Some Findings Concerning Requirements in Agile Methodologies

gile methods have appeared as an attractive alternative to conventional methodologies. These methods try to reduce the time to market and, indirectly, the cost of the product through flexible development and deep customer involvement. The processes related to requirements have been extensively studied in literature, in most cases in the frame of conventional methods. However, conclusions of conventional methodologies could not be necessarily valid for Agile; in some issues, conventional and Agile processes are radically different. As recent surveys report, inadequate project requirements is one of the most conflictive issues in agile approaches and better understanding about this is needed. This paper describes some findings concerning requirements activities in a project developed under an agile methodology. The project intended to evolve an existing product and, therefore, some background information was available. The major difficulties encountered were related to non-functional needs and management of requirements dependencies

Fruit fracture biomechanics and the release of Lepidium didymum pericarp-imposed mechanical dormancy by fungi

Mechanical dormancy imposed by a hard fruit pericarp prevents premature seed germination. Here, the authors show that the pericarp of Lepidium didymum prevents germination by limiting water uptake and that dormancy can be released by fungal activity that weakens predetermined breaking zones in the fruit coat

No evidence that footedness in pheasants influences cognitive performance in tasks assessing colour discrimination and spatial ability

The differential specialization of each side of the brain facilitates the parallel processing of information and has been documented in a wide range of animals. Animals that are more lateralized as indicated by consistent preferential limb use are commonly reported to exhibit superior cognitive ability as well as other behavioural advantages.We assayed the lateralization of 135 young pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), indicated by their footedness in a spontaneous stepping task, and related this measure to individual performance in either 3 assays of visual or spatial learning and memory. We found no evidence that pronounced footedness enhances cognitive ability in any of the tasks. We also found no evidence that an intermediate footedness relates to better cognitive performance. This lack of relationship is surprising because previous work revealed that pheasants have a slight population bias towards right footedness, and when released into the wild, individuals with higher degrees of footedness were more likely to die. One explanation for why extreme lateralization is constrained was that it led to poorer cognitive performance, or that optimal cognitive performance was associated with some intermediate level of lateralization. This stabilizing selection could explain the pattern of moderate lateralization that is seen in most non-human species that have been studied. However, we found no evidence in this study to support this explanation

An algebraic notation of a homomorpfic model of the integrated maritime transport safety and security monitoring system

Aby realizować w pełni zadania związane z utrzymaniem akceptowalnego poziomu ryzyka zróżnicowanych operacji żeglugowych i portowych do pragmatyki procesów bezpieczeństwa transportu morskiego zaimplementowano zdywersyfikowane systemy monitoringu. Ich poziom integracji jest stosunkowo niewielki, co przy globalnym charakterze transportu morskiego i dążeniu do unifikacji procesów w nim zachodzących jest zjawiskiem niekorzystnym. Celem niniejszego opracowania jest wskazanie możliwości integracji istniejących systemów monitoringu bezpieczeństwa transportu morskiego, budowa oryginalnego homomorficznego modelu systemu zintegrowanego oraz przedstawienie jego zapisu w notacji algebraicznej. W artykule pozytywnie zweryfikowano hipotezę roboczą stanowiącą, iż istnieją teoretyczne przesłanki umożliwiające budowę koncepcji integracji systemów monitoringu bezpieczeństwa transportu morskiego zmierzającej do optymalizacji procesów zapewnienia bezpieczeństwa w transporcie morskim.Due to the need for better understanding and management of maritime safety and security aspects several diversified monitoring systems have been implemented to the risk management processes. The integration level of these systems is not satisfactory which, taking into account a global tendency for integration and unification of all already implemented systems highlights existence of serious shortfalls in this field. Thus, the main aim of this paper is an identification of potential for further integration of existing systems and transformation into one completely integrated system. The proposal of homomorpfic integrated model has been shown as well as its algebraically notation. The working hypothesis stated that there is a theoretical potential for integration of maritime transport safety and security systems, has been positively proved

Petri nets in modelling of maritime transport safety and security processes

Bezpieczeństwo transportu morskiego jawi się jako istotny czynnik sprawności oraz efektywności procesów realizowanych globalnie przy użyciu tej gałęzi transportu. Celem badań przedstawionych w niniejszym artykule było ukazanie możliwości wykorzystania różnorodnych notacji do modelowania wybranych procesów z zakresu bezpieczeństwa transportu morskiego. Szczególny nacisk położono na ukazanie możliwości zastosowania sieci Petriego jako nowatorskiej, dotychczas nie wykorzystywanej notacji dla reprezentacji opisywanych procesów. Do opisu wybrano reprezentatywny proces tworzenia zintegrowanego zobrazowania żeglugi (IMAP) z wykorzystaniem narzędzi monitoringu (podsystem sensoryczny), analizowania (podsystem analityczno-decyzyjny) oraz reagowania (podsystem efektorowy). W badaniu użyto analizy holistycznej w ramach paradygmatu cybernetycznego oraz wykorzystano metody i narzędzia modelowania z teorii systemów. Rezultatem badań jest przedstawienie procesu two-rzenia i analizy IMAP za pomocą schematów blokowych, algorytmów i sieci Petriego. Pozwoli to na dalsze prace związane z tworzeniem systemów eksperckich (analityczno-decyzyjnych) możliwych do implementacji w nowobudowanych zintegrowanych systemach monitoringu żeglugi morskiej i bezpieczeństwa transportu morskiego. W artykule pozytywnie zweryfikowano roboczą hipotezę stanowiącą, iż sieci Petriego stanowią użyteczną notację do modelowania i formalnej analizy procesów bezpieczeństwa transportu morskiego.Safety and security of maritime transport have become a significant element of recent global seaborne trade processes. The main aim of presented in this article research results is presentation of various notations that can be adopted for modelling of maritime transport security and safety processes. The main focus was on recognition of Petri nets as an innovative tool for modelling. Integrated Maritime Picture (IMAP) has been chosen for further detailed research as a representative process consists of monitoring (sensor process), analysis and reaction (effector process). As research methods a holistic analysis from cybernetic paradigm as well as modelling tools have been applied. Results come with presentation of the IMAP process with use of block schemes, algorithms and Petri nets. It may be further utilised in expert systems being the important part of already introduced integrated shipping monitoring systems. In this paper the working hypothesis stated that Petri nets are useful tool in maritime transport processes modelling has been proved