore how personal and institutional beliefs can shape the ways in which technologies are used by teachers and students, and to identify the social, epistemological, cognitive and motivational factors that need to be considered as computer technology becomes an integral part of the educational experience.

The increasing demand for Distributed Systems(DS's) raised the need of a quality-assured development process, which could not only address the issue of requirement compliance, but also could help the construction of tools able to derive implementations automatically. In order to attend such a need, some Formal Description Techniques (FDT's) have been proposed. This paper defends the transformational approach as a good strategy to carry out the automatic implementation of DS's expressed in FDTs, focusing Mondel as FDT, and the DRACO-PUC environment as transformational system.

- by Luiz Branco
- •
- Distributed System, Quality Assurance, Formal Specification, Development Process

In the decade since scholarly work on standards began, the basic dynamics of standards in the marketplace have been reasonably well described (see [11],[15] and [30] for surveys of this literature). Some empirical studies have been performed to examine the actual behavior of the marketplace and of committees [12, 25, 33](even though this sampling is far short of what is necessary to fully understand standards), and preliminary attention has been paid to modeling the standards development process [8, 18]. Much anecdotal literature exists ...

- by Michael Spring
- •
- Business, Standards, Technology Assessment, Free Trade
- by aida ndiaye
- •
- Nutrition and Dietetics, Epidemiology, South Asia, Child Welfare

Developing and designing security systems and subsystems is a vital component of the ISD process, yet often is not considered until after the software has been developed. This reflects the low value that ISD places upon security. Some... more

Software Engineering (SE) and Usability Engineering (UE) both provide a wide range of elaborated process models to create software solutions. Today, many companies have understood that a systematic and structured approach to usability is as important as the process of software development itself. However, theory and practice is still scarce how to incorporate UE methods into development processes. With respect to the quality of software solutions, usability needs to be an integral aspect of software development and therefore the integration of these two processes is a logical and needed step. One challenge is to identify integration points between the two disciplines that allow a close collaboration, with acceptable additional organizational and operational efforts. This paper addresses the questions of where these integration points between SE and UE exist, what kind of fundamental UE activities have to be integrated in existing SE processes, and how this integration can be accomplished.

ADDS (Approach to Document-based Development of Software) is an approach to the development of applications based on a document-oriented paradigm. According to this paradigm, applications are described by means of documents that are marked up using descriptive domain-specific markup languages. Afterwards, applications are produced processing these marked up documents. Formulation of domain-specific markup languages in ADDS is a dynamic and eminently pragmatic activity since these languages evolve in accordance with the authoring needs of the main actors that participate in the development process (i.e. domain experts and developers). OADDS (Operationalization in ADDS) is a processing model that promotes the construction of modular language processors and their incremental evolution. Thus, OADDS is specifically designed to cope with the evolutionary nature of the domain-specific markup languages encouraged by ADDS. ADDS and OADDS have successfully been applied to the development of applications in knowledge-intensive domains (i.e. transport networks and educational hypermedias). This paper also describes the advantages (incremental development and maintenance improvement) that this approach supposes for the development of knowledge-based systems.

In this paper the development process is studied in longitudinal case studies where a radically new product group, functional foods, is developed. Studied in a creative management perspective, these high-tech food products are associated with added value for the food business as well as for individuals and society at large.In the past decades Swedish food companies have faced increasing competition. With increased competitive pressures, low prices and large volumes may not suffice as strategic advantage in the long-term. One way of gaining competitive advantages requires finding new ways of creating added value based on technological development. It represents a technological upgrading process that leads to the production of value added products, profits from licensing agreements and a boost for the company image.Businesses that want to succeed in this market need to develop new managerial methods, in particular for the identification of critical technologies. Strategies for accessing these new technologies may vary depending on the institutional conditions. It may, for instance, imply cross industrial cooperation. Where the pharmaceutical industry has an advantage, in a strong R&D tradition, the food industry seems to have a need. In Sweden, for example, collaboration between authorities and businesses in developing a legal framework for these products has promoted industrial engagement. The government has not, however, subsidized these developments as has been done in Finland and Japan, where huge funds are shared between universities and industrial partners — in an agreement of creating added value. This raises the question of strategic partners and ‘open source development’. Is it an option, given European institutional conditions?

