An industry experiment on the effects of test-driven development on external quality and productivity

Existing empirical studies on test-driven development (TDD) report different conclusions about its effects on quality and productivity. Very few of those studies are experiments conducted with software professionals in industry. We aim to analyse the effects of TDD on the external quality of the work done and the productivity of developers in an industrial setting. We conducted an experiment with 24 professionals from three different sites of a software organization. We chose a repeated-measures design, and asked subjects to implement TDD and incremental test last development (ITLD) in two simple tasks and a realistic application close to real-life complexity. To analyse our findings, we applied a repeated-measures general linear model procedure and a linear mixed effects procedure. We did not observe a statistical difference between the quality of the work done by subjects in both treatments. We observed that the subjects are more productive when they implement TDD on a simple task compared to ITLD, but the productivity drops significantly when applying TDD to a complex brownfield task. So, the task complexity significantly obscured the effect of TDD. Further evidence is necessary to conclude whether TDD is better or worse than ITLD in terms of external quality and productivity in an industrial setting. We found that experimental factors such as selection of tasks could dominate the findings in TDD studies.     

A W-band microwave receiver for Te diagnosis in the tokamak TJ-1

This paper describes a 95 GHz receiver system based on a solid state oscillator which makes it possible to measure the electron temperature of the plasma in the tokamak TJ-1. We discuss the construction of the receiver system and its calibration, which is carried out by using a noise source in this band. The characteristics obtained for a 0,5 eV signal are presented. The results show that the receiver has a very low noise level, even for powers on the order of several picowatts.     

Multimode Si-wire waveguides for integrated optical delay lines

A delay line of multimode Si-wire waveguide folded with 45deg mirror bends is described. A 17 cm waveguide with a core size of 1times3 mum² was integrated in an area of 0.85 mm². The waveguide generated a constant group delay of 2 ns in the entire C-band with a typical optical loss of 14 dB. It also exhibited an error-free operation for 10 Gbit/s optical data signals.     

Improving the Performance of Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing Algorithms Using Parallel,Distributed and Specialized Hardware-Based Systems

Advances in sensor technology are revolutionizing the way remotely sensed data is collected, managed and analyzed. The incorporation of latest-generation sensors to airborne and satellite platforms is currently producing a nearly continual stream of high-dimensional data, and this explosion in the amount of collected information has rapidly created new processing challenges. For instance, hyperspectral signal processing is a new technique in remote sensing that generates hundreds of spectral bands at different wavelength channels for the same area on the surface of the Earth. Many current and future applications of remote sensing in Earth science, space science, and soon in exploration science will require (near) real-time processing capabilities. In recent years, several efforts have been directed towards the incorporation of high-performance computing (HPC) systems and architectures in remote sensing missions. With the aim of providing an overview of current and new trends in parallel and distributed systems for remote sensing applications, this paper explores three HPC-based paradigms for efficient implementation of the Pixel Purity Index (PPI) algorithm, available from the popular Kodak’s Research Systems ENVI software package, as a representative case study for demonstration purposes. Several different parallel programming techniques are used to improve the performance of the PPI on a variety of parallel platforms, including a set of message passing interface (MPI)-based implementations on a massively parallel Beowulf cluster at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and on a variety of heterogeneous networks of workstations at University of Maryland; a Handel-C implementation of the algorithm on a Virtex-II field programmable gate array (FPGA); and a compute unified device architecture (CUDA)-based implementation on graphical processing units (GPUs) of NVidia. Combined, these parts deliver an excellent snapshot of the state-of-the-art in those areas, and offer a thoughtful perspective on the potential and emerging challenges of adapting HPC systems to remote sensing problems.     

Reinforced polymer concrete: Physical properties of the matrix and static/dynamic bond behaviour

The paper aims at analysing the performance of Polyester Polymer Concrete (PPC) reinforced with steel and FRP rebars. The PPC is also compared with conventional cement concrete.

On the one hand, the effect of the polymer matrix microstructure on the mechanical performance (compression and flexural strength, deformability and Young’s modulus) is discussed.

On the other hand, static and dynamic bond behaviour under pure pull-out forces between the PPC and different rebars is tackled. It is analysed the behaviour of metallic and non-metallic rebars embedded in a PPC matrix when they are subjected to both monotonic and cyclic loads. Likewise, analogous tests were performed on cement concrete specimens in order to be able to compare the bonding performance in both types of concrete.     

