193,271 research outputs found
Everywhere and nowhere: Nearshore software development in the context of globalisation
Offshore software outsourcing, a major contributor to globally distributed work (GDW), has been identified as one of the most striking manifestations of contemporary globalisation. In particular, offshoring resonates with influential views that suggest that ICTs have rendered location irrelevant. Some research, however, has questioned this “placeless logic” and suggested that location may be significant to the success of offshoring ventures. In this paper, we draw on evidence from two nearshore software development ventures in the Caribbean to identify a number of locational characteristics relating to the physical, economic and cultural setting, local resources and government policy that may be important in influencing the suitability of offshore outsourcing venues. Some of these are recognised, even by companies pursuing placeless location strategies, while others were unanticipated. The cases also suggest that companies may be able to actively shape certain characteristics to their advantage. Implications for vendors and clients of nearshore information services, and potentially also for companies considering offshore ventures in non-traditional locations, are identified
Approximate null distribution of the largest root in multivariate analysis
The greatest root distribution occurs everywhere in classical multivariate
analysis, but even under the null hypothesis the exact distribution has
required extensive tables or special purpose software. We describe a simple
approximation, based on the Tracy--Widom distribution, that in many cases can
be used instead of tables or software, at least for initial screening. The
quality of approximation is studied, and its use illustrated in a variety of
setttings.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-AOAS220 the Annals of
Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Polynomial (chaos) approximation of maximum eigenvalue functions: efficiency and limitations
This paper is concerned with polynomial approximations of the spectral
abscissa function (the supremum of the real parts of the eigenvalues) of a
parameterized eigenvalue problem, which are closely related to polynomial chaos
approximations if the parameters correspond to realizations of random
variables.
Unlike in existing works, we highlight the major role of the smoothness
properties of the spectral abscissa function. Even if the matrices of the
eigenvalue problem are analytic functions of the parameters, the spectral
abscissa function may not be everywhere differentiable, even not everywhere
Lipschitz continuous, which is related to multiple rightmost eigenvalues or
rightmost eigenvalues with multiplicity higher than one.
The presented analysis demonstrates that the smoothness properties heavily
affect the approximation errors of the Galerkin and collocation-based
polynomial approximations, and the numerical errors of the evaluation of
coefficients with integration methods. A documentation of the experiments,
conducted on the benchmark problems through the software Chebfun, is publicly
available.Comment: This is a pre-print of an article published in Numerical Algorithms.
The final authenticated version is available online at:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11075-018-00648-
Using Feature Models for Distributed Deployment in Extended Smart Home Architecture
Nowadays, smart home is extended beyond the house itself to encompass
connected platforms on the Cloud as well as mobile personal devices. This Smart
Home Extended Architecture (SHEA) helps customers to remain in touch with their
home everywhere and any time. The endless increase of connected devices in the
home and outside within the SHEA multiplies the deployment possibilities for
any application. Therefore, SHEA should be taken from now as the actual target
platform for smart home application deployment. Every home is different and
applications offer different services according to customer preferences. To
manage this variability, we extend the feature modeling from software product
line domain with deployment constraints and we present an example of a model
that could address this deployment challenge
The Fraunhofer Quantum Computing Portal - www.qc.fraunhofer.de - A web-based Simulator of Quantum Computing Processes
Fraunhofer FIRST develops a computing service and collaborative workspace
providing a convenient tool for simulation and investigation of quantum
algorithms. To broaden the twenty qubit limit of workstation-based simulations
to the next qubit decade we provide a dedicated high memorized Linux cluster
with fast Myrinet interconnection network together with a adapted parallel
simulator engine. This simulation service supplemented by a collaborative
workspace is usable everywhere via web interface and integrates both hardware
and software as collaboration and investigation platform for the quantum
community. The beta test version realizes all common one, two and three qubit
gates, arbitrary one and two bit gates, orthogonal measurements as well as
special gates like Oracle, Modulo function, Quantum Fourier Transformation and
arbitrary Spin-Hamiltonians up to 31 qubits. For a restricted gate set it
feasible to investigate circuits with up to sixty qubits. URL:
http://www.qc.fraunhofer.d
Blockchain and Smart Contract Engineering
Blockchains help to build trust among a decentralized network of unknown and untrusted peers who need to agree on a common protocol and trust the correctness and compatibility of the corresponding software implementations. The software engineering discipline cannot ignore this trend, as it fundamentally affects the way software is designed, developed, deployed, and delivered.1 As with the emergence of the Internet, software smart contracts for solving new classes of real-world problems, as opposed to introducing blockchains everywhere, where they may be unnecessary, or provide an inefficient and environmentally unsound solution.
Distribution of periodic trajectories of Anosov C-system
The hyperbolic Anosov C-systems have a countable set of everywhere dense
periodic trajectories which have been recently used to generate pseudorandom
numbers. The asymptotic distribution of periodic trajectories of C-systems with
periods less than a given number is well known, but a deviation of this
distribution from its asymptotic behaviour is less known. Using fast
algorithms, we are studying the exact distribution of periodic trajectories and
their deviation from asymptotic behaviour for hyperbolic C-systems which are
defined on high dimensional tori and are used for Monte-Carlo simulations. A
particular C-system which we consider in this article is the one which was
implemented in the MIXMAX generator of pseudorandom numbers. The generator has
the best combination of speed, reasonable size of the state, and availability
for implementing the parallelization and is currently available generator in
the ROOT and CLHEP software packages at CERN.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figure
New Techniques for High-Contrast Imaging with ADI: the ACORNS-ADI SEEDS Data Reduction Pipeline
We describe Algorithms for Calibration, Optimized Registration, and Nulling
the Star in Angular Differential Imaging (ACORNS-ADI), a new, parallelized
software package to reduce high-contrast imaging data, and its application to
data from the SEEDS survey. We implement several new algorithms, including a
method to register saturated images, a trimmed mean for combining an image
sequence that reduces noise by up to ~20%, and a robust and computationally
fast method to compute the sensitivity of a high-contrast observation
everywhere on the field-of-view without introducing artificial sources. We also
include a description of image processing steps to remove electronic artifacts
specific to Hawaii2-RG detectors like the one used for SEEDS, and a detailed
analysis of the Locally Optimized Combination of Images (LOCI) algorithm
commonly used to reduce high-contrast imaging data. ACORNS-ADI is written in
python. It is efficient and open-source, and includes several optional features
which may improve performance on data from other instruments. ACORNS-ADI
requires minimal modification to reduce data from instruments other than
HiCIAO. It is freely available for download at
www.github.com/t-brandt/acorns-adi under a BSD license.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, accepted to ApJ. Replaced with accepted version;
mostly minor changes. Software update
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