This paper proposes a novel concept for integrating ultrathin solar cells into modules. It is conceived as a method for fabricating solar panels starting from back-contact crystalline silicon solar cells. However, compared to the current state of the art in module manufacturing for back-contact solar cells, this novel concept aims at improvements in performance, reliability, and cost through the use of an alternative encapsulant, namely silicones as opposed to ethylene vinyl acetate, an alternative deposition technology, being wet coating as opposed to dry lamination; and alternative module-level metallization techniques, as opposed to cell-level tabbing-stringing or conductive foil interconnects. The process flow is proposed, and the materials and fabrication technologies are discussed. As the durability of the module, translated into the module's lifetime, is very important in the targeted application, namely solar cell modules, modeling and reliability testing results and considerations are presented to illustrate how the experimental development process may be guided by experience and theoretical derivations. Finally, feasibility is demonstrated in some first proofs of the concept, and an outlook is given pointing out the direction for further research.

- by Ingrid Wolf
- •
- Solar Cell, Photovoltaic Cell, Development Process, Silicon Solar Cell

The development of intelligent environments poses complex challenges, namely at the level of device heterogeneity and environment dynamics. In fact, we still lack supporting technologies and development approaches that can efficiently integrate different devices and technologies. In this paper we present how a recent integration of two important technologies, OSGi and Jade, can be used to significantly improve the development process, making it a more dynamic, modular and configurable one. We also focus on the main advantages that this integration provides to developers, from the Ambient Intelligence point of view. This work results from the development of two intelligent environments: VirtualECare, which is an intelligent environment for the monitorization of elderly in their homes and UMCourt, a virtual environment for dispute resolution.

During the past two decades, policy makers in most of Canada's provinces and territories developed broad population-level goal statements about desired health or health and social outcomes. The health goals development process used in each province/territory has been described in government documents and studied by a small number of researchers. However, there is a lack of published research examining the implementation and use of the health goals since they were developed. To begin to fill this gap, we conducted a study between 1998 and 2000 that examined the implementation of provincial/territorial health goals in Canada. Our findings indicate that as the 1990s drew to a close, provincial/territorial health goals were not being used explicitly by policy makers at either provincial/territorial or regional levels in most provinces in Canada to guide health policy and program development, implementation, or evaluation. Instead, the majority of health ministry and regional policy makers were employing strategic/business plans that, at best, reflected or were similar to the original provincial/territorial health goals. Moreover, even though all provinces and the NWT/Nunavut had health goals associated with broad social, economic, and physical environment health determinants, regional-level policy makers were giving priority to health care system goals over all other types of goals. We discuss our findings in relation to studies about health goals in other countries, and we suggest implications that our findings have for both future research and health policy. #

- by Deanna Williamson
- •
- Regional policy, Health Policy, Health Reform, Canada

Induction of cytochrome P450 (CYP) by drugs is one of major concerns for drug-drug interactions. Thus, the assessment of CYP induction by novel compounds is a vital component in the drug discovery and development processes. Primary human hepatocytes are the preferred in vitro model for predicting CYP induction in vivo. Howevel, their use is hampered by the erratic supply of human tissue and donor-to-donor variability. Although cryopreserved hepatoeytes have been recommended for short-term applications in suspension, their use in studies on induction of enzyme activity has been limited because of poor attachment and response to enzyme inducers. In this study, we report culture conditions that allowed the attachment of cryopreserved human hepatocytes and responsiveness to CYP inducers. We evaluated the inducibility of CYP1A1/2 and CYP3A4 enzymes in cryopreserved hepatoeytes from three human donors. Cryopreserved human hepatocytes were cultured in serum-free medium for 4 d. They exhibited normal morphology and measurable viability as evaluated by the reduction of tetrazolium salts (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt) by cellular dehydrogenases. Treatment with [3-naphthoflavone (10 gM) for 3 d increased ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity (CYP1A1/2) by 6-to l 1-fold over untreated cultures and increased CYP1A2 messenger ribonucteic acid (mRNA) expression by three-to eightfold. Similarly, treatment of cryopreserved human hepatocytes with rifampicin (25 IxM) for 3 d increased testosterone 6[3-hydroxylase activity (CYP3A4) by five-to eightfold over untreated cultures and increased CYP3A4 mRNA expression by four-to eightfold. The results suggest that cryopreserved human hepatocytes can be a suitable in vitro model for evaluating xenobiotics as inducers of CYP1A1/2 and CYP3A4 enzymes.

