Warnings:Violation symptoms indicating architecture erosion

As a software system evolves, its architecture tends to degrade, and gradually impedes software maintenance and evolution activities and negatively impacts the quality attributes of the system. The main root cause behind architecture erosion phenomenon derives from violation symptoms (i.e., various architecturally-relevant violations, such as violations of architecture pattern). Previous studies focus on detecting violations in software systems using architecture conformance checking approaches. However, code review comments are also rich sources that may contain extensive discussions regarding architecture violations, while there is a limited understanding of violation symptoms from the viewpoint of developers

Creating social value at the bottom of the pyramid:Elaborating resource orchestration via social intermediaries

Overcoming constrained resources and enabling social, environmental, and economic value creation for stakeholders remains a managerial challenge. Small enterprises in the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) context offer an opportunity to extract insights into orchestration of resources amidst such challenges. Extensive qualitative data collected via text analysis, field visits, and expert interviews with two social intermediaries and managers of eleven small enterprises operating in BoP markets were analyzed to understand how small enterprises engage with stakeholders to structure, bundle, and leverage resources, as well as how they address environmental contingencies and social challenges in poverty settings. The findings highlight that companies must move beyond an economic resource focus and engage a diverse stakeholder network, leveraging social intermediaries for resource orchestration throughout lifecycle stages. The emergent framework elaborates on Resource Orchestration Theory (ROT), with propositions related to resource management mechanisms, capabilities offered by social intermediaries, and contingencies for social value creation

Light-driven eco-evolutionary dynamics in a synthetic replicator system

Darwinian evolution involves the inheritance and selection of variations in reproducing entities. Selection can be based on, among others, interactions with the environment. Conversely, the replicating entities can also affect their environment generating a reciprocal feedback on evolutionary dynamics. The onset of such eco-evolutionary dynamics marks a stepping stone in the transition from chemistry to biology. Yet the bottom-up creation of a molecular system that exhibits eco-evolutionary dynamics has remained elusive. Here we describe the onset of such dynamics in a minimal system containing two synthetic self-replicators. The replicators are capable of binding and activating a co-factor, enabling them to change the oxidation state of their environment through photoredox catalysis. The replicator distribution adapts to this change and, depending on light intensity, one or the other replicator becomes dominant. This study shows how behaviour analogous to eco-evolutionary dynamics-which until now has been restricted to biology-can be created using an artificial minimal replicator system.</p

E. E. Constance Jones and the Law of Significant Assertion

E. E. C. Jones (1848–1922), a Cambridge logician and Mistress of Girton College, is especially known for her Law of Significant Assertion, with which she tries to escape Hermann Lotze’s skepticism about categorical propositions. Her first formulation of it dates from 1890, and several philosophers have pointed out the similarities with Gottlob Frege’s use of Sinn and Bedeutung in 1891 and 1892. We argue that there are also important differences from Frege’s approach, and that Jones’s discovery relies on the traditional distinction between extension and intension. Although Bertrand Russell did not think highly of Jones’s views, he seems to have felt the pressure to discuss them in his paper “Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description” of 1911, where his criticism resembles the way he criticized Frege in “On Denoting” of 1905. We surmise that Russell’s argument against Jones may be questionable, since it is based on an assumption that Frege makes, but that Jones rejects

Integrating Smart Manufacturing to Lean:A Multiple-Case Study of the Impact on Shop-Floor Employees’ Autonomy and Empowerment

This study investigates the effects of Smart manufacturing implementation on shop-floor employees’ autonomy and empowerment in Lean companies, an area that has largely remained unexplored in the existing literature. A theoretical framework based on the Job Characteristics Model is used to assess the impact of ‘soft’ Lean practices, such as teamwork and group problem-solving, on employees’ job perceptions. The framework is then used to assess the effects of Smart manufacturing adoption, in terms of changes in shop floor employees’ perceptions. To this aim, a multiple case-study methodology is employed, collecting data from four large manufacturing companies with established Lean systems and varying degrees of Smart manufacturing adoption, as well as a consultant company specializing in their integration. This study’s findings show that Smart manufacturing supports job rotation in the shop-floor. In relation to employees’ autonomy, it supports faster and more informed decisions, as well as (Lean) practices related to employee controls, with no significant alteration of problem-solving. The speed of process feedback has increased with the use of Smart Manufacturing technologies, while other forms of feedback appear to be unaffected at this time, such as in-person coaching and person-to-person feedback. Overall, these findings support that many of the “soft” Lean practices are maintained when adopting Smart manufacturing, which the latter being adapted to support the existing Lean systems. By showcasing the effects of Smart manufacturing on shop-floor employees’ work, our insights provide valuable information for practitioners who are considering implementing Smart manufacturing in their organizations

Heterogeneous nitration of nitrobenzene in microreactors: Process optimization and modelling

Aromatic nitration with mixed acid is an important step in the industrial synthesis of basic industrial chemicals, while the highly exothermic and heterogeneous nature of the reaction renders difficulties in achieving high safety and efficiency. In this work, a continuous flow microreactor system was developed for the nitration of nitrobenzene. Under the premise of high conversion and selectivity, the reaction time and temperature were reduced from more than 2 h and 80 ℃ in industrial operation to 10 min and 65 ℃ in microreactors, respectively. The reaction mechanism was verified that the reaction took place not only in the bulk aqueous phase but also at the phase interface. The kinetic parameters were then determined based on the assumption of pseudo-homogeneous reaction mixture. These findings may shed important insights into the high degree of controllability of nitration for a better process design and reactor optimization