The Context of Global Software Development: Challenges, Best Practices and Benefits

Global Software Development (GSD) environment is based on a contractual relationship between client and vendor organizations in which a client outsources all or some part of its software development activities to a vendor. The vendor in return provides the agreed services in lieu of certain amount of remuneration. The main reasons to select the GSD technique include reduced cost, faster development and access to skilled manpower available across the world. Though GSD is emerging as an effective technique, but it suffers from many challenges like poor communication, lack of trust and coordination. These challenges pose serious risk to the smooth execution of the GSD projects. In the past decade, GSD has become an area of active research and a number of the researchers have worked on different aspects of it. In this paper, we present a critical review of the research studies conducted on GSD to highlight the challenges, best practices and benefits of GSD. Our findings reveal that much of the research in this area has been focused on addressing issues faced by client organizations, however, vendor side in the GSD relationship is much ignored due to which this field of study is still immature; hence, further research work is required to be undertaken to address the issues faced by the vendor organizations

Flows with Slip of Oldroyd-B Fluids over a Moving Plate

A general investigation has been made and analytic solutions are provided corresponding to the flows of an Oldroyd-B fluid, under the consideration of slip condition at the boundary. The fluid motion is generated by the flat plate which has a translational motion in its plane with a time-dependent velocity. The adequate integral transform approach is employed to find analytic solutions for the velocity field. Solutions for the flows corresponding to Maxwell fluid, second-grade fluid, and Newtonian fluid are also determined in both cases, namely, flows with slip on the boundary and flows with no slip on the boundary, respectively. Some of our results were compared with other results from the literature. The effects of several emerging dimensionless and pertinent parameters on the fluid velocity have been studied theoretically as well as graphically in the paper

An Amazingly Simple, Fast and Green Synthesis Route to Polyaniline Nanofibers for Efficient Energy Storage

The major drawbacks of the conventional methods for preparing polyaniline (PANI) are the large consumptions of toxic chemicals and long process durations. This paper presents a remarkably simple and green route for the chemical oxidative synthesis of PANI nanofibers, utilizing sodium phytate as a novel and environmentally friendly plant derived dopant. The process shows a remarkable reduction in the synthesis time and usage of toxic chemicals with good dispersibility and exceedingly high conductivity up to 10 S cm−1 of the resulting PANI at the same time. A detailed characterization of the PANI samples has been made showing excellent relationships between their structure and properties. Particularly, the electrochemical properties of the synthesized PANI as electrode material for supercapacitors were analyzed. The PANI sample, synthesized at pre-optimized conditions, exhibited impressive supercapacitor performance having a high specific capacitance (Csp) (832.5 Fg−1 and 528 Fg−1 at 1 Ag−1 and 40 Ag−1, respectively) as calculated from galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) curves. A good rate capability with a capacitance retention of 67.6% of its initial value was observed. The quite low solution resistance (Rs) value of 281.0 × 10−3 Ohm and charge transfer resistance value (Rct) of 7.44 Ohm represents the excellence of the material. Further, a retention of 95.3% in coulombic efficiency after 1000 charge discharge cycles, without showing any significant degradation of the material, was also exhibited

Exploring the functional properties of sodium phytate doped polyaniline nanofibers modified fto electrodes for high-performance binder free symmetric supercapacitors

The performance of high-rate supercapacitors requires fine morphological and electrical properties of the electrode. Polyaniline (PANI), as one of the most promising materials for energy storage, shows different behaviour on different substrates. The present study reports on the surface modification of fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) with the sodium phytate doped PANI without any binder and its utilization as a novel current collector in symmetric supercapacitor devices. The electrochemical behaviour of the sodium phytate doped PANI thin film with and without a binder on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) as current collector was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The electrode without a binder showed higher electrocatalytic efficiency. A symmetrical cell configuration was therefore constructed with the binder-free electrodes. The device showed excellent electrochemical performance with high specific capacities of 550 Fg$^{-1}$ at 1 Ag$^{-1}$ and 355 Fg$^{-1}$ at 40 Ag$^{-1}$ calculated from galvanostatic discharge curves. The low charge transfer and solution resistances (RCT and RS) of 7.86 Ωcm² and 3.58 × 10−1 Ωcm², respectively, and superior rate capability of 66.9% over a wide current density range of 1 Ag$^{-1}$ to 40 Ag$^{-1}$ and excellent cycling stability with 90% of the original capacity over 1000 charge/discharge cycles at 40 Ag$^{-1}$, indicated it to be an efficient energy storage device. Moreover, the gravimetric energy and power density of the supercapacitor was remarkably high, providing 73.8 Whkg$^{-1}$ at 500 Wkg$^{-1}$, respectively. The gravimetric energy density remained stable as the power density increased. It even reached up to 49.4 Whkg$^{-1}$ at a power density of up to 20 Wkg$^{-1}$

