1,182 research outputs found
A FRAMEWORK FOR SOFTWARE RELIABILITY MANAGEMENT BASED ON THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROFILE MODEL
Recent empirical studies of software have shown a strong correlation between change history of files and their fault-proneness. Statistical data analysis techniques, such as regression analysis, have been applied to validate this finding. While these regression-based models show a correlation between selected software attributes and defect-proneness, in most cases, they are inadequate in terms of demonstrating causality. For this reason, we introduce the Software Development Profile Model (SDPM) as a causal model for identifying defect-prone software artifacts based on their change history and software development activities. The SDPM is based on the assumption that human error during software development is the sole cause for defects leading to software failures. The SDPM assumes that when a software construct is touched, it has a chance to become defective. Software development activities such as inspection, testing, and rework further affect the remaining number of software defects. Under this assumption, the SDPM estimates the defect content of software artifacts based on software change history and software development activities. SDPM is an improvement over existing defect estimation models because it not only uses evidence from current project to estimate defect content, it also allows software managers to manage software projects quantitatively by making risk informed decisions early in software development life cycle. We apply the SDPM in several real life software development projects, showing how it is used and analyzing its accuracy in predicting defect-prone files and compare the results with the Poisson regression model
Hotel service recovery and service quality: Influences of corporate image and generational differences in the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty
As the number of tourists continues to grow globally, the hospitality industry players inevitably face more challenges. High competition among the competitors and the emergence of new technologies such as online booking platforms make the competition more intense among players in the hospitality sector. The quality of services provided is undoubtedly crucial to the success of the hotel. Hence, any service failure has to be addressed appropriately in order to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction and to keep the image of the hotel intact. It is therefore vital that service recovery programs are carefully planned to meet various types of service failures which may inevitably occur. In this study, questionnaires were distributed to customers who had experienced service failures. The aim was to investigate the influence of service quality and service recovery on satisfaction and, ultimately, the effect on customer loyalty. The research also tested the mediating effect of corporate image between the relationship of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The findings showed that both service recovery and service quality had a significant impact on customer satisfaction. Similarly, it was found that customer satisfaction induced customer loyalty towards the hotel operator. The result also showed that corporate image mediated partially between the relationship of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty
Report of the 11th Liaison Meeting
The 11thLiaison Meeting between the Chairs of the RCMs, the ICES PGCCDBS,
PGMED and PGECON, the STECF EWGs on the DCF, the Regional Database Steering
Committees, the ICES and GFCM representatives and the European Commission was
held at the DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Brussels from 8th to 9th October 2014. The 11th Liaison meeting was held in Brussels on 8th and 9th October 2014 to address the
following terms of reference:
TOR 1. Discussion on possible follow-‐‑up to the main outputs/recommendations of:
• The 2014 RCMs and to the sp ecific re commenda tions a ddr e sse d to th e Liaison
Meeting
• P G ECO N , PG CCDBS, PG Med – ou tcome s an d r e commendation s fr om the ir
2014 meeting
• STECF EWG and STEC F Plen ary -‐‑ ou tcome s a n d r e commendation s fr om the ir
2014 meeting
• Data end-‐‑ users (IC ES, G F C M, RC Ms)
TOR 2. Compilation of recommendations on the DCF
A compilation of DCF recommendations will be established by the COM by end 2014.
LM needs to agree on which recommendations should be included (i.e. from which
bodies) & covering which years.
TOR 3. Regional cooperation
• G r ants for str eng thene d reg ion al coop eration
• R e g ional da ta b ases
o O ver view of use of the Reg ional Datab ases for R CMs in 2014, and p rob lems
identified
o O ther deve lop ments (RDB training s in 2014, RDB Med&BS develop ment)
o Chang es for the fu tu re – an y re commen da tions from th e LM?
• R C M data calls – ove rview of h ow MS r esp onde d.
TOR 4. Recommended meetings/workshops
• P r ep a r e a list of r ecommen ded me etin g s for 2015 as g u idance for MS
TOR 5. Studies
• O ver view of p rocess
• LM comme nts and p r ioritization of studies p r op osed b y RC Ms, PG ECO N , ICES,
GFCM
TOR 6. AOB
1. The DCF website has been revamped by the JRC. Any comments on this?
2. Access to the RCM SharePoint
3. Derogations – List of derogations by Member State has been prepared by DG
MARE. Have any RCMs updated this?
4. ICES will provide an update on their plans to re-‐‑evaluate surveys. Should this
be followed by STECF work on surveys to be included in future EU MAP?
5. Annual reports – simplification: presentation of process. 6. Data transmission:
a. new platform for information exchanges between COM, MS and end-‐‑
users
b. new tool for reporting on how MS complied with the DG MARE/JRC
data calls
In addition to the above Terms of Reference, an item was added at the start of the
meeting, regarding the implication of the Landing Obligation on data collection and
the Discard Plans.
Investigating the Epidemiology of bovine Tuberculosis in the European Badger
Global health is becoming increasingly reliant on our understanding and management of wildlife disease. An estimated 60% of emerging infectious diseases in humans are zoonotic and with human-wildlife interactions set to increase as populations rise and we expand further into wild habitats there is pressure to seek modelling frameworks that enable a deeper understanding of natural systems.
