Evaluating the Impact of Critical Factors in Agile Continuous Delivery Process: A System Dynamics Approach

Continuous Delivery is aimed at the frequent delivery of good quality software in a speedy, reliable and efficient fashion – with strong emphasis on automation and team collaboration. However, even with this new paradigm, repeatability of project outcome is still not guaranteed: project performance varies due to the various interacting and inter-related factors in the Continuous Delivery 'system'. This paper presents results from the investigation of various factors, in particular agile practices, on the quality of the developed software in the Continuous Delivery process. Results show that customer involvement and the cognitive ability of the QA have the most significant individual effects on the quality of software in continuous delivery

Curbing the HIV Epidemic by Supporting Effective Engagement in HIV Care: Recommendations for Health Plans and Health Care Purchasers

The United States is poised to dramatically reduce the scope of its HIV epidemic, but this demands increased leadership and attention from health plans and health care purchasers (including Medicaid, Medicare, marketplaces, and other private purchasers). This new amfAR report identifies changes in policy and practice in clinics, communities, and health care programs to reduce unnecessary health spending, increase the effectiveness of services, and increase the integration of services. Done right, the same steps that lead to appropriate management of care by health plans and purchasers also will help to achieve national public health goals

European White Book on Real-Time Power Hardware in the Loop Testing : DERlab Report No. R- 005.0

The European White Book on Real-Time-Powerhardware-in-the-Loop testing is intended to serve as a reference document on the future of testing of electrical power equipment, with specifi c focus on the emerging hardware-in-the-loop activities and application thereof within testing facilities and procedures. It will provide an outlook of how this powerful tool can be utilised to support the development, testing and validation of specifi cally DER equipment. It aims to report on international experience gained thus far and provides case studies on developments and specifi c technical issues, such as the hardware/software interface. This white book compliments the already existing series of DERlab European white books, covering topics such as grid-inverters and grid-connected storag

Process of designing robust, dependable, safe and secure software for medical devices: Point of care testing device as a case study

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Copyright © 2013 Sivanesan Tulasidas et al. This paper presents a holistic methodology for the design of medical device software, which encompasses of a new way of eliciting requirements, system design process, security design guideline, cloud architecture design, combinatorial testing process and agile project management. The paper uses point of care diagnostics as a case study where the software and hardware must be robust, reliable to provide accurate diagnosis of diseases. As software and software intensive systems are becoming increasingly complex, the impact of failures can lead to significant property damage, or damage to the environment. Within the medical diagnostic device software domain such failures can result in misdiagnosis leading to clinical complications and in some cases death. Software faults can arise due to the interaction among the software, the hardware, third party software and the operating environment. Unanticipated environmental changes and latent coding errors lead to operation faults despite of the fact that usually a significant effort has been expended in the design, verification and validation of the software system. It is becoming increasingly more apparent that one needs to adopt different approaches, which will guarantee that a complex software system meets all safety, security, and reliability requirements, in addition to complying with standards such as IEC 62304. There are many initiatives taken to develop safety and security critical systems, at different development phases and in different contexts, ranging from infrastructure design to device design. Different approaches are implemented to design error free software for safety critical systems. By adopting the strategies and processes presented in this paper one can overcome the challenges in developing error free software for medical devices (or safety critical systems).Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Revealing the Vicious Circle of Disengaged User Acceptance: A SaaS Provider's Perspective

User acceptance tests (UAT) are an integral part of many different software engineering methodologies. In this paper, we examine the influence of UATs on the relationship between users and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, which are continuously delivered rather than rolled out during a one-off signoff process. Based on an exploratory qualitative field study at a multinational SaaS provider in Denmark, we show that UATs often address the wrong problem in that positive user acceptance may actually indicate a negative user experience. Hence, SaaS providers should be careful not to rest on what we term disengaged user acceptance. Instead, we outline an approach that purposefully queries users for ambivalent emotions that evoke constructive criticism, in order to facilitate a discourse that favors the continuous innovation of a SaaS system. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our approach for the study of user engagement in testing SaaS applications

Reinforcement Learning for Automatic Test Case Prioritization and Selection in Continuous Integration

Testing in Continuous Integration (CI) involves test case prioritization, selection, and execution at each cycle. Selecting the most promising test cases to detect bugs is hard if there are uncertainties on the impact of committed code changes or, if traceability links between code and tests are not available. This paper introduces Retecs, a new method for automatically learning test case selection and prioritization in CI with the goal to minimize the round-trip time between code commits and developer feedback on failed test cases. The Retecs method uses reinforcement learning to select and prioritize test cases according to their duration, previous last execution and failure history. In a constantly changing environment, where new test cases are created and obsolete test cases are deleted, the Retecs method learns to prioritize error-prone test cases higher under guidance of a reward function and by observing previous CI cycles. By applying Retecs on data extracted from three industrial case studies, we show for the first time that reinforcement learning enables fruitful automatic adaptive test case selection and prioritization in CI and regression testing.Comment: Spieker, H., Gotlieb, A., Marijan, D., & Mossige, M. (2017). Reinforcement Learning for Automatic Test Case Prioritization and Selection in Continuous Integration. In Proceedings of 26th International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA'17) (pp. 12--22). AC

The Effects and Differences of Sprint Interval Training, Endurance Training and the Training Types Combined on Physiological Parameters and Exercise Performance

