Selection of third party software in Off-The-Shelf-based software development—An interview study with industrial practitioners

The success of software development using third party components highly depends on the ability to select a suitable component for the intended application. The evidence shows that there is limited knowledge about current industrial OTS selection practices. As a result, there is often a gap between theory and practice, and the proposed methods for supporting selection are rarely adopted in the industrial practice. This paper's goal is to investigate the actual industrial practice of component selection in order to provide an initial empirical basis that allows the reconciliation of research and industrial endeavors. The study consisted of semi-structured interviews with 23 employees from 20 different software-intensive companies that mostly develop web information system applications. It provides qualitative information that help to further understand these practices, and emphasize some aspects that have been overlooked by researchers. For instance, although the literature claims that component repositories are important for locating reusable components; these are hardly used in industrial practice. Instead, other resources that have not received considerable attention are used with this aim. Practices and potential market niches for software-intensive companies have been also identified. The results are valuable from both the research and the industrial perspectives as they provide a basis for formulating well-substantiated hypotheses and more effective improvement strategies.     

The effects of reduction of the deposited waste on short‐term landfill leachate composition of a landfill: a case study in Norway

Municipal solid waste landfill leachate was sampled over from a landfill receiving varying amounts of municipal solid waste. The investigation aimed to provide information on expected leachate changes in the short term, either after closure of an active landfill, or after a strong decline in the amount of waste deposited at smaller landfills. It was found that during a two year period following a sudden decline in the amount of waste deposited, the levels of various chemical and physical parameters all dropped sharply. The reasons for the decline in discharge levels are thought to be aerobic decomposition taking place in the municipal solid waste just after landfilling, and thus the decline in the impact of this process when there were less fresh waste masses available, and formation of preferential flow paths for the leachate as the municipal solid waste stabilized in the landfill.     

An 8-bit, 200 MSPS Folding and Interpolating ADC

An 8-bit, 200 MSPS folding and interpolating analog-to-digitalconverter, ADC, has been implemented in a 1.2 µmBiCMOS-process. It achieves 7.5 effective bits with a power dissipationof 575mW. The active area is 4mm². The implementationand measured results are presented. A simple analytical modelfor the interpolation-induced nonlinearity in a folding and interpolatingADC using sinusoidal folding is presented. The bowing of thereference ladder due to interaction with the input stages isanalyzed, and analytical models are derived.     

Fe calculations of stress fields from cracks located at the fusion line of weldments

This paper investigates the stress fields for a crack located at the fusion line of a weldment. The strength mis-matching and the size of the HAZ were varied, and the corresponding distribution of the maximum principal stress was examined. The weld metal strength was globally overmatched with respect to the base material, but locally over- and undermatched with respect to the heat affected zone. Three cases of mis-match were compared, and it was found that reducing the strength of the HAZ lowered the maximum principal stresses.     

Control strategies used by experienced marine navigators: observation of verbal conversations during navigation training

This article investigates the relationship between the control situation framework, as presented by Bjørkli et al. (Cogn Technol Work 9:67–80, 2007), and observed operator action and communication in high-speed craft operation in the Norwegian Royal Navy. The reported data include two series of events during sailing in the Norwegian archipelago where uncertainty of ship position, challenges of manoeuvring and navigation strategies are addressed. The results indicate that the navigators perform actions and communicate in accordance with the key features of the control situation framework, and thus adapt to the interrelation between control possibilities and control requirements. The navigators were guided by explicit knowledge of the functional characteristics of psychical and temporal dynamics, which were actualized in manoeuvring. It indicates that the control situation framework can be used to describe the models the operators use.     