- by Ismael Hidalgo
- •
- Genetics, Zoology, Drug Discovery, Enzyme Inhibitors

Didactic data sets representing a range of real-world processes are used to illustrate "how to do" representative process sampling and process characterisation. The selected process data lead to diverse variogram expressions with different systematics (no range vs. important ranges; trends and/or periodicity; different nugget effects and process variations ranging from less than one lag to full variogram lag). Variogram data analysis leads to a fundamental decomposition into 0-D sampling vs. 1-D process variances, based on the three principal variogram parameters: range, sill and nugget effect. The influence on the variogram from significant trends and outliers in the original data series receive special attention, due to their critical adverse effects. We highlight problem-dependent interpretation of variographic analysis a.o. the problem-dependent background for periodicities and trends. All presented cases of variography either solved the initial problems or served to understand the reasons and causes behind the specific process structures revealed in the variograms. Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) are not complete without process TOS.

- by Kim Esbensen
- •
- Computer Science, Analytical Chemistry, Data Analysis, Data Structure
- by Christopher Wills
- •
- Information Systems, Mathematics, Computer Science, Geriatrics

In agile development processes, the rewards from acceptance testing are maximized by using the practice to drive the development process. Traditionally, User Stories are used in agile projects to describe a system's usage scenarios and are utilized as a basis for developing acceptance tests. This paper introduces a technique that aims to achieve the benefits of acceptance testing within large-scale development projects that deploy a V-model development process, specifically those that utilize use case models. The approach is based on utilizing a number of artifacts: use case models supported by robustness diagrams and domain models. The feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated by applying it to a real-world system-the RestoMapper system. The results show that a comprehensive set of acceptance tests can be developed based upon use case models.

As the trend of information dissemination has become more important, the use of mobile communication medium has gained more popularity. Since the number of mobile applications developed had increased tremendously, the technology offers an option to end user with information at their fingertips. Thus the notification methods also change drastically from notice board to Short Messaging System (SMS) based notification system. This paper intends to discuss the development process of e-parcel management system which is integrated with Global System for Mobile (GSM) networks. The whole system utilizes the barcode system, Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and Active Server Pages 3.0 as the interface, and mobile network to realize the intended purpose. The implementation shows that the prototype developed has successfully executed and it is concluded this on-going research requires further improvement on the current prototypes.

- by AYOB JOHARI
- •
- Computer Science, Mobile Communication, Mobile Computing, Visual basic

Collaborative systems have emerged as one of the most relevant future working environments. These systems offer a working way that allow new human cooperation strategies based on new interaction paradigms, which take into account not only individuals, but also groups. Due to the relevance of this new collaborative systems usage, it is important to provide new solutions to the construction of robust and complete collaborative systems. The starting point is the description of the system by using ontologies at different abstraction levels. Parts of this description will be connected with the architectural design of groupware applications. From the user interaction point of view, we propose the inclusion of new interaction paradigms (ubiquitous computing, augmented reality, etc.) within the development process of new usability and accessibility engineering methodologies. In addition, new interaction patterns which support the user interface design process and multi-agent systems that support the user interface adaptativity of the collaborative environment are included among other things. This document reports the results of the first twenty months of the project life.

Telecare can help health and social care agencies address the challenges they face from an ageing society and deliver services improving the clients' quality of life. The end users of telecare systems are unlikely to have a deep understanding of technology, therefore good human factors and ergonomics are important for the system's acceptance, usability and safety. This paper reports preliminary results from a project initiated by the European Telecommunications Standardization Institute (ETSI) to develop a set of guidelines for human factors in telecare systems, thereby maximizing user experience and promoting the usage of telecare, and directed towards all stakeholders in the telecare delivery chain. The guidelines are first structured along the dimension of human factors, consisting of: confidentiality and privacy; ethics; legal aspects; availability and reliability; integrity; safety; installation, setup and configuration; user interaction; localization and customization; service and system aspects; organizational aspects; user education; interoperability; development process and testing. For each of these, guidelines are enumerated and grouped as being either generic or pertaining to one of the different product lifecycles: research and development; design and manufacture; equipment delivery; and final service deployment. In all, a considerable number of generic and specific guidelines will be provided. The work is in progress (Sep. 2006), and the authors encourage input and comments. For more information, see

- by stf stf
- •
- Human Factors, Quality of life, User eXperience, Interactions

The principal argument advanced in this paper is that spatial planning in the Solomon Islands has failed to deliver any substantive benefits and is therefore, in urgent need of reform. The present model of planning derived from a combination of colonial practice and legislation originating in the UK, does not add much, if any value to the development process. The poor quality of planning in the Solomons cannot be seen in isolation. There are similar systems in use throughout much of the Commonwealth and anecdotal evidence suggests that the failings are widely duplicated. The Solomon Islands only appears exceptional in the extent to which other government systems have demonstrably broken down, following the 'Ethnic Tension' 2000-2003. The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) provides a unique opportunity for a review of the way in which planning operates. A number of issues are identified which any reformed system must address.