Sprint Interval Training (SIT) is a time efficient way in order to elicit similar changes as Endurance Training (ET) on aerobic capacity, with the purpose of the exercise training to alter physiological systems and exceed resting homeostasis to improve and enhance physical work capacity (Hawley et al., 1997), ultimately achieving the most out of each training session, beneficial for health and performance. Research in the area has demonstrated, the positive effects of SIT and ET on some physiological, performance and health parameters, with further needed to establish these adaptations. Yet no research is currently available combining these two training types, in a single training session to obtained potentially greater benefits over the same period of time. The aim of this study was to compare and contrast the effects of SIT, ET and COMB training modalities on physiological parameters and exercise performance after an 8 week training programme. Twenty nine participants volunteered to take part in the 10 week matched paired study, which included an 8 week training programme (age; 35.1±13.1 years, female; 16). All participants undertook a preliminary VO2max test and baseline measurements were taken. Participants were then matched paired into groups, based on sex, VO2peak (ml/kg/min) and resting heart rate (HR), then randomly assigned into a sprint interval (SIT), endurance (ET), a combined (COMB) sprint interval and endurance group or control group (CON). Participants in the SIT group undertook; 5-8 repetitions of 5-second sprints over the 8 weeks, on a cycle ergometer with intervals of 30 seconds, twice, interspaced with 4 minutes rest (<50rpm) three times per week. Those assigned to the ET group carried out cycling for 40 increasing to 60 minutes over the 8 weeks, at 60% of VO2peak equivalent to 78.5% of maximum HR, three times per week. The COMB group undertook combination of the above two protocols based on the pilot study undertaken. The CON group were not required to undertake any training regime. After 4 week and 8 weeks of the training, all participants were required to undertake a VO2max test and baseline measures were re-recorded. Prior to each VO2max test, capillary blood samples were taken for the colorimetric assessment of cholesterol. Two way factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical analysis with lowest standard deviation (LSD) correction to reduce the type 1 error. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to assess changes within each individual training modality. Results indicate that SIT, ET, COMB and CON groups were not significantly different at baseline in VO2max (p=0.993) and Resting HR (p=0.790) after being match paired into groups by these variables. Significant differences were evident in resting HR between the CON and SIT (p=0.005), CON and ET (p=0.016) as well as CON and COMB (0.026) after the 8 weeks of training. Additionally within the training groups in resting HR; SIT (p=0.006), COMB (p=0.016), ET (p=0.036). Significant differences were seen in relative AT between SIT and CON (p=0.097) after 8 weeks, as well as within the COMB group (p=0.028). Furthermore in diastolic blood pressure after 4 weeks between SIT and COMB (p=0.024), COMB and CON (p=0.029) and after 8 weeks between COMB and ET (p=0.032), COMB and SIT (p=0.033) and COMB and CON (p=0.029). In addition, significance was shown in triglycerides after 8 weeks of training, between ET and CON (p=0.032), SIT and COMB (p=0.025) and COMB and CON (p=0.008) CON. Finally significance was evident in blood glucose between COMB and SIT, halfway (p=0.002) and post training (p=0.019). In terms of age, there was a significant difference in VO2max between those aged 35 years in VO2max after 4 (p=0.022) and 8 weeks (p=0.020) of the training programme. Overall the results indicated that when ET is substituted partly with SIT greater beneficial effects are obtained in numerous variables, demonstrated in this study, which has previously established, SIT is a time efficient training method. Furthermore, a lower duration of sprint i.e. 5 seconds, a more feasible sprint duration, as undertaken in this study provided comparable benefits to previous studies who have adopted longer sprint duration. Finally, these findings on various physiological measures and in a range of ages, indicate that a short time frame or by adopting a combined approach to training, can assist with reducing important health and performance parameters such as blood cholesterol, resting HR, blood pressure and ultimately maximal oxygen consumption and exercise performance, key indicators of cardiorespiratory fitness and health

The Value Driven Pharmacist: Basics of Access, Cost, and Quality 2nd Edition

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/butlerbooks/1017/thumbnail.jp

Increasing confidence and changing behaviors in primary care providers engaged in genetic counselling.

BackgroundScreening and counseling for genetic conditions is an increasingly important part of primary care practice, particularly given the paucity of genetic counselors in the United States. However, primary care physicians (PCPs) often have an inadequate understanding of evidence-based screening; communication approaches that encourage shared decision-making; ethical, legal, and social implication (ELSI) issues related to screening for genetic mutations; and the basics of clinical genetics. This study explored whether an interactive, web-based genetics curriculum directed at PCPs in non-academic primary care settings was superior at changing practice knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors when compared to a traditional educational approach, particularly when discussing common genetic conditions.MethodsOne hundred twenty one PCPs in California and Pennsylvania physician practices were randomized to either an Intervention Group (IG) or Control Group (CG). IG physicians completed a 6 h interactive web-based curriculum covering communication skills, basics of genetic testing, risk assessment, ELSI issues and practice behaviors. CG physicians were provided with a traditional approach to Continuing Medical Education (CME) (clinical review articles) offering equivalent information.ResultsPCPs in the Intervention Group showed greater increases in knowledge compared to the Control Group. Intervention PCPs were also more satisfied with the educational materials, and more confident in their genetics knowledge and skills compared to those receiving traditional CME materials. Intervention PCPs felt that the web-based curriculum covered medical management, genetics, and ELSI issues significantly better than did the Control Group, and in comparison with traditional curricula. The Intervention Group felt the online tools offered several advantages, and engaged in better shared decision making with standardized patients, however, there was no difference in behavior change between groups with regard to increases in ELSI discussions between PCPs and patients.ConclusionWhile our intervention was deemed more enjoyable, demonstrated significant factual learning and retention, and increased shared decision making practices, there were few differences in behavior changes around ELSI discussions. Unfortunately, barriers to implementing behavior change in clinical genetics is not unique to our intervention. Perhaps the missing element is that busy physicians need systems-level support to engage in meaningful discussions around genetics issues. The next step in promoting active engagement between doctors and patients may be to put into place the tools needed for PCPs to easily access the materials they need at the point-of-care to engage in joint discussions around clinical genetics