Growth and metabolism of selected strains of probiotic bacteria in milk

Growth and metabolism of five probiotic strains with well-documented health effects were studied in ultra-high temperature (UHT) treated milk, supplemented with 0.5% (w/v) tryptone or 0.75% (w/v) fructose. The probiotic strains were Lactobacillus acidophilus La5, Lb. acidophilus 1748, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Lactobacillus reuteri SD 2112 and Bifidobacterium animalis BB12. Fermentation was followed for 72 h at 37 degrees C and the samples were analysed for pH, log cfu ml(-1), volatile compounds, organic acids and carbon dioxide. The strains reduced pH from 6.7 to between 3.9 and 4.4 after 24 h of incubation. All strains attained viable cell counts above 8.7-9.18 log cfu ml(-1) after 6-16 h of incubation. The two Lb. acidophilus strains showed a stable level of viable cells during 12-72 h of incubation but the three other strains showed a reduction of 0.4-1.1 log cfu ml(-1) from 24 to 72 h of incubation. However, all strains showed cell levels between 7.8 and 8.7 log cfu ml(-1) after 72 h of incubation. After 48 h of incubation, the amount of lactic acid produced varied according to strain from 6949 to 14,000 mg kg(-1) and acetic acid produced varied from 0 to 6901 mg kg(-1). Three of the strains metabolised citrate but only low amounts of diacetyl and acetoin were detected within strains, 0.2-0.8 and 6.5-10 mg kg(-1), respectively. Carbon dioxide produced varied from 221 to 3942 mg kg(-1) and was connected to the citrate-fermenting ability of the strain used and their carbohydrate fermentation pathway. Three of the strains produced detectable levels of acetaldehyde and the concentration varied from 9.4 to 12.6 mg kg(-1) after 24 h of incubation. All five probiotic strains showed very different profiles of metabolites during fermentation; however, the two Lb. acidophilus strains were the most alike. Our findings show the importance of controlling the fermentation time since the probiotic strains produced different amounts of metabolic products according to fermentation time.     

The effect of synthesis gas composition on the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis over Co/γ-Al2O3 and Co–Re/γ-Al2O3 catalysts

The Fischer–Tropsch synthesis over Co/γ-Al₂O₃ and Co–Re/γ-Al₂O₃ was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor at 20 bar and 483 K using feed gases with molar H₂/CO ratios of 2.1, 1.5 and 1.0 simulating synthesis gas derived from biomass. With lower H₂/CO ratios in the feed, the CO conversion and the CH₄ selectivity decreased, while the C₅₊ selectivity and olefin/paraffin ratio for C₂–C₄ increased slightly. The water–gas shift activity was low for both catalysts, resulting in high molar usage ratios of H₂/CO (close to 2.0), even at the lower inlet ratios (i.e. 1.5 and 1.0). For both catalysts, the drop in the production rate of hydrocarbons when shifting from an inlet ratio of 2.1 to 1.5 was significant mainly because the H₂/CO usage ratio did not follow the change in the inlet ratio. The hydrocarbon selectivities were rather similar for inlet H₂/CO ratios of 2.1 and 1.5, while significantly deviating from those for an inlet ratio of 1.0. With the studied catalysts, it is possible to utilize the advantages of an inlet ratio of 1.0 (higher selectivity to C₅₊, lower selectivity to CH₄, no water–gas shifting of the bio-syngas needed prior to the FT reactor) if a low syngas conversion is accepted.     

Realization strategies of dedicated path protection: A bandwidth cost perspective

Communication networks have to provide a high level of availability and instantaneous recovery after failures in order to ensure sufficient survivability for mission-critical services. Currently, dedicated path protection (or 1 + 1) is implemented in backbone networks to provide the necessary resilience and instantaneous recovery against single link failures with remarkable simplicity. However, in order to satisfy strict availability requirements, connections also have to be resilient against Shared Risk Link Group (SRLG) failures. In addition, switching matrix reconfigurations have to be avoided after a failure in order to guarantee instantaneous recovery. For this purpose, there are several possible realization strategies improving the characteristics of traditional 1 + 1 path protection by lowering reserved bandwidth while conserving all its favorable properties. These methods either utilize diversity coding, network coding, or generalize the disjoint-path constraint of 1 + 1.In this paper, we consider the cost aspect of the traditional and the alternative 1 + 1 realization strategies. We evaluate the bandwidth cost of different schemes both analytically and empirically in realistic network topologies. As the more complex realizations lead to NP-complete problems even in the single link failure case, we propose both Integer Linear Programming (ILP) based optimal methods, as well as heuristic and meta-heuristic approaches to solve them. Our findings provide a tool and guidelines for service providers for selecting the path protection method with the lowest bandwidth cost for their network corresponding to a given level of reliability.