- by Jon Talbot
- •
- Political Science, Governance, Spatial planning, Legislation

Public participation in transport planning is a recent trend. There is an increasing number of cases in Europe where the public is involved in the decision-making process. In Portugal, where the use of a motor vehicle as a means of transportation still enjoys a deep approval in the society, a participatory approach is an opportunity to change perceptions towards more sustainable transport modes. In Ponta Delgada (Archipelago of the Azores), for the first time in Portugal, the relevant stakeholders were involved in the development process of a sustainable mobility plan. It proved that, on a participatory basis, sustainable transport planning provides more satisfactory and efficient solutions. This paper presents the methodology and results of a participative transport management planning model. This model can be adapted to the specific needs and problems of other small island cities.

- by Helena Calado
- •
- Human Geography, Economics, Transport Geography, Urban And Regional Planning

Rapid development methodologies are popular approaches for the development of modern software systems. The goals of these methodologies are the inclusion of the client into the analysis, design and implementation activities, as well as the acceleration of the system development phases through an iterative construction approach. These methodologies also claim to manage the changing nature of requirements. However, during the development of large and complex systems by a small and technically competent development team, there is a danger that certain unforeseen practical implications are introduced into the development process by rapid development methodologies. In this paper we reflect on some observed practical implications of rapid development methodologies after the completion of two projects that involved the construction of large and complex software systems.

- by Alta Van der Merwe
- •
- Engineering, Computer Science, Complex System, System Engineering

This paper proposes a software architecture and a development process for engineering dependable and controllable self-organising (SO) systems. Our approach addresses dependability by exploiting metadata to support decision making and adaptation based on the dynamic enforcement of explicitly defined policies. Control is obtained by actively modifying metadata, policies or components. We show how this applies to two different systems: (1) a dynamically resilient Web service system; and (2) an industrial assembly system with self-adaptive and SO capabilities.

- by John Fitzgerald
- •
- Decision Making, Metadata, Software Architecture, Policies

In this paper we present XVR, an integrated development environment for the rapid development of Virtual Reality applications. Using a modular architecture and a VR-oriented scripting language, XVR contents can be embedded on a variety of container applications. This makes it suitable to write contents ranging from web-oriented presentations to more complex VR installations involving advanced devices, such as real-time trackers, haptic interfaces, sensorized gloves and stereoscopic devices, including HMDs. Some case studies are also presented to illustrate the development processes related to XVR and its features.

A good manager is a remover of obstacles and a provider of resources. his phrase circulates through management circles in various versions. It normally conjures up visions of managers resolving crises during projects, providing people and equipment as they are needed. But the work of removing obstacles and providing resources should start before a project even begins. A good manager can remove many obstacles before they appear by providing one of the most fundamental resources any project can have: a dearly defined plan and process definition. The plan tells team members what needs to be done and when, while the process definition tells them how it should be done and how to know when it has been done with adequate quality. This leads to another aphorism: "A good manager makes sure that all team members know what they are supposed to do, and how to tell whether they have done a good job."

- by Gary Simons
- •
- Project Planning, Development Process
- by Augustin Kwasi Fosu
- •
- Development Economics, Property Rights, Democratization, Governance

In this research, we developed an e-health application to assist Posyandu (Pos Pelayanan Terpadu), integrated health post, operators in managing health examination reports. The development processes involves four steps: Analysis I (Health services requirements), Analysis II (Integration to OpenEHR concept), Analysis III (E-health application requirements), Design and development of e-health application telemedicine. The proposed system collects data from several Posyandu to an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, based on OpenEHR standards. The stored data may be accessed, processed, and presented in a different way, depends on its type and the handled situation. E-health implementation will also actively involve the collaboration and coordination of each stakeholder in the planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of projects Further works to be considered will include the implementation of e-health application software as well as its performance and sustainability investigation.

