A Design Tool Used to Quantitatively Evaluate Student Projects

In the last decade, the field of Computer Science has undergone a revolution. It has started the move from a mysterious art form to a detailed science. The vehicle for this progress has been the rising popularity of the field of Software Engineering. This innovative area of computer science has brought about a number of changes in the way we think of, and work with, the development of software. Due to this renovation, a field that started with little or no design techniques and unstructured, unreliable software has progressed to a point where a plethora of techniques exist to improve the quality of a program design as well as that of the resultant software. The popularity of structured design and coding techniques prove that there is widespread belief that the overall product produced using these ideas is somehow better, and statistics seem to indicate that this belief is true. Until recently, however, there existed no technique for quantitatively showing one program better than its functional equivalent. In the past few years, the use of software quality metrics seems to indicate that such a comparison is not only possible, but is also valid. The advent of Software Engineering has demanded that most universities offer a Software Engineering course which entails a "Real-World" group project. Students participating in the class design a system using a program design language (PDL). Other students then write code from the design and finally the design team integrates the modules into a working system. For a complete description of the class see [HENS83] and [TOMJ87]

A Metric Tool for Predicting Source Code Quality from a PDL Design

The software crisis has increased the demand for automated tools to assist software developers in the production of quality software. Quality metrics have given software developers a tool to measure software quality. These measurements, however, are available only after the software has been produced. Due to high cost, software managers are reluctant, to redesign and reimplement low quality software. Ideally, a life cycle which allows early measurement of software quality is a necessary ingredient to solving the software crisis. This paper describes an automated tool for predicting software quality at design time

Design Metrics Which Predict Source Code Quality

Since the inception of software engineering, the major goal has been to control the development and maintenance of reliable software. To this end, many different design methodologies have been presented as a means to improve software quality through semantic clarity and syntactic accuracy during the specification and design phases of the software life cycle. On the other end of the life cycle, software quality metrics have been proposed to supply quantitative measures of the resultant software. This study is an attempt to unify the concepts of design methodologies and software quantity metrics by providing a means to determine the quality of a design before its implementation. By knowing (quantitatively) the quality of the design, a considerable amount of time and money can be saved by realizing design problems and being able to correct these problems at design time. All of this can be accomplished before any effort has been expended on the implementation of the software. This paper provides a means of allowing a software designer to predict the quality of the source code at design time. Actual equations for predicting source code quality from design metric values are given

Time-domain observation of interlayer exciton formation and thermalization in a MoSe2/WSe2 heterostructure

: Vertical heterostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) host interlayer excitons with electrons and holes residing in different layers. With respect to their intralayer counterparts, interlayer excitons feature longer lifetimes and diffusion lengths, paving the way for room temperature excitonic optoelectronic devices. The interlayer exciton formation process and its underlying physical mechanisms are largely unexplored. Here we use ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy with a broadband white-light probe to simultaneously resolve interlayer charge transfer and interlayer exciton formation dynamics in a MoSe2/WSe2 heterostructure. We observe an interlayer exciton formation timescale nearly an order of magnitude (~1 ps) longer than the interlayer charge transfer time (~100 fs). Microscopic calculations attribute this relative delay to an interplay of a phonon-assisted interlayer exciton cascade and thermalization, and excitonic wave-function overlap. Our results may explain the efficient photocurrent generation observed in optoelectronic devices based on TMD heterostructures, as the interlayer excitons are able to dissociate during thermalization