Addressing Communication, Coordination and Cultural Issues in Global Software Development Projects

The field of Global Software Development has been an active area of research for the last two decades due to its enormous benefits such as lower labor cost, faster development and easy access to the skilled labor pool. Apart from these benefits, it faces some challenges like communication, coordination, trust and configuration management etc. These challenges arise primarily due to physical, cultural and time zone differences. The empirical studies highlight that the existing Global Software Development solutions do not fully meet the user needs as there are still several gaps in these solutions. Therefore, to fulfill these gaps, there is a need to develop novel frameworks that address outstanding issues. In this paper, we have attempted to address the aforesaid GSD challenges. The practitioners can benefit from our proposed framework during the execution of GSD projects. The proposed framework mainly focuses on the root causes of the two principal challenges namely the communication and cultural differences. We believe that if the team members of a software project can communicate effectively and show considerations for others by imparting due reverence to the cultural norms, then the other residual issues can easily be reduced and minimized

Influence of Slip Condition on Unsteady Free Convection Flow of Viscous Fluid with Ramped Wall Temperature

The objective of this study is to explore the influence of wall slip condition on a free convection flow of an incompressible viscous fluid with heat transfer and ramped wall temperature. Exact solution of the problem is obtained by using Laplace transform technique. Graphical results to see the effects of Prandtl number Pr, time t, and slip parameter η on velocity and skin friction for the case of ramped and constant temperature of the plate are provided and discussed

Photoionisation loading of large Sr+ ion clouds with ultrafast pulses

This paper reports on photoionisation loading based on ultrafast pulses of singly-ionised strontium ions in a linear Paul trap. We take advantage of an autoionising resonance of Sr neutral atoms to form Sr+ by two-photon absorption of femtosecond pulses at a wavelength of 431nm. We compare this technique to electron-bombardment ionisation and observe several advantages of photoionisation. It actually allows the loading of a pure Sr+ ion cloud in a low radio-frequency voltage amplitude regime. In these conditions up to 4x10^4 laser-cooled Sr+ ions were trapped

Efficacy of learning through play plus intervention to reduce maternal depression in women with malnourished children: A randomized controlled trial from Pakistan

BACKGROUND:The risk factors and adverse outcomes related to maternal depression and child malnutrition are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) including Pakistan. Above 25% of women suffer from maternal depression. Up to 50% children are under-nourished which contributes to 35% of all under-5 deaths in the country. AIM:To determine the efficacy of Learning through Play Plus Thinking Healthy Program (LTP Plus) intervention to reduce maternal depression in mothers with undernourished children. METHODS:In this randomised controlled trial, all eligible mothers presenting to the paediatric departments were invited to participate in the study. Out of the total 256 mothers screened, 107 were included, 54 of those were randomly allocated to LTP Plus group and 53 to treatment as usual (TAU). Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to screen for depression. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Maternal Attachment Inventory (MAI), Social Support Scale (OSLO-3) and the Euro-QoL (EQ-5D) were used to measure the severity of depression, mother-child attachment, level of support and health related quality of life dimensions. Assessments were completed at baseline, end of intervention (3 months from baseline) and at 6 months from baseline. RESULTS:Mothers in the LTP Plus group significantly showed improvements in depression (p<0.001), social support (p = 0.02) and quality of life (p<0.001) at the end of the intervention (LTP Plus), as compared to the TAU group, which were sustained up to 6 months after baseline. CONCLUSION:The outcomes of LTP Plus intervention for mothers of malnourished children show promising results in reducing maternal depression and improving child outcomes. A full trial with longer-term outcomes and cost-effectiveness needs to be conducted

Interrogating the Small-cell Lung Cancer Methylome using Liquid Biopsies

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is one of the most aggressive types of cancers. Despite being initially responsive to treatment, most patients relapse. Currently it is not clear how such mechanisms of resistance develop, though recent evidence suggests epigenetic mechanisms may be involved. In this study the cell-free methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (cfMeDIP-seq) assay was performed on blood from SCLC patients, healthy donors, and novel circulating-tumour cell derived xenograft (CDX) models. SCLC patients appear to have a distinct methylation profile compared to healthy donors. CDX models derived from SCLC patients also appear to be highly similar, highlighting their future use for biomarker development and discovery. Finally, consensus clustering on SCLC patient methylation profiles shows three distinct methylation-defined subtypes. These subtypes appear to have differential methylation of Wnt-signalling genes, a pathway known to be dysregulated in relapsed SCLC.M.Sc