Combustion in direct-injection diesel engines occurs in a lifted, turbulent diffusion flame mode. Numerous studies indicate that the combustion and emissions in such engines are strongly influenced by the lifted flame characteristics, which are in turn determined by fuel and air mixing in the upstream region of the lifted flame, and consequently by the liquid breakup and spray development processes. From a numerical standpoint, these spray combustion processes depend heavily on the choice of underlying spray, combustion, and turbulence models. The present numerical study investigates the influence of different chemical kinetic mechanisms for diesel and biodiesel fuels, as well as Reynoldsaveraged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and large eddy simulation (LES) turbulence models on predicting flame lift-off lengths (LOLs) and ignition delays. Specifically, two chemical kinetic mechanisms for n-heptane (NHPT) and three for biodiesel surrogates are investigated. In addition, the renormalization group (RNG) k-e (RANS) model is compared to the Smagorinsky based LES turbulence model. Using adaptive grid resolution, minimum grid sizes of 250 lm and 125 lm were obtained for the RANS and LES cases, respectively. Validations of these models were performed against experimental data from Sandia National Laboratories in a constant volume combustion chamber. Ignition delay and flame lift-off validations were performed at different ambient temperature conditions. The LES model predicts lower ignition delays and qualitatively better flame structures compared to the RNG k-e model. The use of realistic chemistry and a ternary surrogate mixture, which consists of methyl decanoate, methyl nine-decenoate, and NHPT, results in better predicted LOLs and ignition delays. For diesel fuel though, only marginal improvements are observed by using larger size mechanisms. However, these improved predictions come at a significant increase in computational cost.

- by Douglas Longman and +1
- •
- Kinetics, Large Eddy Simulation, Internal Combustion Engine, Chemical Kinetics

This paper briefly describes the main characteristics of Calliope, a Belgian online writing center. Calliope began with the collaborative development of a theoretical framework based on a process approach to writing with a recognition of differences in learning and writing profiles. In this paper, we describe our theoretical framework, how it was developed, and how it is used in our classes (blended learning). Starting from a description of the content model, we also describe three key components of the multilingual online writing center: (a) the Feedback Editor, (b) the collaborative writing environment, Escribamos, and (c) the e-portfolio tool. We conclude the paper with a discussion on technical and content-related problems we encountered during Calliope's development process.

- by Luuk Van Waes
- •
- Blended Learning, Learning Style, Collaborative Writing, Theoretical Framework

Today, many organizations maintain a variety of systems and databases in a complex ad-hoc architecture that does not seem to fulfill the needs for company-wide unstructured information management in business processes, business functions, and the extended enterprise. We describe a framework to implement Enterprise Content Management (ECM) in order to address this problem. ECM refers to the technologies, tools, and methods used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content (e.g. documents, graphics, drawings, web pages) across an enterprise. The framework helps to select content objects that can be brought under ECM to create business value and guide the IT investments needed to realize ECM. The framework was tested in a large high tech organization.

- by Ramon O'Callaghan
- •
- Computer Science, Information Management, Content Management, Business Value

The objective of the present study was to develop once-daily sustained-release matrix tablets of nicorandil, a novel potassium channel opener used in cardiovascular diseases. The tablets were prepared by the wet granulation method. Ethanolic solutions of ethylcellulose (EC), Eudragit RL-100, Eudragit RS-100, and polyvinylpyrrolidone were used as granulating agents along with hydrophilic matrix materials like hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), sodium carboxymethylcellulose, and sodium alginate. The granules were evaluated for angle of repose, bulk density, compressibility index, total porosity, and drug content. The tablets were subjected to thickness, diameter, weight variation test, drug content, hardness, friability, and in vitro release studies. The granules showed satisfactory flow properties, compressibility, and drug content. All the tablet formulations showed acceptable pharmacotechnical properties and complied with in-house specifications for tested parameters. According to the theoretical release profile calculation, a oncedaily sustained-release formulation should release 5.92 mg of nicorandil in 1 hour, like conventional tablets, and 3.21 mg per hour up to 24 hours. The results of dissolution studies indicated that formulation F-I (drug-to-HPMC, 1:4; ethanol as granulating agent) could extend the drug release up to 24 hours. In the further formulation development process, FIX (drug-to-HPMC, 1:4; EC 4% wt/vol as granulating agent), the most successful formulation of the study, exhibited satisfactory drug release in the initial hours, and the total release pattern was very close to the theoretical release profile. All the formulations (except FIX) exhibited diffusion-dominated drug release. The mechanism of drug release from FIX was diffusion coupled with erosion.

