A comparative study of important risk factors involved in offshore and domestic outsourcing of software development projects: A two-panel Delphi study

We investigated the risk factors of outsourced software development. Our first objective was to create empirically generated lists of risk factors for both domestically- and offshore-outsourced projects. Our second objective was to compare these two contexts: how do the risk factors change and which ones are most important in each. To address these objectives, we conducted two Delphi surveys to identify the important risk factors from a client perspective, in domestic and offshore settings. We qualitatively compared the results of the surveys to identify similarities and differences across their risk profiles. We identified three types of risks: those that appeared in both contexts; those that appeared in both but were exacerbated in the offshore context; and those that were unique to the offshore context. Our findings suggested that traditional project management risks were important in both contexts; however, the offshore context seemed to be more vulnerable to some traditional risks as well as factors that were unique to it.     

Vacuum deposition of chiral sculptured thin films with high optical activity

We present the technique of bideposition to realize thin-film helicoidal bianisotropic mediums (TFHBM's) that exhibit high optical activity. We show, by experiment as well as by simulation, that the optical rotation produced by these chiral sculptured thin films is roughly proportional to the square of the local linear birefringence. Experimental measurements on bideposited TFHBM's of titanium oxide yield a typical value of 5 degrees /mum for the effective specific rotation in the short-wavelength regime; the corresponding value determined for the standard unideposited TFHBM's is 1 degrees /mum. Both types of TFHBM's are highly optically active in comparison with quartz, fluorite films, and cholesteric liquid crystals. Bideposited TFHBM's will lend themselves to many different types of optical devices.     

Thin Film Adhesion: Effect of Glow Discharge on Substrate

Glow discharge treatment of soda lime glass and silica substrates prior to depositing copper films in oil-free ultra high vacuum as well as in conventional vacuum has been found to increase film adhesion suggesting that gross contamination removal is not the only effect of importance in this method of improving film adhesion. There is evidence from Auger electron emission spectroscopy for sorption of gas from the discharge into the substrate surface layers. Desorption of gases from the substrate also appears to take place. A difference in electron emission from a variety of insulating surfaces following glow discharge was observed in a scanning electron microscope, the sign of the change depending on the nature of the discharge gas. No sputtered material from system components could be detected on the substrate and there was no detectable micro-roughening nor net surface electric charge.     

Birefringent omnidirectional reflector

Anisotropic optical coatings offer unique polarizing properties, unmatched by conventional isotropic devices. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of a birefringent omnidirectional reflector, a type of photonic crystal, which exhibits complete reflection of radiation at 1.1 microm for all incidence angles and polarizations. The thin-film device was deposited from electron-beam evaporated silicon, with refractive-index variation arising from atomic-scale porosity created with glancing-angle deposition. Birefringence was found to enhance the performance of the device compared with its isotropic counterpart by enlarging the photonic bandgap region of omnidirectional reflection.     

The metallurgy,mechanics, modelling and assessment of dissimilar material brazed joints

At the heart of any procedure for modelling and assessing the design or failure of dissimilar material brazed joints there must be a basic understanding of the metallurgy and mechanics of the joint. This paper is about developing this understanding and addressing the issues faced with modelling and predicting failure in real dissimilar material brazed joints and the challenges still to be overcome in many cases. An understanding of the key metallurgical features of such joints in relation to finite element modelling is presented in addition to a study of the mechanics and stress state at an abrupt interface between two materials. A discussion is also presented on why elastic singularities do not exist based on a consideration of the assumption of an abrupt change in material properties and plasticity in the vicinity of the joint. In terms of modelling real dissimilar material brazed joints; there are several barriers to accurately capturing the stress state in the region of the joint and across the brazed layer and these are discussed in relation to a metallurgical study of a real dissimilar material brazed joint. However, this does not preclude using a simplified modelling approach with a representative braze layer in design and failure assessment away from the interface. In addition modelling strategies and techniques for assessing the various failure mechanisms of dissimilar material brazed joints are discussed. The findings from this paper are applicable to dissimilar material brazed joints found in a range of applications; however the references listed are primarily focussed on work in fusion research and development.     

Designing intelligent systems to handle system failures: Enhancing explanatory power with less restrictive user interfaces and deep explanations

This research empirically investigates the design choices that can be made to facilitate problem solving when intelligent systems fail. One way is to provide deep explanations, which are explanations that justify system actions. Another way is to manipulate system restrictiveness of the user interface. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of deep explanation support, as well as manipulations of system restrictiveness. Results suggest that the less restrictive system was more effective for problem‐solving situations where system failure occurred. In addition, deep explanations were found to be somewhat helpful in system understanding, and this, in turn, led to improved problem‐solving performance.     

Photocatalytic oxidation of DBP precursors using UV with suspended and fixed TiO2

French River water (Nova Scotia, Canada) was separated into six different natural organic matter (NOM) fractions, including hydrophobic acids, bases and neutrals and hydrophilic acids, bases and neutrals. The raw water, as well as each of the NOM fractions were analysed for disinfection by-product (DBP) formation potential before and after advanced oxidation with UV/TiO₂ to determine the efficacy of this treatment for the removal of DBP precursors. The UV/TiO₂ treatment was carried out with a nanostructured thin film (NSTF), coated with TiO₂ which is compared with the use of a TiO₂ suspension. For the raw river water, removals of total trihalomethane formation potential (TTHMFP) and total haloacetic acid formation potential (THAA₉FP) were found to be approximately 20% and 90%, respectively, with 50 mJ/cm² UV exposure and 1 mg/L TiO₂. For the fractionated samples, approximately 75% of both trihalomethane (THM) and haloacetic acid (HAA) precursors were found to be associated with the hydrophobic acid fraction. For this individual fraction the same UV/TiO₂ treatments exhibited approximately 20-25% removal of both TTHMFP and THAA₉FP, suggesting that the fractionation process may have affected the treatability of HAA precursors or may have altered the results of the oxidation processes.