Managers Handbook for Software Development

Methods and aids for the management of software development projects are presented. The recommendations are based on analyses and experiences with flight dynamics software development. The management aspects of organizing the project, producing a development plan, estimation costs, scheduling, staffing, preparing deliverable documents, using management tools, monitoring the project, conducting reviews, auditing, testing, and certifying are described

Measuring software technology

Results are reported from a series of investigations into the effectiveness of various methods and tools used in a software production environment. The basis for the analysis is a project data base, built through extensive data collection and process instrumentation. The project profiles become an organizational memory, serving as a reference point for an active program of measurement and experimentation on software technology

Hardy type spaces on certain noncompact manifolds and applications

In this paper we consider a complete connected noncompact Riemannian manifold M with Ricci curvature bounded from below, positive injectivity radius and spectral gap b. We introduce a sequence X^1(M), X^2(M), ... of new Hardy spaces on M, the sequence Y^1(M/, Y^2(M), ... of their dual spaces, and show that these spaces may be used to obtain endpoint estimates for purely imaginary powers of the Laplace-Beltrami operator and for more general spectral multipliers associated to the Laplace--Beltrami operator L on M. Under the additional condition that the volume of the geodesic balls of radius r is controlled by C r^a e^{2\sqrt{b} r} for some real number a and for all large r, we prove also an endpoint result for first order Riesz transforms D L^{-1/2}. In particular, these results apply to Riemannian symmetric spaces of the noncompact type.Comment: 27 pages, v2: the first version has been revised and rearranged, with additions, in two papers, of which this new version is the first. The second paper is posted as arXiv:1002.1161v

High reflectivity grating waveguide coatings for 1064nm

We propose thin single-layer grating waveguide structures to be used as high-reflectivity, but low thermal noise, alternative to conventional coatings for gravitational wave detector test mass mirrors. Grating waveguide (GWG) coatings can show a reflectivity of up to 100% with an overall thickness of less than a wavelength. We theoretically investigate GWG coatings for 1064nm based on tantala (Ta2O5) on a Silica substrate focussing on broad spectral response and low thickness

A staged screening of registered drugs highlights remyelinating drug candidates for clinical trials

There is no treatment for the myelin loss in multiple sclerosis, ultimately resulting in the axonal degeneration that leads to the progressive phase of the disease. We established a multi-tiered platform for the sequential screening of drugs that could be repurposed as remyelinating agents. We screened a library of 2,000 compounds (mainly Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved compounds and natural products) for cellular metabolic activity on mouse oligodendrocyte precursors (OPC), identifying 42 molecules with significant stimulating effects. We then characterized the effects of these compounds on OPC proliferation and differentiation in mouse glial cultures, and on myelination and remyelination in organotypic cultures. Three molecules, edaravone, 5-methyl-7-methoxyisoflavone and lovastatin, gave positive results in all screening tiers. We validated the results by retesting independent stocks of the compounds, analyzing their purity, and performing dose-response curves. To identify the chemical features that may be modified to enhance the compounds' activity, we tested chemical analogs and identified, for edaravone, the functional groups that may be essential for its activity. Among the selected remyelinating candidates, edaravone appears to be of strong interest, also considering that this drug has been approved as a neuroprotective agent for acute ischemic stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Japan

Markov bases and subbases for bounded contingency tables

In this paper we study the computation of Markov bases for contingency tables whose cell entries have an upper bound. In general a Markov basis for unbounded contingency table under a certain model differs from a Markov basis for bounded tables. Rapallo, (2007) applied Lawrence lifting to compute a Markov basis for contingency tables whose cell entries are bounded. However, in the process, one has to compute the universal Gr\"obner basis of the ideal associated with the design matrix for a model which is, in general, larger than any reduced Gr\"obner basis. Thus, this is also infeasible in small- and medium-sized problems. In this paper we focus on bounded two-way contingency tables under independence model and show that if these bounds on cells are positive, i.e., they are not structural zeros, the set of basic moves of all $2 \times 2$ minors connects all tables with given margins. We end this paper with an open problem that if we know the given margins are positive, we want to find the necessary and sufficient condition on the set of structural zeros so that the set of basic moves of all $2 \times 2$ minors connects all incomplete contingency tables with given margins.Comment: 22 pages. It will appear in the Annals of the Institution of Statistical Mathematic

Synergic use of two-dimensional materials to tailor interfaces in large area perovskite modules

In the field of halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs), interface engineering has been conceptualized and exploited as a powerful mean to improve solar cell performance, stability, and scalability. In this regard, here we propose the use of a multi two-dimensional (2D) materials as intra and inter layers in a mesoscopic PSCs. By combining graphene into both compact and mesoporous TiO2, Ti3C2Tx MXenes into the perovskite absorbing layer and functionalized-MoS2 at the interface between perovskite and the hole transporting layer, we boost the efficiency of PSCs (i.e., +10%) compared to the 2D materials-free PSCs. The optimized 2D materials-based structure has been successfully extended from lab-scale cell dimensions to large area module on 121 cm2 substrates (11 x11 cm2) till to 210 cm2 substrates (14.5 x14.5 cm2) with active area efficiency of 17.2% and 14.7%, respectively. The remarkable results are supported by a systematic statistical analysis, testifying the effectiveness of 2D materials interface engineering also on large area devices, extending the 2D materials-perovskite photovoltaic technology to the industrial exploitation