The development of most large and complex systems necessarily involves many people+ach with their own perspectives on the system defined by their knowledge, responsibilities, and commitments. To address this we have advocated distributed development of specifications from multiple perspectives. However, this leads to problems of identifying and handling inconsistencies between such perspectives. Maintaining absolute consistency is not always possible. Often this is not even desirable since this can unnecessarily constrain the development process, and can lead to the loss of important information. Indeed since the real-world forces us to work with inconsistencies, we should formalize some of the usually informal or extra-logical ways of responding to them. This is not necessarily done by eradicating inconsistencies but rather by supplying logical rules specifying how we should act on them. To achieve this, we combine two lines of existing research: the Viewpoints framework for perspective development, interaction and organization, and a logic-based approach to inconsistency handling. This paper presents our technique for inconsistency handling in the Viewpoints framework hy using simple examples.

- by Jeff Kramer
- •
- Information Systems, Complex System, Computer Software, Multiple Perspectives

In this regard, several opportunities have opened up in the last few years. Calabria belongs to the Regions of Objective 1 of The European Union (regions with development delay), characterised by a PIL value less than 75% of the community average. In order to recuperate the economic and social delay of these areas, the European Union finances development with Structural

Safety-critical systems are widely used in different domains and lead to an increasing complexity. Such systems rely on specific services such space and time isolation as in the ARINC653 avionics standard. Their criticality requires a carefully driven design based on an appropriate development process and dedicated tools to detect and avoid problems as early as possible.

Forward Error Correction (FEC) plays an important role in today's Digital Communications Systems. This paper describes the design and implementation of the FEC, the (8,4) Block Coder and 8x8 Interleaver in a Binary Phase Shift Keying Transceiver on a Model Based Development platform for a Software Defined Radio (SDR) system. Model Based Development is a new development process where the model of the communications systems is designed and developed in software such as Simulink / Matlab. Model Based Development process saves considerable amount of time in the form of design, implementation and testing.

J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) is Java's platform for building distributed enterprise applications. The platform takes advantage of a wide range of new and evolving technologies and has been enriched by proven design solutions. These solutions are formulated and documented in what is known as J2EE design patterns. Rather than applying the patterns in isolation, a complete design system can be composed of the patterns. This pattern-based system can significantly ease the development process of J2EE applications and improve the quality of the produced software. In this paper, we will show how a general architectural tool (Fred) can be used to model such a pattern system and to generate an architecture-centric environment for developing J2EE applications. The environment is a task-based wizard that guides the user through the development of the application by enforcing certain design rules.

- by Kai Koskimies
- •
- Software Architecture, Design Patterns, System Design, Framework

Performance measurements may stimulate employee initiatives to improve operational performance, especially when they themselves participate in the development of their own departmental performance measures. Using the theory of planned behavior, we examine why this occurs in a beverage manufacturing company where we helped bottling line maintenance technicians develop measures about the results of their own work. Our analyses are based on qualitative data gathered at 156 meetings, 34 semi-structured interviews, quantitative performance data from the company's information systems, and quantitative questionnaire data. We found that the participatory development process increased employees' attitude, perceived social pressure and perceived capability to take initiative. Moreover, the departmental performance improved when the jointly developed performance measures were put to use.

- by Celeste Wilderom
- •
- Management, Sociology, Operations Management, Management Accounting

A collaborative research effort among construction companies has allowed the design and implementation of a performance measurement system in Chilean construction companies. This effort is starting to give preliminary results as new companies are adopting the system that is expected to reach critical mass in the Chilean construction industry. In the future, international organisations are expected to join this effort to extend the potential impact to new countries and companies. The system database will be useful to develop third party benchmarking to contribute to the improvement of the industry as a whole. The implementation of performance measurement systems, which include measures adapted to lean construction, is discussed in this paper. The paper discusses the development process, the performance measures selected and some implementation issues. The paper also shows some preliminary findings from the baseline data obtained from the companies and projects already included in the...

- by Alejandro grillo
- •
- Lean Construction, Construction Industry, Critical Mass, Collaborative Research

The recently discovered opportunity to manipulate the polarization state of light in the near-and far-fields using a new breed of meta-materials, so called planar chiral structures (PCS) [1] and [2], may lead to a whole generation of... more