Repository-Based Software Engineering Program: Working Program Management Plan

Repository-Based Software Engineering Program (RBSE) is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sponsored program dedicated to introducing and supporting common, effective approaches to software engineering practices. The process of conceiving, designing, building, and maintaining software systems by using existing software assets that are stored in a specialized operational reuse library or repository, accessible to system designers, is the foundation of the program. In addition to operating a software repository, RBSE promotes (1) software engineering technology transfer, (2) academic and instructional support of reuse programs, (3) the use of common software engineering standards and practices, (4) software reuse technology research, and (5) interoperability between reuse libraries. This Program Management Plan (PMP) is intended to communicate program goals and objectives, describe major work areas, and define a management report and control process. This process will assist the Program Manager, University of Houston at Clear Lake (UHCL) in tracking work progress and describing major program activities to NASA management. The goal of this PMP is to make managing the RBSE program a relatively easy process that improves the work of all team members. The PMP describes work areas addressed and work efforts being accomplished by the program; however, it is not intended as a complete description of the program. Its focus is on providing management tools and management processes for monitoring, evaluating, and administering the program; and it includes schedules for charting milestones and deliveries of program products. The PMP was developed by soliciting and obtaining guidance from appropriate program participants, analyzing program management guidance, and reviewing related program management documents

Connecting remote systems for demonstration of automation technologies

An initial estimate of the communications requirements of the Systems Autonomy Demonstration Project (SADP) development and demonstration environments is presented. A proposed network paradigm is developed, and options for network topologies are explored

Television Dramas Standard in Pakistan

Pakistan television drama acknowledge by their innovation in past. When our drama telecast during golden age of PTV, roads would become empty. Time slot of 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm was prime time in every family. Things vicissitudes suddenly after influx of private channels and production of television dramas has negotiated the quality which was seen in dramas during the PTV era. After arrival of private TV drama channels needless serials on air on our TV screens. Nowadays if we calculate the dramas we all would soon over count the drams. But such extravagance of anything is bad in drama industry it came at price of declining standards of TV drama. The paper reviews how to bring quality back in Pakistani Dramas and what are the key factors to gain such popularity that PTV dramas used to have. This research paper is prepared on the basis of information and data acquired through meetings and interviews with several well known personalities of drama industry.</p

Workplace screening programs for chronic disease prevention: a rapid review

This review examined the effectiveness of workplace screening programs for chronic disease prevention based on evidence retrieved from the main databases of biomedical and health economic literature published to March 2012, supplemented with relevant reports. The review found: 1. Strong evidence of effectiveness of HRAs (when used in combination with other interventions) in relation to tobacco use, alcohol use, dietary fat intake, blood pressure and cholesterol 2. Sufficient evidence for effectiveness of worksite programs to control overweight and obesity 3. Sufficient evidence of effectiveness for workplace HRAs in combination with additional interventions to have favourable impact on the use of healthcare services (such as reductions in emergency department visits, outpatient visits, and inpatient hospital days over the longer term) 4. Sufficient evidence for effectiveness of benefits-linked financial incentives in increasing HRA and program participation 5. Sufficient evidence that for every dollar invested in these programs an annual gain of $3.20 (range$1.40 to $4.60) can be achieved 6. Promising evidence that even higher returns on investment can be achieved in programs incorporating newer technologies such as telephone coaching of high risk individuals and benefits-linked financial incentive

Two- and Three-dimensional High Performance, Patterned Overlay Multi-chip Module Technology

A two- and three-dimensional multi-chip module technology was developed in response to the continuum in demand for increased performance in electronic systems, as well as the desire to reduce the size, weight, and power of space systems. Though developed to satisfy the needs of military programs, such as the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, the technology, referred to as High Density Interconnect, can also be advantageously exploited for a wide variety of commercial applications, ranging from computer workstations to instrumentation and microwave telecommunications. The robustness of the technology, as well as its high performance, make this generality in application possible. More encouraging is the possibility of this technology for achieving low cost through high volume usage