Software Startups -- A Research Agenda

Software startup companies develop innovative, software-intensive products within limited time frames and with few resources, searching for sustainable and scalable business models. Software startups are quite distinct from traditional mature software companies, but also from micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, introducing new challenges relevant for software engineering research. This paper's research agenda focuses on software engineering in startups, identifying, in particular, 70+ research questions in the areas of supporting startup engineering activities, startup evolution models and patterns, ecosystems and innovation hubs, human aspects in software startups, applying startup concepts in non-startup environments, and methodologies and theories for startup research. We connect and motivate this research agenda with past studies in software startup research, while pointing out possible future directions. While all authors of this research agenda have their main background in Software Engineering or Computer Science, their interest in software startups broadens the perspective to the challenges, but also to the opportunities that emerge from multi-disciplinary research. Our audience is therefore primarily software engineering researchers, even though we aim at stimulating collaborations and research that crosses disciplinary boundaries. We believe that with this research agenda we cover a wide spectrum of the software startup industry current needs

Efficient gene targeting mediated by a lentiviral vector-associated meganuclease

Gene targeting can be achieved with lentiviral vectors delivering donor sequences along with a nuclease that creates a locus-specific double-strand break (DSB). Therapeutic applications of this system would require an appropriate control of the amount of endonuclease delivered to the target cells, and potentially toxic sustained expression must be avoided. Here, we show that the nuclease can be transferred into cells as a protein associated with a lentiviral vector particle. I-SceI, a prototypic meganuclease from yeast, was incorporated into the virions as a fusion with Vpr, an HIV accessory protein. Integration-deficient lentiviral vectors containing the donor sequences and the I-SceI fusion protein were tested in reporter cells in which targeting events were scored by the repair of a puromycin resistance gene. Molecular analysis of the targeted locus indicated a 2-fold higher frequency of the expected recombination event when the nuclease was delivered as a protein rather than encoded by a separate vector. In both systems, a proportion of clones displayed multiple integrated copies of the donor sequences, either as tandems at the targeted locus or at unrelated loci. These integration patterns were dependent upon the mode of meganuclease delivery, suggesting distinct recombination processes

Governance and assessment insights in Information Technology: the Val IT Model

The purpose of this paper is the investigation of the relationship between Information Technology and value creation. In doing so, the paper presents a conceptual framework based on the Val IT model. This framework can assist companies in the selection, implementation and optimization of IT investments to create long-term value. The paper is based on a qualitative approach with the inclusion of a single-method approach. Research is developed according to the study of national and international literature. Following an initial analysis of existing literature on the evaluation of company investments, research has been conducted through the Val IT method to assess these intangible assets. The sources of research are secondary in nature (documents, reports, newspaper articles, papers and scientific books). This methodology emphasises the connection between the modern services created in the knowledge economy and the application of new technologies, especially in the field of Information Technology. Val IT is a governance framework for creating business value from IT investments. It allows companies to increase the possibility of selecting investments with a high potential of value creation, as well as with a greater possibility of success in executing, creating, strengthening and using these services

Circuit resistance training in chronic heart failure improves skeletal muscle mitochondrial ATP production rate - a randomised controlled trial

Background. We aimed to determine the role of skeletal muscle mitochondrial ATP production rate (MAPR) in relation to exercise tolerance following resistance training in CHF. Methods and Results. Thirteen CHF patients (NYHA functional class 2.3 ± 0.5; LVEF 26 ± 8%; age 70 ± 8 years) underwent testing for VO2peak, and resting vastus lateralis muscle biopsy. Patients were then randomly allocated to 11 weeks of RT, (n = 7) or continuance of usual care (C, n = 6) following which testing was repeated. Muscle samples were analysed for MAPR, metabolic enzyme activity and capillary density. VO2peak and MAPR in the presence of the pyruvate and malate (P+M) substrate combination, representing carbohydrate metabolism, increased in RT (p<0.05) and decreased in C (p<0.05) with a significant difference between groups (VO2peak p = 0.005; MAPR p = 0.03). There was a strong correlation between the change in MAPR and the change in VO2peak over the study (r = 0.875; p < 0.0001), the change in MAPR accounting for 70% of the change in VO2peak. Conclusions. These findings suggest that mitochondrial ATP production is a major determinant of aerobic capacity in CHF patients and can be favourably altered by muscle trengthening exercise