An Agile Process Model for Product Derivation in Software Product Line Engineering

Software Product Lines (SPL) and Agile practices have emerged as new paradigms for developing software. Both approaches share common goals; such as improving productivity, reducing time to market, decreasing development costs and increasing customer satisfaction. These common goals provide the motivation for this research. We believe that integrating Agile practices into SPL can bring a balance between agility and formalism. However, there has been little research on such integration. We have been researching the potential of integrating Agile approaches in one of the key SPL process areas, product derivation. In this paper we present an outline of our Agile process model for product derivation that was developed through industry based case study research

Proceedings of the ECSCW'95 Workshop on the Role of Version Control in CSCW Applications

The workshop entitled "The Role of Version Control in Computer Supported Cooperative Work Applications" was held on September 10, 1995 in Stockholm, Sweden in conjunction with the ECSCW'95 conference. Version control, the ability to manage relationships between successive instances of artifacts, organize those instances into meaningful structures, and support navigation and other operations on those structures, is an important problem in CSCW applications. It has long been recognized as a critical issue for inherently cooperative tasks such as software engineering, technical documentation, and authoring. The primary challenge for versioning in these areas is to support opportunistic, open-ended design processes requiring the preservation of historical perspectives in the design process, the reuse of previous designs, and the exploitation of alternative designs. The primary goal of this workshop was to bring together a diverse group of individuals interested in examining the role of versioning in Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Participation was encouraged from members of the research community currently investigating the versioning process in CSCW as well as application designers and developers who are familiar with the real-world requirements for versioning in CSCW. Both groups were represented at the workshop resulting in an exchange of ideas and information that helped to familiarize developers with the most recent research results in the area, and to provide researchers with an updated view of the needs and challenges faced by application developers. In preparing for this workshop, the organizers were able to build upon the results of their previous one entitled "The Workshop on Versioning in Hypertext" held in conjunction with the ECHT'94 conference. The following section of this report contains a summary in which the workshop organizers report the major results of the workshop. The summary is followed by a section that contains the position papers that were accepted to the workshop. The position papers provide more detailed information describing recent research efforts of the workshop participants as well as current challenges that are being encountered in the development of CSCW applications. A list of workshop participants is provided at the end of the report. The organizers would like to thank all of the participants for their contributions which were, of course, vital to the success of the workshop. We would also like to thank the ECSCW'95 conference organizers for providing a forum in which this workshop was possible

Modeling biological systems with delays in Bio-PEPA

Delays in biological systems may be used to model events for which the underlying dynamics cannot be precisely observed, or to provide abstraction of some behavior of the system resulting more compact models. In this paper we enrich the stochastic process algebra Bio-PEPA, with the possibility of assigning delays to actions, yielding a new non-Markovian process algebra: Bio-PEPAd. This is a conservative extension meaning that the original syntax of Bio-PEPA is retained and the delay specification which can now be associated with actions may be added to existing Bio-PEPA models. The semantics of the firing of the actions with delays is the delay-as-duration approach, earlier presented in papers on the stochastic simulation of biological systems with delays. These semantics of the algebra are given in the Starting-Terminating style, meaning that the state and the completion of an action are observed as two separate events, as required by delays. Furthermore we outline how to perform stochastic simulation of Bio-PEPAd systems and how to automatically translate a Bio-PEPAd system into a set of Delay Differential Equations, the deterministic framework for modeling of biological systems with delays. We end the paper with two example models of biological systems with delays to illustrate the approach.Comment: In Proceedings MeCBIC 2010, arXiv:1011.005

Measuring Process Modelling Success

Process-modelling has seen widespread acceptance, par ticularly on large IT-enabled Business Process Reengineering projects. It is applied, as a process design and management technique, across all life-cycle phases of a system. While there has been much research on aspects of process-modelling, little attention has focused on post-hoc evaluation of process-modelling success. This paper addresses this gap, and presents a process-modelling success measurement (PMS) framework, which includes the dimensions: process-model quality; model use; user satisfaction; and process modelling impact. Measurement items for each dimension are also suggested

ENGLISH INFLUENCES IN ROMANIAN BUSINESS VOCABULARY

Our language reflects directly and ceaseless all changes that take place in a community, at the economical level, political, administrative, technical or informational. For this reason, our language creates new words with its own resources: derivation, composition, lexical family and borrowing. Usually, a language borrows from that foreign language that produces the innovation in a specific domain. If in the 19th century, the source of Romanian borrowings was literary Latin and neo-Romanics languages, especially French and Italian, and in some domains of techniques Romanian borrowed more from German, nowadays, the principal origin of borrowings is English. As we can easy check up Romanian borrows more words from English especially in domains like informatics, business, management, marketing, but also in fashion, music, showbiz and even in Romanian argotic language. From this point of view, barrowings (or loanwords) are a necessity of a language to cover a notion or concept that didn�t exist before and the Romanian language cannot create a correspondent to cover that meaning. Business language became daily language based on situations which arise daily in ordinary businesses from Monday to Friday. Words like manager, staff, credit card, design, advertising, agreement, show-room had entered in our usual vocabulary. We will analyze the importance of loanwords, their classifications and their correct use in Romanian language.loanwords, Business English, Romanian language, Anglicisation, linguistic globalisation.

