Using Scrum to guide the execution of software process improvement in small organizations

For software process improvement - SPI - there are few small organizations using models that guide the management and deployment of their improvement initiatives. This is largely because a lot of these models do not consider the special characteristics of small businesses, nor the appropriate strategies for deploying an SPI initiative in this type of organization. It should also be noted that the models which direct improvement implementation for small settings do not present an explicit process with which to organize and guide the internal work of the employees involved in the implementation of the improvement opportunities. In this paper we propose a lightweight process, which takes into account appropriate strategies for this type of organization. Our proposal, known as a “Lightweight process to incorporate improvements”, uses the philosophy of the Scrum agile method, aiming to give detailed guidelines for supporting the management and performance of the incorporation of improvement opportunities within processes and their putting into practice in small companies. We have applied the proposed process in two small companies by means of the case study research method, and from the initial results, we have observed that it is indeed suitable for small businesses.     

电力线通信中动态子载波组分配

针对电力线通信自适应OFDM系统的限制条件,探讨在每OFDM符号内各RT用户要求的约束下,研究系统总功率地窖注水分配后多子载波上的速率自适应子载波分配模型,提出一种新的动态子载波组分配算法。在典型电力线信道环境下对其仿真,并与另外两种分配算法进行比较,结果表明,本文动态子载波组分配算法的复杂度大大减小,能满足多用户资源分配的多目标要求。     

Activity labeling in process modeling: Empirical insights and recommendations

Few studies have investigated the factors contributing to the successful practice of process modeling. In particular, studies that contribute to the act of developing process models that facilitate communication and understanding are scarce. Although the value of process models is not only dependent on the choice of graphical constructs but also on their annotation with textual labels, there has been hardly any work on the quality of these labels. Accordingly, the research presented in this paper examines activity labeling practices in process modeling. Based on empirical data from process modeling practice, we identify and discuss different labeling styles and their use in process modeling praxis. We perform a grammatical analysis of these styles and use data from an experiment with process modelers to examine a range of hypotheses about the usability of the different styles. Based on our findings, we suggest specific programs of research towards better tool support for labeling practices. Our work contributes to the emerging stream of research investigating the practice of process modeling and thereby contributes to the overall body of knowledge about conceptual modeling quality.     

An integrated approach for rating engineering characteristics’ final importance in product-service system development

Product-service system (PSS) approach has emerged as a competitive strategy to impel manufacturers to offer a set of product and services as a whole. A three-domain PSS conceptual design framework based on quality function deployment (QFD) is proposed in this research. QFD is a widely used design tool considering customer requirements (CRs). Since both product and services influence satisfaction of customer, they should be designed simultaneously. Identification of the critical parameters in these domains plays an important role. Engineering characteristics (ECs) in the functional domain include product-related ECs (P-ECs) and service-related ECs (S-ECs). ECs are identified by translating customer requirements (CRs) in the customer domain. Rating ECs’ importance has a great impact on achieving an optimal PSS planning. The rating problem should consider not only the requirements of customer, but also the requirements of manufacturer. From the requirements of customer, the analytic network process (ANP) approach is integrated in QFD to determine the initial importance weights of ECs considering the complex dependency relationships between and within CRs, P-ECs and S-ECs. In order to deal with the vagueness, uncertainty and diversity in decision-making, the fuzzy set theory and group decision-making technique are used in the super-matrix approach of ANP. From the requirements of manufacturer, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is applied to adjust the initial weights of ECs taking into account business competition and implementation difficulty. A case study is carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed integrated approach for prioritizing ECs in PSS conceptual design.     

Integrating independent component analysis and support vector machine for multivariate process monitoring

This study aims to develop an intelligent algorithm by integrating the independent component analysis (ICA) and support vector machine (SVM) for monitoring multivariate processes. For developing a successful SVM-based fault detector, the first step is feature extraction. In real industrial processes, process variables are rarely Gaussian distributed. Thus, this study proposes the application of ICA to extract the hidden information of a non-Gaussian process before conducting SVM. The proposed fault detector will be implemented via two simulated processes and a case study of the Tennessee Eastman process. Results demonstrate that the proposed method possesses superior fault detection when compared to conventional monitoring methods, including PCA, ICA, modified ICA, ICA–PCA and PCA–SVM.     

Strategy, networks and systems in the global translation services market

The globalisation of markets has led to an increased demand for language translation services that support and enable communication between economic partners. For example, technical documents, software systems, business documents and web sites all need to be translated into multiple languages for individual national markets, and the information that they contain changes periodically. This paper sets out a theoretical framework that describes the architectures of business processes within and between separate firms that are used to support the delivery and management of services. This is done by coordinating the fit between externally generated problem complexity, from customers, and the internally generated complexity of different potential network configuration solutions. The theoretical framework is an architecture of how complexity is generated and managed at the different structural levels and across the different processual stages of an industry. A case study of thebigword, a major international translation services company, illustrates how the framework is applied in practice. The case study analyses the implementation of an electronic market platform which enables the coordination of the different stakeholders involved in the translation services market. These stakeholders include translators, translation services companies and their clients in a global business network.     

Organic wavelength‐converting‐film‐based hybrid planar white light‐emitting diodes

Abstract— In this study, organic wavelength‐converting films (WCFs) applied to InGaN blue LED‐based hybrid planar WLED has been fabricated. The organic dye layer in the WCF was formed between the upper and bottom polymer sheets by using a simple roll‐laminating technique. Subsequently, the hybrid planar WLEDs have been fabricated based upon these films. The luminous efficiency of green WCF‐based hybrid planar WLEDs with a single blue LED chip was 34.6 lm/W and that of red‐WCF‐assisted green WCF‐based hybrid planar WLEDs was 27.3 lm/W under 20 mA. The use of WCF to fabricate hybrid planar WLEDs showed better stability than that of directly coating organic color‐convergence materials (CCMs) on the LED chips. It only decreased to about 10% of the initial wavelength‐converting intensity after 1 hour of continual operation at 20 mA.     

Laser‐irradiated zinc oxide thin‐film transistors fabricated by solution processing

Abstract— This study investigates the effects of subjecting zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films to laser irradiation. The optical, structural, and electrical properties of the as‐deposited and laser‐irradiated films at different laser energies were studied. The transmittances without/with laser irradiation showed a net increase from 85 to 92% (@550 nm) for 250‐nm ZnO films, indicating an improvement in sample crystal linity. In addition, laser treatment decreased the ZnO band gap. Composition structure analysis shows that the crystallinity increased when the laser energy increased. Thin‐film transistors (TFTs) with a ZnO active layer were fabricated. The mobility of as‐deposited ZnO TFT devices (0.19 cm²/V‐sec) increased more than 2.5 times for ZnO of unirradiated laser treatment (0.49 cm²/V‐sec).     

Innovative product design based on customer requirement weight calculation model

In the processes of product innovation and design, it is important for the designers to find and capture customer's focus through customer requirement weight calculation and ranking. Based on the fuzzy set theory and Euclidean space distance, this paper puts forward a method for customer requirement weight calculation called Euclidean space distances weighting ranking method. This method is used in the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process that satisfies the additive consistent fuzzy matrix. A model for the weight calculation steps is constructed; meanwhile, a product innovation design module on the basis of the customer requirement weight calculation model is developed. Finally, combined with the instance of titanium sponge production, the customer requirement weight calculation model is validated. By the innovation design module, the structure of the titanium sponge reactor has been improved and made innovative.