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

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