How to Estimate Unbiased and Consistent input-output Multipliers on the Basis of use and Make Matrices

In the literature, the construction of technical coefficients is linked to flow data (use and make matrices), but stochastics are imposed on the coefficients when multipliers are calculated, by means of the Leontief inverse. Due the nonlinearity of this operation, the multiplier estimates are biased (it is generally argued that the Leontief inverse underestimates input-output multipliers). By going back to the flow data, this paper provides unbiased and consistent employment and output multipliers estimates for the Andalusian economy. Rectangular use and make matrices are accommodated and technical coefficients, the Leontief inverse, and associated problems (such as negative coefficients) are circumvented.Stochastic input-output analysis, employment multipliers, output multipliers, use and make matrices.

Politikrelevante Nachhaltigkeitsforschung : Anforderungsprofil für Forschungsförderer, Forschende und Praxispartner aus der Politik zur Verbesserung und Sicherung von Forschungsqualität - ein Wegweiser

Research aimed at helping to solve pressing societal problems must meet specific quality requirements: The knowledge it produces must not only be sound but also useable. This is particularly true of research that aims at bringing specific knowledge to bear on policy issues relating to sustainable development. This guide provides detailed actor-specific requirements profiles for this type of “policy relevant sustainability research.” This guide is aimed at research funding agencies and contracting entities, researchers themselves and policymakers1 who participate directly in the research process. It can be used both for cases where the research funding agency/contracting entity and the policymaker are different institutions or where they are identical. However, policy consulting by specialized agencies that do not perform original research is not addressed. The requirements profiles serve two functions. First of all, they should function as a guide for the three stakeholder groups, aiding them in their efforts to increase and ensure the quality of research processes and research outcomes. And, secondly, they should improve the reflexive communication among stakeholders regarding the means and the goals of research... The results presented here are part of a research and development project (Research Code Number: 3711 11 701) funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA). The project was carried out by the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE, project management), the Institute for Ecological Economy Research and the Environmental Policy Research Center for of the Freie Universität Berlin (FFU) (project duration: 09/2011-01/2013). The aim of the project was to develop concepts that can be used to increase the relevance of sustainability research for the design of environmental policy in Germany. In addition to the requirements profiles for a policy relevant sustainability research presented in this guide, recommendations, based on empirical studies, have been developed regarding how the coordination between different government departments with respect to funding such research can be optimized. The project's final report will be available starting March 2013 from the UBA.orschung, die einen unmittelbaren Beitrag zur Lösung drängender gesellschaft-licher Probleme leisten will, muss sich besonderen Qualitätsanforderungen stellen: Sie soll nicht nur gesichertes, sondern auch anwendbares Wissen bereithalten. Dies gilt besonders für Forschung, die darauf zielt, Politik in Fragen nachhaltiger Ent-wicklung mit spezifischem Wissen zu unterstützen. Für diesen Typ einer „politik-relevanten Nachhaltigkeitsforschung“ präsentiert der vorliegende Wegweiser ein detailliertes Anforderungsprofil. Der Wegweiser richtet sich an Förderer oder Auftraggeber einer solchen Forschung, an die Forschenden selbst und an Akteure aus der Politik1, die sich direkt an For-schungsprozessen beteiligen. Er kann dabei sowohl für den Fall genutzt werden, dass Forschungsförderer oder Auftraggeber und politische Praxispartner verschie-dene Institutionen sind, als auch für den Fall, dass sie identisch sind. Politische Beratung durch spezialisierte Agenturen, die keine eigene Forschung leisten, wird dagegen nicht adressiert. Die im Detail ausgearbeiteten Anforderungen haben zwei Funktionen. Sie sollen zum einen den drei genannten Akteursgruppen als Orientierung dienen, wie sie dazu beitragen können, die Qualität von Forschungsprozessen und Forschungs-ergebnissen zu erhöhen und zu sichern. Zum anderen sollen sie die reflexive Kommunikation zwischen den Akteuren über Mittel und Zwecke der Forschung verbessern.... Die hier vorgestellten Ergebnisse wurden im Rahmen eines vom Bundesministe-rium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit (BMU) und dem Umwelt-bundesamt (UBA) finanzierten Forschungs- und Entwicklungsvorhabens erarbeitet (Forschungskennzahl 3711 11 701). Das Vorhaben wurde vom Institut für sozial-ökologische Forschung (ISOE, Vorhabenleitung), dem Institut für ökologische Wirt-schaftsforschung (IÖW) und dem Forschungszentrum für Umweltpolitik der Freien Universität Berlin (FFU) durchgeführt (Laufzeit: 09/2011–01/2013). Ziel des Vorhabens war es, Konzepte zu entwickeln, mit deren Hilfe die Relevanz der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung für die Gestaltung von Umweltpolitik in Deutschland erhöht werden kann. Neben dem hier vorgestellten Anforderungsprofil für eine politikrelevante Nachhaltigkeitsforschung wurden auf Basis empirischer Erhebun-gen auch Empfehlungen erarbeitet, wie die Abstimmung zwischen verschiedenen Bundesressorts bei der Förderung von Nachhaltigkeitsforschung optimiert werden kann. Der Abschlussbericht des Vorhabens kann ab März 2013 über das UBA bezo-gen werden