Bisphenol A removal from water by activated carbon. Effects of carbon characteristics and solution chemistry

The present study aimed to analyze the behavior of different activated carbons in the adsorption and removal of bisphenol A (2-2-bis-4-hydroxypheniyl propane) from aqueous solutions in order to identify the parameters that determine this process. Two commercial activated carbons and one prepared in our laboratory from almond shells were used; they were texturally and chemically characterized, obtaining the surface area, pore size distribution, mineral matter content, elemental analysis, oxygen surface groups, and pH of the point of zero charge (pH(PZC)), among other parameters. Adsorption isotherms of bisphenol A and adsorption capacities were obtained. The capacity of the carbons to remove bisphenol A was related to their characteristics. Thus, the adsorption of bisphenol A on activated carbon fundamentally depends on the chemical nature of the carbon surface and the pH of the solution. The most favorable experimental conditions for this process are those in which the net charge density of the carbon is zero and the bisphenol A is in molecular form. Under these conditions, the adsorbent-adsorbate interactions that govern the adsorption mechanism are enhanced. Influences of the mineral matter present in the carbon samples and the solution chemistry (pH and ionic strength) were also analyzed. The presence of mineral matter in carbons reduces their adsorption capacity because of the hydrophilic nature of the matter. The presence of electrolytes in the solution favor the adsorption process because of the screening effect produced between the positively charged carbon surface and the bisphenol A molecules, with a resulting increase in adsorbent-adsorbate interactions.     

Pavlovian Conditioning: The CS-UR Relation.

A new Pavlovian procedure used fluid-elicited throat-movement responses of the pigeon (N=66) to study the effects on conditioning of the temporal relation of the conditioned stimulus (CS) to the unconditioned stimulus-unconditioned response (US-UR). Because the throat-movement response has a substantial latency and duration, the relation of the CS to the US and UR could be independently evaluated. Four experiments indicated that, operationally, the relation of the CS to the UR--not to the US--is critical for conditioning in this preparation. The conventional emphasis on CS-US relations is based on procedures that confound the occurrence of the US with the UR and that foster generalization decrement between training and testing. The authors indicate how several conditioning phenomena may be reinterpreted in terms of CS-UR relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An extension of the lumped-network FDTD method to linear two-port lumped circuits

The lumped-network finite-difference time-domain (LN-FDTD) technique is an extension of the conventional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method that allows the systematic incorporation of linear one-port lumped networks (LNs) into a single FDTD cell. This paper presents an extension of the LN-FDTD technique, which allows linear two-port (TP)-LNs to be incorporated into the FDTD framework. The method basically consists of describing a TP-LN by means of its admittance matrix in the Laplace domain. By applying the Mobius transformation technique, we then obtain the admittance matrix of the TP-LN in the Z-transform domain. Finally, appropriate digital signal-processing methodologies are used to derive a set of difference equations that models the TP-LN behavior in the discrete-time domain. These equations are solved in combination with the Maxwell-Ampere's equation. To show the validity of the TP-LN-FDTD technique introduced here, we have considered the equivalent circuit of a chip capacitor and a linear circuit model of a generic metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor. These LNs have been placed on a microstrip gap and the scattering parameters of the resulting hybrid circuit have been computed. The results are compared with those obtained by using the electromagnetic simulator Agilent HFSS in combination with the circuital simulator ADS, and with those calculated by ADS alone. For the chip capacitor, experimental measurements have also been carried out. The agreement among all the simulated results is good. Generally speaking, the measured results agree with the simulated ones. The differences observed are mainly due to the influence of the subminiature A connectors and some mismatching at the ports.     

Development of yoghurt from ovine milk with enhanced texture and flavour properties

Six commercial starter cultures, all blends of Streptococcus thermophilus sp. and Lactobacillus bulgaricus sp., were compared for enhanced texture and flavour in yoghurt prepared from ovine milk. The fermentation patterns differed between starters, with YF‐L903 (E) showing the fastest fermentation but slower post‐acidification. YC‐X11 (A) produced the slowest acidification, while YC‐380 (B) resulted in the fastest post‐acidification. Textural and colour properties were affected significantly by the culture used. YF‐L903 (E) enhanced the firmness and luminosity of the yoghurt over storage, increasing mouthfeel and creaminess, as compared to yoghurts prepared with the other starter cultures starters studied.