The mythical man-month: essays on software engineering

Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless as The Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Now, 20 years after the initial publication of his book, Brooks has revisited his original ideas and added new thoughts and advice, both for readers already familiar with his work and for readers discovering it for the first time. The added chapters contain (1) a crisp condensation of all the propositions asserted in the original book, including Brooks' central argument in The Mythical Man-Month: that large programming projects suffer management problems different from small ones due to the division of labor; that the conceptual integrity of the product is therefore critical; and that it is difficult but possible to achieve this unity; (2) Brooks' view of these propositions a generation later; (3) a reprint of his classic 1986 paper "No Silver Bullet"; and (4) today's thoughts on the 1986 assertion, "There will be no silver bullet within ten years.

Observations of atmospheric radiation

Atmospheric radiation is the primary variable in nocturnal cooling, although wind has greater influence on the temperature of surface air. Since temperature inversions near the ground cannot be formed unless surfaces are cooled by radiation loss to the sky, a knowledge of atmospheric radiation is essential to the proper understanding of radiation frosts. The frost hazard is so serious to the citrus industry that orchard heating is practiced extensively at an average cost of more than $1,000,000 per year. In the special project on orchard heating carried on during the last four winters by members of the Agricultural Engineering Division of the University of California, several measurements of nocturnal radiation were made at Riverside, California in 1938-39. These reveal a significant relation in the change of intensity with angle of sight from the zenith to near the horizon, which is not revealed in Elsasser's radiation chart. It was also noticed that the Hottel & Mangelsdorf measurement of water-vapor radiation over short paths indicated a rate of change with path length much greater than that derived from Elsasser's chart. These differences between observation and deduction invited further observational study, with a parallel-beam radiometer, of atmospheric radiation from short paths and from the sky, which are here reported. The laboratory measurements (for path lengths up to 6 meters) were carried out with Professor H. C. Hottel in the Chemical Engineering Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The nocturnal sky observations were made at the Harvard Blue Hill Observatory simultaneously with special radiosonde flights conducted by Dr. K. O. Lange. The same radiometer was used for both the laboratory and the sky observations

Interview with Charles Frederick Brooks

In his February 26, 2004 interview with Jessie Lewis, Charles Frederick Brooks reminisces of his time in service during WWII and his life after the war in Rock Hill, SC. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/oralhistoryprogram/1269/thumbnail.jp

Virtual reality at work

The utility of virtual reality computer graphics in telepresence applications is not hard to grasp and promises to be great. When the virtual world is entirely synthetic, as opposed to real but remote, the utility is harder to establish. Vehicle simulators for aircraft, vessels, and motor vehicles are proving their worth every day. Entertainment applications such as Disney World's StarTours are technologically elegant, good fun, and economically viable. Nevertheless, some of us have no real desire to spend our lifework serving the entertainment craze of our sick culture; we want to see this exciting technology put to work in medicine and science. The topics covered include the following: testing a force display for scientific visualization -- molecular docking; and testing a head-mounted display for scientific and medical visualization

EXAMINING THE IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: A CASE STUDY

Title of Thesis: Thesis directed by: ABSTRACT EXAMINING THE IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: A CASE STUDY Stefan Frederick Brooks, Master of Education, 2016 Professor and Chair Francine Hultgren Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership Department Project-based learning (PjBL) is a common instructional strategy to consider for educators, scholars, and advocates who focus on education reform. Previous research on PjBL has focused on its effectiveness, but a limited amount of research exists on the implementation challenges. This exploratory case study examines an attempted project- based learning implementation in one chemistry classroom at a private school that fully supports PjBL for most subjects with limited use in mathematics. During the course of the study, the teacher used a modified version of PjBL. Specifically, he implemented some of the elements of PjBL, such as a driving theme and a public presentation of projects, with the support of traditional instructional methods due to the context of the classroom. The findings of this study emphasize the teacher’s experience with implementing some of the PjBL components and how the inherent implementation challenges affected his practice

Common Stock Price Effects of Security Issues Conditioned by Current Earnings and Dividend Announcements

The valuation effect of debt and equity issue announcements on stock price varies predictably with the timing of earnings and dividend reports. Issue announcements closely preceding current cash flow signals have more negative valuation effects. Straight debt announcements also have a significantly negative effect on stock price when the offer announcement closely precedes earnings and dividend releases. The evidence is consistent with a separating equilibrium where better performing firms signal superior value by announcing equity offers shortly after dividend announcements. Poorer performers appear to time equity offers just before dividend signals, which in turn are more likely to be negative

Nuclear-Spin Relaxation in the Rotating Frame in Solid D\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e

The decay of the nuclear magnetization along a spin-locking field in the rotating frame has been studied in solid deuterium, at a frequency of 4.7 MHz, following the method of Rowland and Fradin. Measurements were made between 4 and 13 K, on samples having para (J=1) mole fractions X ranging from 0.04 to 0.9. The lab-frame transverse relaxation time T2 was measured in the range 13-17 K. These data permitted the observation of thermally activated diffusion between 9 and 17 K, corresponding to a change in the characteristic time τ between molecular jumps of some seven orders of magnitude. The activation energy is (276 ± 20) K, independent of concentration. No evidence could be detected of the slow diffusion from quantum tunneling of vacancies predicted by Ebner and Sung. For the temperature range below about 8 K, the rotating-frame formalism has been adapted to the specific spin-lattice relaxation mechanisms present in D2, and account has been taken of the intramolecular spin-spin interactions. Effects of translational molecular motion were not seen in this region. This is consistent with the very slow rates expected theoretically by Oyarzun and Van Kranendonk. At intermediate and high (J=1) mole fractions X and below about 8 K, the exponential decay of the spin-locked magnetization was preceded by a short transient of approximately 0.1-sec duration. This transient is thought to be associated with the internal equilibration of the nuclear-spin energy systems. Its lifetime Tx is much longer than T2 of the rigid lattice because the NMR line is inhomogeneously broadened by the intramolecular spin-spin interactions. The magnitude of Tx has been correlated with previously reported cross-relaxation times for the lab frame

Would You Buy a Used Car from this Priest? An Economic Theory of Religion and the Church

This paper uses the theory of the firm to explain a variety of characteristics of religious doctrine and behavior. The paper analyzes doctrine about the afterlife, altering events, temporal happiness, and various social goods including property rights enforcement.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61263/1/Hull_B_1985_Working_Paper_33_Economic_Theory_of_Church.pd

Product Variety in Religious Markets

This is an electronic version of an article published in the Review of Social Economy.(c)1998 Copyright Taylor & Francis. Review of Social Economy is available online at http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0034%2d6764&volum e=56&issue=1&spage=1This paper analyzes the relationship between religious market product variety and church membership. We find that denominational variety is negatively associated with the total level of church membership in U.S. counties. This result appears to contradict the standard religious product variety model. Our data are consistent with a more general view of markets that incorporates the cost to consumers of product variety. Where product variety has significant costs, an increase in variety may reduce total market penetration. The paper suggests market characteristics that might give rise to this situation, characteristics present in the religion market.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61246/1/Hull B - 1998 - Religion Product Variety - RSE.pd

Towards an Economic Theory of the Church

This paper employs the theory of the firm to explain behavior of the church. Churches produce a set of products including entertainment, a variety of socially valuable public goods, eternal life, and alteration of otherwise fated events. Most importantly, the church reduces transactions costs by enforcing a system of property rights. Enforcement is enhanced by the promise of heaven and threat of hell, two innovations uniquely available to the church. We test some implications of the model using the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample of the Human Relations Area Files.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57295/1/Hull B - 1989 - Econ Theory of Church - IJSE.pd