Thinking about Big Floods in a Small Country - Dutch Modelling Exercises

In this contribution we discuss new developments in Dutch thinking about the increasing risk of big floods. A first issue concerns the choice of methodology. Today several ones exist to assess the consequences of big natural catastrophes. These methodologies differ significantly in background philosophy, objective or scope. In the U.S., for example, several market-based approaches have been presented recently, focusing on short run disequilibria. Certain preferences seem to exist, depending on country and type of catastrophe we wish to study. Nonetheless, by and large the debate is still open, depending on what the country or region views as its major problem. It is questionable whether market-based approaches are fruitful for a small country with a large state influence, such as the Netherlands. Probably it is better to start from the notion of specific types of network disruptions in a highly developed and densely populated country. In this paper, we focus on the interdependencies between production and consumption activities. This leads to an investigation based on Input-Output (I-O) methodologies. A big flood then causes a series of disruptions in the existing production and consumption networks. Our paper addresses the point that I-O as it stands is not very appropriate. The basic problem is that I-O models stress interaction and equilibrium, while here we have to deal with disruption and disequilibrium. In our contribution, we model the consequences of a disaster where a part of the existing economic networks fails temporarily or forever. Several situations can be distinguished: after the disaster, many suppliers will have lost their customers. Vice versa, it also may be impossible to satisfy existing demand because the supplying firms cannot deliver any more. This means that the economy suddenly has to decide on the way its now restricted resources should be distributed. In fact, a major decision is asked for. Economic policy needs to steer the distribution of the available goods in intelligent ways between various categories of buyers and suppliers. In a pure market economy decisions made most likely will be different from those made in a heavily regulated country like the Netherlands. Our research is based on the basic hypothesis underlying I-O models, i.e. the need to distinguish between two major categories of destination, ‘final consumption’ (such as households, investment demand, government demands, exports), and ‘intermediate demand’ (basically all inputs into the industrial core of the country). Outcomes will be different according to the choices being made. One reason is the presence of multiplier effects, which reflect current interactions. A choice in favour of final demand will alleviate problems of the affected groups, but at the same time will increase inter-industry imbalances, and imply a heavy role for supporting import. The choice is not straightforward, and involves complex interrelations and interactions. In this paper we use regional I-O tables in combination with GIS-based techniques. In the empirical part of the paper we discuss the consequences of a large dike break in the central part of the country.

The Effects of Economic Crisis on the Global Travel Management Companies

The worldwide economic crisis has strong effect on Romania, which has a developed market economy, but an economy based on consumption and credit. What can we expect from the tour can not meet anyone. The rich suffer less, unfortunately there are the vast majority of the population affected by the economic crisis, which will bear its costs: unemployment - due to bankruptcies in the private sector, leaving investors to other countries etc. In this paper I have proposed to address new dimensions of management in the economic crisis at the strategic and tactical levels, and in particular at the operational level. I have presented aspects of the economic crisis in our country, by characterize the impact of crisis on the main sectors of national economy.crisis economic, globalization, business travel

The Use of a Mock Environment Summit to Support Learning about Global Climate Change

NOTE: This is a large file, 26.6 mb in size! This article advocates the use of a Learner-Centered Environment (LCE) to teach Earth System Science. In this instance, LCE takes the form of a mock environmental summit in which students play the roles of country representatives and participate in activities such as writings, class discussions, presentations and negotiations. Rubrics developed for each activity are used both to assess student learning and to communicate feedback to students about their work. The study suggests that the adoption of an LCE enhanced student learning of content and critical skills. The frequent student presentations were found to play a major role in student learning. The rubrics served as scaffolding for knowledge construction, helped students to self-assess and maintain their quality of work, and allowed instructors to provide quick and efficient feedback. The development of basic learner-centered tools and teaching practices will help Earth System Science instructors provide learning environments most suitable for their discipline. Educational levels: Graduate or professional