Survival and mortality are fundamental parameters of interest when investigating the impact of disease with far reaching implications for species conservation, management and control. Survival analysis has traditionally been dominated by non- and semi-parametric methods but these can sometimes miss subtle yet important dynamics. Survival and mortality trajectory analysis can alleviate some of these problems by fitting fully parametric functions that describe lifespan patterns of mortality and survival. In the first part of this thesis we investigate the use of survival and mortality trajectories in epidemiology and uncover novel patterns of age-, sex- and infection-specific mortality in a wild population of European badgers (Meles meles) naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Limitations of dedicated software packages to conduct such analyses led us to investigate alternative methods to build models from first principles and we found the NIMBLE package to offer an attractive blend of flexibility and speed. We create a novel parameterisation of the Siler model to enable more flexible model specification but encounter the common problem of competing models having comparable fits to the data. Multi-model inference approaches can alleviate some of these issues but require efficient methods to carry out model comparisons; we present an approach based on the estimation of the marginal likelihood through importance sampling and demonstrate its application through a series of simulation- and case-studies. The approach works well for both census and capture-mark-recapture (CMR) data, both of which are common within ecological research, but we uncover challenges in recording and modelling early life mortality dynamics that occur as a result of the CMR sampling process. The final part of the thesis looks at another alternative approach for model comparison that doesn’t require direct estimation of the marginal likelihood, Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC), which is particularly efficient when models to be compared are nested and the problem can reduce to one of variable selection. In the final chapter we carry out an investigation of age-, sex-, infection- and inbreeding-specific variation in survival and mortality in a wild population of European badgers naturally infected with bovine Tuberculosis. Using the methods and knowledge presented through the earlier chapters of this thesis we uncover patterns of mortality consistent with both the mutation accumulation and antagonistic pleiotropy theories of senescence but most interestingly uncover antagonistic pleiotropic effects of inbreeding on age-specific mortality in a wild population for the first time.
This thesis provides a number of straightforward approaches to Bayesian survival analysis that are widely applicable to ecological research and can offer greater insight and uncover subtle patterns of survival and mortality that traditional methods can overlook. Our investigation into the epidemiology of bovine Tuberculosis and in particular the effects of inbreeding have far-reaching implications for the control of this disease. This research can also inform future conservation efforts and management strategies as all species are likely to be at increasing risk of inbreeding in an age of dramatic global change, rapid habitat loss and isolation
Proceedings of the 19th Annual Software Engineering Workshop
The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of applications software. The goals of the SEL are: (1) to understand the software development process in the GSFC environment; (2) to measure the effects of various methodologies, tools, and models on this process; and (3) to identify and then to apply successful development practices. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that include this document
Dijk, J.J.M. van (2015), Estimating human trafficking worldwide: a multi-mode strategy.
In this article, the author presents the results of an in-depth analysis of the production of statistics by Eurostat on formally identified victims of trafficking in human beings in Europe. He concludes that the concept of an identified victim of trafficking in human beings has different meanings in different European Union member States and that the identification process is organized differently as well. On the basis of those regional results, he argues that statistics on the number of recorded victims of human trafficking cannot be used as a reliable measurement of the extent of trafficking in human beings in a country, neither in the European Union nor elsewhere. As follow-up to this critical assessment, the author argues in favour of a worldwide programme for the collection of survey-based estimates of human trafficking and, to that end, presents a methodological strategy combining various modes of data collection. Keynotes: identification of victims of trafficking in human beings, Eurostat, cross-country differences, dark number studies, multi-mode strategies
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Assessing the global conservation status of ecologically poorly undertood, threatened chelonian species : the case of the critically endangered Madagascar spider tortoise (<i>Pyxis arachnoides</i>)
The IUCN Red List for Threaten Species is widely regarded as the authority for assessing a particular species conservation risk. However, this process has come under some criticism for designating species as high conservation risk on a precautionary principle, using limited data, grey literature or anecdotal information. The Madagascar spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) is one such species, up-listed from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered status, based on data of limited spatial resolution and anecdotal information, suggesting risk from poaching and habitat loss, resulting in significant reduction in population size, thus allowing the criteria of Critically Endangered to be met (A4cd; E). This study assesses these risks to the species at a range wide level, using presence/absence surveying and incorporating data into a geographical information system to describe distribution contraction within differing areas of land use. This was coupled with a line transect distance sampling procedure to assess real time population size within the current area of occupancy. A Mark-Capture-Recapture, Cormack-Jolly-Seber model and a stage class, projection matrix was developed to model mean annual survival, finite growth rate and population survival. Finally, remotely sensed habitat loss was monitored within the core of the species range. These data suggest that the species has suffered a reduction of 70. 8% from suspected historical extent of occurrence to the current area of occupancy, now inhabiting a total area of 2,463.8 km2, with 73.5% of the current distribution occurring within existing or proposed protected areas. Range wide population density equals 226.9 (95% Cl 168.1-306.3) tortoises km-2, with a total global population estimate of 664,980 (95% Cl. 492,680-897,550). Adult mean annual survival is 0.82 (SE± 0.15), however juvenile survival cannot be modelled due to low recapture. There is an actual mean population decline of 1 0.8%, coupled with mean forest loss of 1.2% yr-1 (2003-2011), within the core of the range. The projection matrix model reveals finite population growth to be λ=0.983, indicative of a c. 1.4% decline annually, with adult survival the most sensitive parmeter to population survival. 'Projection modelling suggests the species will probably become ecologically non-viable in approximately 170 years. Results confirm the species IUCN Critically Endangered status. Development programs 'and tighter protected area management are required to address the poverty induced drivers threatening this species. This assessment provides an ideal model for similar dry forest tortoise species suffering status data deficiency. The author proposes a temporary five year condition to be placed on the designation of species considered to be of high conservation concern, similar to this species, up-listed on the Red List using anecdotal information or grey literature, whilst funds are secured and empirical peer reviewed data is obtained to confirm the status in the wild
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