Critical Success Factors to Improve the Game Development Process from a Developer’s Perspective

The growth of the software game development industry is enormous and is gaining importance day by day. This growth imposes severe pressure and a number of issues and challenges on the game development community. Game development is a complex process, and one important game development choice is to consider the developer’s perspective to produce good-quality software games by improving the game development process. The objective of this study is to provide a better understanding of the developer’s dimension as a factor in software game success. It focuses mainly on an empirical investigation of the effect of key developer’s factors on the software game development process and eventually on the quality of the resulting game. A quantitative survey was developed and conducted to identify key developer’s factors for an enhanced game development process. For this study, the developed survey was used to test the research model and hypotheses. The results provide evidence that game development organizations must deal with multiple key factors to remain competitive and to handle high pressure in the software game industry. The main contribution of this paper is to investigate empirically the influence of key developer’s factors on the game development process.     

Making Sense of Software Development and Personality Types

It's common sense to state that the production of any software product involves a human element, at least to some extent. We all have different personality traits, and the way we perceive, plan, and execute any activity is influenced by these characteristics. Typically, software development is a product of teamwork, involving several people performing various tasks. The success and failure of software projects reveal the human factor as one of vital importance. Not everyone can excel at every task, thus better results are achieved if people with particular personality traits are assigned to different aspects of a project, especially the roles best suited to their ability. The authors mapped some opposing psychological traits, such as extroversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving, to the main stages of a software development life cycle. Consequently, they concluded that assigning a person with specific psychological characteristics to the stage of the software life cycle best suited for his or her traits increases the chances of a successful outcome for the project.     

Influence of nitrogen gas flow rate on the structural, morphological and electrical properties of sputtered TiN films

In this work, nanocrystalline titanium nitride (TiN) films have been deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering technique on the Si/SiO₂ (100) substrates. The influence of nitrogen gas flow rate [0, 3, 5, 7 and 9 sccm (standard cubic centimeter per minute)] on the structural, morphological and electrical properties of the nanocrystalline TiN films has been studied. As-deposited TiN films have been characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), FESEM (field emission scanning electron microscopy) and four point probe resistivity measurement, respectively. The XRD patterns revealed the HCP symmetry for pure Ti (N₂ = 0 sccm) with (002) preferred orientations, and the FCC symmetry for TiN (N₂ = 3, 5, 7 and 9 sccm) films having (111) preferred orientations. The lattice parameters were found to be a = 2.950 ?, c = 4.681? for the Ti (N₂ = 0 sccm) film and a = 4.250Å for the TiN films. The presence of different phases such as TiN and TiO₂ were confirmed by XPS analysis. The FESEM images showed a smooth morphology of the film with columnar grain structures. The grain size of the TiN films was found to decrease from 22 to 15 nm as the nitrogen flow rate is increased from 0 to 9 sccm. The electrical resistivity measurement showed that the resistivity of the film increased from 11 × 10^?6 to 17 × 10^?6 Ohm cm on increasing nitrogen flow rate from 3 to 9 sccm, having the lowest resistivity of 11 × 10^?6 Ohm cm for the film deposited at 3 sccm nitrogen flow.     

Environmental exposure of lead and iron deficit anemia in children age ranged 1-5 years: A cross sectional study

Iron (Fe) deficiency is the most common nutritional problem among children and lead (Pb) toxicity is the most common environmental health threat to children all over the world. The objective of this study was to determine blood lead (BPb) levels and prevalence of Fe deficient anemia among 1 to 5 year old children attending day care clinic in pediatric ward of civil hospital Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 340 children of both genders participating in this study, were screened for anemia. Among them 215 were anemic and 125 non-anemic. The anemic group was further divided in two groups on the basis of % hemoglobin (Hb), mild (Hb < 10 g/dL) and severe anemic group (Hb < 8 g/dL), while non-anemic as referent children (Hb > 10 g/dL). The blood samples were analysed for Pb and Fe, along with hematological parameters. The result indicated that anemic children had a higher mean values of Pb in blood than referent children with Hb > 10 g/dL. The Pb levels < 100 μg/L were detected in 40% referent children while 60% of them had > 10 μg/dL. The BPb concentration in severe anemic children (53%) was found in the range of 100-200 μg/L, whereas 47% had > 200 μg/L. The significant negative correlations of BPb level with % Hb (r = −0.514 and r = −0.685) and Fe contents (r = −0.522, r = −0.762, p < 0.001) were observed in mild and severe anemic children respectively. While positive correlation was observed between BPb and age of both group and genders (r = 0.69, p < 0.01). The BPb levels were significantly associated with biochemical indices in the blood which have the potential to be used as biomarkers of Pb intoxication and Fe deficient anemia.     

Magnetic, optical and structural property studies of Mn-doped ZnO nanosheets

We report the synthesis of pure and Mn doped ZnO in the form of nanosheets using a simple and single step procedure involving a microwave assisted chemical method. As prepared Mn-doped ZnO nanosheets were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultra violet-visible (UV-Vis), Raman spectroscopy and magnetization measurements. The structural studies using XRD and TEM revealed the absence of Mn-related secondary phases and showed that Mn-doped ZnO comprise a single phase nature with wurtzite structure. FESEM and TEM micrographs show that the average diameter of Mn-ZnO assembled nanosheets is about approximately 50 nm, and the length of a Mn-doped ZnO nanosheet building block which is made up of thin mutilayered sheets is around approximately 300 nm. Concerning the Raman scattering spectra, the shift in peak position of E2 (high) mode toward low frequencies due to the Mn doping could be explained well by means of the spatial correlation model. Magnetic measurements showed that Mn-doped ZnO nanosheets exhibit ferromagnetic ordering at or above room temperature.     

Signature of room temperature ferromagnetism in Mn doped CeO2 nanoparticles

We report structural and magnetic properties of Mn doped CeO₂ nanoparticles using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM) and dc magnetization measurements. XRD results infer that all the samples have single phase nature and lattice parameters decrease with Mn doping. The particle size calculated using XRD and TEM analysis was found to decrease with Mn doping. Field cooled magnetization measurement shows that the transition temperature is above room temperature. Magnetic hysteresis loop studies indicate that undoped and Mn doped CeO₂ nanoparticles show weak ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature.     

The biogenic amines and bacterial changes of farmed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) stored in ice

The biogenic amine content and related bacterial changes (Pseudomonas spp., psychrotrophic and mesophilic counts) in whole farmed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were monitored during ice storage for 18 days (at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 days). Levels of putrescine, cadaverine and histamine, and bacterial loads, increased (P < 0.05) during storage, but tyramine was not detected in any of the tested samples. Concentration of putrescine ranged from 0.4 initially to 8.97 μg/g, and psychrotrophic microorganisms were dominant. The best linear regressions (correlations) were for putrescine and Pseudomonas spp. and psychrotrophs (r = 0.98), and for cadaverine with Pseudomonas spp. (r = 0.82). Putrescine content was a good quality marker. Histamine was detected only at later stages of storage and was therefore less suitable than the other biogenic amines as freshness indicator.