Ami: promoting a quantitative approach to software management

In this paper we first review the state of the art in software measurement. We then explain how measurement should be used in a goal-oriented manner in project management and describe the ami (application of metrics in industry) approach to achieving this. Finally we consider the ami project as an example of successful technology transfer and look at the variety of tactics used for dissemination of the approach in response to the needs of today's growing software measurement community.     

Relations between prenatal testosterone levels and cognitive abilities at 4 years.

Relations between prenatal testosterone (T) levels and cognitive abilities at age 4 were examined for 28 girls and 30 boys. Prenatal T levels were measured in 2nd trimester amniotic fluid samples obtained by amniocentesis and were examined in relation to scores on tests of cognitive abilities. For girls, prenatal T levels showed a curvilinear (inverted U-shaped) relation to language comprehension and classification abilities. Linear relations also were observed in that prenatal T levels were inversely related to girls' scores on tasks assessing counting and number facts. Similarly, girls with high average block building scores had lower prenatal T and cognitive abilities were not observed. The observation of relations in girls and not boys is discussed, and the findings are examined in relation to theories of hormone-behavior relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dielectric anomalies related to domain walls in ferroelectric CsD2AsO4

Dielectric measurements of CsD₂AsO₄ confirm the observations of Sidorkin et al. [Sov. Phys. Sol. St. 26, 1910 (1984)] that a peak 15-25K below T_c is present and probably due to wall effects involving pinning by H-ions. However, our values for both T_c and the temperature T_W of the wall anomaly are ≈30k higher than those of the Soviet work. Our value of T_C = 224K agrees with that of Loiacono et al. [Ferroelectrics 14, 761 (1976)]. This higher transition temperature is probably due to a higher D-concentration (∼85%) than is present in the Soviet specimens.     

Effects of brief exposure to symbolic model behavior on the information-processing strategies of internally and externally oriented children.

Conducted a study with 120 externally and 120 internally oriented 4th graders (as measured by the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale) to examine the modifiability of children's information-processing strategies. Ss observed a constraint-seeking model or a change (contrasting response patterns) model which provided either minimal or augmented verbal cues and associated reinforcement contingencies. Ss in augmented modeling conditions required fewer questions to reach a solution and asked a higher proportion of constraint-seeking questions relative to the nonaugmented and no-model control groups. The effects of augmentation were more pronounced for the constraint-seeking than for the change model. Internals in augmented conditions required fewer questions to solution and asked a higher proportion of constraint-seeking questions than did externals, but there were no significant differences between internals and externals in nonaugmented conditions. The major findings on the immediate posttest were maintained on a transfer task administered 1 wk later, demonstrating the short-term stability and generality of the modeling effects. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Apoptosis: regulation and relevance to toxicology

1. Apoptosis is a remarkably stereotyped morphological event across all tissues in response to a vast array of damaging agents. 2. Our very existence depends upon a willing exchange of old life for new: apoptotic cell death is our guardian and saviour from genetic damage. 3. There is a close link between cell proliferation and apoptosis: When a cell picks up the machinery to proliferate it also acquires an abort pathway--'better dead than wrong'. 4. A wide variety of highly conserved genes have been implicated in triggering apoptosis. 5. The release of DNA loops from the nuclear scaffold is a more crucial intracellular event than DNA 'laddering' in apoptotic cells. 6. The manipulation of apoptotic rates in many of the common diseases in man will be a major therapeutic strategy in the future.     

Aging and movement: Variability of force pulses for saccadic eye movements.

Age-related differences in the trajectories of saccadic eye movements were examined. Younger and older adult subjects produced saccades to predictable target locations. Detailed features of the movements were examined such as the time of peak acceleration and the variability in the magnitude of the peak velocity. These and other measures reveal important details of the force pulses underlying the eye movements and the mental mechanisms that control them. Although minor differences were apparent between the eye movements of younger and older adults, the general patterns were the same across age groups. These results suggest that fundamental details of the brain mechanisms involved in the control of movement are the same for younger and older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A controlled comparison of thermal biofeedback and relaxation training in the treatment of essential hypertension: II. Effects on cardiovascular reactivity.

Compared progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), thermal biofeedback (BFB), and drug withdrawal (DW) as possible substitutes for 2nd-stage (sympatholytic) antihypertensive medications, using 73 hypertensive adults. Reactivity (heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure) to 3 stressors (mental arithmetic, cold pressor, and negative mental imagery) was measured before and after PMR, BFB, and DW. PMR led to more reductions in some aspect of reactivity than did BFB. Reductions in reactivity were seen more for mental arithmetic and systolic blood pressure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theoretical modelling of dopants in diamond

One of the hurdles to the use of diamond as an electronic material is the lack of shallow dopants. In this paper, the theoretical modelling of dopants in diamond is reviewed, including some of the more promising suggestions for shallow donors. Nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and boron are now quite reliably modelled using density functional theory. More exotic species, such as arsenic, antimony and sodium (in an interstitial site) are promising candidates for shallow donors, although their solubility is likely to be poor. Some of the complexes (N-H-N, NSi₄) may also be shallow donors, but it will be difficult to produce them in enough quantity and purity to be electronically useful.     

Introduction of sulphydryl groups into pea vicilin: Formation of intra-and inter-polypeptide disulphide bonds

Site directed mutagenesis was used to introduce two cysteine residues into the hydrophilic regions of the pea vichlin polypeptide previously expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mutated polypeptide was expresed and the resultant protein was characterised by sodium dodecyl sulphatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The presence of both intra- and inter-polypeptide sulphydryl bonds was indicated by bands of different mobility from those of the native polypeptide. The association of mutated vicili polypeptides into disulphide-bonded aggregates within the yeast was not a random process, trimers being the major aggregate produced. When the mutated vicilin was extracted from yeast and purified, random aggregates of the vicilin polypeptide were formed.     

Finite-horizon equipment replacement analysis

The optimal solution to the infinite-horizon equipment replacement problem with stationary costs is to continually replace an asset at its economic life. The economic life is the age that minimizes the Equivalent Annual Cost (EAC), which includes purchase, operating and maintenance costs less salvage values. We explore the question of whether this is a good policy for the finite-horizon problem, which occurs when companies only require an asset for a specified length of time, usually to fulfill a specific contract. We identify cases, according to capital costs, operating costs, and the interest rate, when this policy is good and when it deviates significantly from optimal. Furthermore, we provide a bound on the minimum number of times that an asset is retained at its economic life over a finite horizon. This is facilitated through a new dynamic-programming formulation to the problem based on the integer-knapsack problem with nonlinear costs. The bound can be derived from any feasible solution, although we provide a closed-form solution for the case of convex EAC values.