A system for improving the quality of real-time services on the internet

Real-time Internet services are becoming more popular every day, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is arguably the most popular of these, despite the quality and reliability problems that are so characteristic of VOIP. This thesis proposes to apply a routing technique called Fully Redundant Dispersity Routing to VOIP and shows how this mitigates these problems to deliver a premium service that is more equal to traditional telephony than VOIP is currently.Fully Redundant Dispersity Routing uses the path diversity readily available in the Internet to route complete copies of the data to be communicated over multiple paths. This allows the effect of a failure on a path to be reduced, and possibly even masked completely, by the other paths. Significantly, rather than expecting changes of the Internet that will improve real-time service quality, this approach simply changes the manner in which real-time services use the Internet, leaving the Internet itself to stay the way it is.First, real VOIP traffic in a commercial call centre is measured (1) to establish a baseline of current quality characteristics against which the effects of Fully Redundant Dispersity Routing may be measured, and (2) as a source of realistic path characteristics. Simulations of various Fully Redundant Dispersity Routing systems that adopt the measured VOIP traffic characteristics then (1) show how this routing technique mitigates quality and reliability problems, and (2) quantify the quality deliverable with the VOIP traffic characteristics measured. For example, quantifying quality as a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) estimated from the measurements with the International Telecommunication Union’s E-model, slightly more than 1 in every 23 of the VOIP telephone calls measured in the call centre is likely to be perceived to be of a quality with which humans would be less than very satisfied. Simulations carried out for this thesis show that using just two paths adopting the same measurements, Fully Redundant Dispersity Routing may increase quality to reduce that proportion to slightly less than 1 in every 10 000 VOIP telephone calls

Space orbits of collaboration

The U.S.S.R. cooperative space efforts with other Socialist countries dating back to 1957 are reviewed. The Interkosmos program, which is divided into three series of satellites (solar, ionospheric and magnetospheric), is discussed as well as the Prognoz, Kosmos, Soyuz, and Molniya spacecraft. Collaboration with France, India, Sweden, and the United States is mentioned

Location of community pharmacies and prevalence of oral conditions in the Western Cape Province

Community pharmacists are approached regularly for oral health advice; most commonly for ulcers which could be indicative of oral cancer, HIV, and various systemic diseases. Community pharmacists should know how to manage these conditions yet they have very limited training to manage these conditions appropriately. The area location and socioeconomic status (SES) of the pharmacy should be considered as it may influence patient management. A study of this nature has not yet been conducted in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. To determine the prevalence and frequency of oral complaints at community pharmacies and if these parameters differ by metropolitan location and SES. A cross-sectional survey of 162 randomlyselected private sector pharmacies was conducted. The sample (n = 121) was stratified by SES and metropolitan location. An open-ended structured questionnaire was faxed to pharmacists. A telephonic interview was conducted a day later. Community pharmacists were asked about the frequency and type of oral health problems they encountered. Most pharmacists (91%) dealt with oral health problems frequently, most commonly for ulcers (55.8%), thrush (49.2%), and toothache (33.3%). The results did not differ by metropolitan location and SES (Chi-squared, Fisher’s Exact, p > 0.05), with the exception of toothache and mouth sores. Community pharmacists are an important part of an interdisciplinary team, and play a definite role in the early detection of oral health conditions, namely, caries, HIV and oral cancer. Training on common oral health conditions should be included in undergraduate pharmacy curricula and continuous professional development courses.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Non-Special Loudspeakers as Speech Test Sources in Natural Acoustics Speech Intelligibility Investigations

Objective speech intelligibility estimations undertaken in natural acoustics speech communications (NAS) scenarios require the utilization of a speech source that approximates the acoustic characteristics of a human talker. Only a limited number of special speech sources that conform to the specifications in the relevant guidelines are available in the market; however, they can be deemed expensive by professional practitioners and other users. Non-special and affordable loudspeakers are often used in NAS investigations in place of standardized special speech sources without the knowledge of their suitability and results validity. This study aims to examine the suitability of a range of representative common and affordable non-special loudspeakers as a potential alternative to standardized speech sources in NAS indicative or pilot investigations. Frequency response and Speech Transmission Index Public Address (STIPA) experimental results obtained from a reference standardized speech source were compared against results from various non-special loudspeakers measured utilizing diverse and real-world representative combinations of NAS acoustic conditions under controlled laboratory conditions. STIPA mean absolute errors for the alternative speech sources were generally lower than the STIPA method uncertainty and one Just Noticeable Difference (0.03 STI). The findings of this study will inform practitioners of the suitability of affordable loudspeakers when standardized special test loudspeakers are not availabl