Catching up with Method and Process Practice: An Industry-Informed Baseline for Researchers

Software development methods are usually not applied by the book.companies are under pressure to continuously deploy software products that meet market needs and stakeholders\u27 requests. To implement efficient and effective development processes, companies utilize multiple frameworks, methods and practices, and combine these into hybrid methods. A common combination contains a rich management framework to organize and steer projects complemented with a number of smaller practices providing the development teams with tools to complete their tasks. In this paper, based on 732 data points collected through an international survey, we study the software development process use in practice. Our results show that 76.8% of the companies implement hybrid methods.company size as well as the strategy in devising and evolving hybrid methods affect the suitability of the chosen process to reach company or project goals. Our findings show that companies that combine planned improvement programs with process evolution can increase their process\u27 suitability by up to 5%

PROCESS COMPLIANCE IN OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT – A STUDY OF PYTHON ENHANCEMENT PROPOSALS (PEPS)

Decision-making processes in proprietary software development are often well-captured. In contrast, stakeholders participating in open source software development (OSSD) projects often do not under-stand the decision-making processes at work, as these are either captured poorly or remain hidden. Using Python as the case study of an OSS project where the processes are well-documented, this work ‘mined’ the decision-making processes used to develop Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs), to study whether the extracted process complied with the publicly advertised process for decision-making (i.e., the prescribed process). In doing so we investigate whether the previously observed normative-descriptive dichotomy in proprietary software development, between the two theories - normative decision theory (i.e., what is expected) and descriptive decision theory (i.e., what is done) applies to the domain of OSSD. We also investigate whether the decision-making processes are pro-vided at the right level of granularity (fine vs. coarse) for different stakeholders. Our findings confirm the lack of process compliance in Python, thus confirming dichotomy. Thus, it validates the relevance of using decision-theory to study decision-making processes in OSSD. Additionally, it confirms the inadequacy of the granularity-level of the available process. We also discuss the implication for decision-making practice and processes in the Python community

Ectodomain cleavage and shedding of the type III transforming growth factor-beta receptor in lung membranes effect of temperature, ligand binding and membrane solubilization

NRC publication: Ye

Health Effects of Indoor Molds

Molds grow readily indoors in the presence of dampness. Their visibility enables their effects to be investigated by means of questionnaire surveys, although these are subject to imprecision and potential bias. Exposure to airborne mold particles can be measured in various ways that also have disadvantages and limitations. Many surveys have been conducted on the health effects of molds; most have examined the association between molds and symptoms, although some studies have used lung function tests and other objective health indices. Most surveys suggest that indoor mold growth is associated with ill health, particularly of the respiratory tract. Knowing how important mold exposure really is in health terms is difficult, owing to the tendency for mold growth to be associated with other factors that are prejudicial to health