921 research outputs found
What influences the speed of prototyping? An empirical investigation of twenty software startups
It is essential for startups to quickly experiment business ideas by building
tangible prototypes and collecting user feedback on them. As prototyping is an
inevitable part of learning for early stage software startups, how fast
startups can learn depends on how fast they can prototype. Despite of the
importance, there is a lack of research about prototyping in software startups.
In this study, we aimed at understanding what are factors influencing different
types of prototyping activities. We conducted a multiple case study on twenty
European software startups. The results are two folds, firstly we propose a
prototype-centric learning model in early stage software startups. Secondly, we
identify factors occur as barriers but also facilitators for prototyping in
early stage software startups. The factors are grouped into (1) artifacts, (2)
team competence, (3) collaboration, (4) customer and (5) process dimensions. To
speed up a startups progress at the early stage, it is important to incorporate
the learning objective into a well-defined collaborative approach of
prototypingComment: This is the author's version of the work. Copyright owner's version
can be accessed at doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57633-6_2, XP2017, Cologne,
German
A Hierarchy of Polynomial Kernels
In parameterized algorithmics, the process of kernelization is defined as a
polynomial time algorithm that transforms the instance of a given problem to an
equivalent instance of a size that is limited by a function of the parameter.
As, afterwards, this smaller instance can then be solved to find an answer to
the original question, kernelization is often presented as a form of
preprocessing. A natural generalization of kernelization is the process that
allows for a number of smaller instances to be produced to provide an answer to
the original problem, possibly also using negation. This generalization is
called Turing kernelization. Immediately, questions of equivalence occur or,
when is one form possible and not the other. These have been long standing open
problems in parameterized complexity. In the present paper, we answer many of
these. In particular, we show that Turing kernelizations differ not only from
regular kernelization, but also from intermediate forms as truth-table
kernelizations. We achieve absolute results by diagonalizations and also
results on natural problems depending on widely accepted complexity theoretic
assumptions. In particular, we improve on known lower bounds for the kernel
size of compositional problems using these assumptions
Human Prion Diseases in The Netherlands (1998–2009): Clinical, Genetic and Molecular Aspects
Prion diseases are rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorders that can be sporadic, inherited or acquired by infection. Based on a national surveillance program in the Netherlands we describe here the clinical, neuropathological, genetic and molecular characteristics of 162 patients with neuropathologically confirmed prion disease over a 12-year period (1998–2009). Since 1998, there has been a relatively stable mortality of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in the Netherlands, ranging from 0.63 to 1.53 per million inhabitants per annum. Genetic analysis of the codon 129 methionine/valine (M/V) polymorphism in all patients with sporadic CJD (sCJD) showed a trend for under-representation of VV cases (7.0%), compared with sCJD cohorts in other Western countries, whereas the MV genotype was relatively over-represented (22,4%). Combined PrPSc and histopathological typing identified all sCJD subtypes known to date, except for the VV1 subtype. In particular, a “pure" phenotype was demonstrated in 60.1% of patients, whereas a mixed phenotype was detected in 39.9% of all sCJD cases. The relative excess of MV cases was largely accounted for by a relatively high incidence of the MV 2K subtype. Genetic analysis of the prion protein gene (PRNP) was performed in 161 patients and showed a mutation in 9 of them (5.6%), including one FFI and four GSS cases. Iatrogenic CJD was a rare phenomenon (3.1%), mainly associated with dura mater grafts. Three patients were diagnosed with new variant CJD (1.9%) and one with variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr). Post-mortem examination revealed an alternative diagnosis in 156 patients, most commonly Alzheimer's disease (21.2%) or vascular causes of dementia (19.9%). The mortality rates of sCJD in the Netherlands are similar to those in other European countries, whereas iatrogenic and genetic cases are relatively rare. The unusual incidence of the VV2 sCJD subtype compared to that reported to date in other Western countries deserves further investigation
Chiral Effective Lagrangian and Quark Masses
The status of lattice determinations of quark masses is reviewed (with the
exception of m_b). Attempts to extract the low-energy constants in the
effective chiral Lagrangian are discussed, with special emphasis on those
couplings which are required to test the hypothesis of a massless up-quark.
Furthermore, the issue of quenched chiral logarithms is addressed.Comment: Invited talk presented at Lattice2002(plenary), 12 pages, 3 figure
Time sequence of the damage to the acceptor and donor sides of photosystem II by UV-B radiation as evaluated by chlorophyll a fluorescence
The effects of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation on photosystem II (PS II) were studied in leaves of Chenopodium album. After the treatment with UV-B the damage was estimated using chlorophyll a fluorescence techniques. Measurements of modulated fluorescence using a pulse amplitude modulated fluorometer revealed that the efficiency of photosystem II decreased both with increasing time of UV-B radiation and with increasing intensity of the UV-B. Fluorescence induction rise curves were analyzed using a mechanistic model of energy trapping. It appears that the damage by UV-B radiation occurs first at the acceptor side of photosystem II, and only later at the donor side
On opportunistic software reuse
The availability of open source assets for almost all imaginable domains has led the software industry toopportunistic design-an approach in which people develop new software systems in an ad hoc fashion by reusing and combining components that were not designed to be used together. In this paper we investigate this emerging approach. We demonstrate the approach with an industrial example in whichNode.jsmodules and various subsystems are used in an opportunistic way. Furthermore, to study opportunistic reuse as a phenomenon, we present the results of three contextual interviews and a survey with reuse practitioners to understand to what extent opportunistic reuse offers improvements over traditional systematic reuse approaches.Peer reviewe
The , , and mesons in a double pole QCD Sum Rule
We use the method of double pole QCD sum rule which is basically a fit with
two exponentials of the correlation function, where we can extract the masses
and decay constants of mesons as a function of the Borel mass. We apply this
method to study the mesons: , , and
. We also present predictions for the toponiuns masses
of m(1S)=357 GeV and m(2S)=374 GeV.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures in Braz J Phys (2016
Towards the glueball spectrum from unquenched lattice QCD
We use a variational technique to study heavy glueballs on gauge
configurations generated with 2+1 flavours of ASQTAD improved staggered
fermions. The variational technique includes glueball scattering states. The
measurements were made using 2150 configurations at 0.092 fm with a pion mass
of 360 MeV. We report masses for 10 glueball states. We discuss the prospects
for unquenched lattice QCD calculations of the oddballs.Comment: 19 pages, 4 tables and 8 figures. One figure added. Now matches the
published versio
Crossing Paths with Hans Bodlaender:A Personal View on Cross-Composition for Sparsification Lower Bounds
On the occasion of Hans Bodlaender’s 60th birthday, I give a personal account of our history and work together on the technique of cross-composition for kernelization lower bounds. I present several simple new proofs for polynomial kernelization lower bounds using cross-composition, interlaced with personal anecdotes about my time as Hans’ PhD student at Utrecht University. Concretely, I will prove that Vertex Cover, Feedback Vertex Set, and the H-Factor problem for every graph H that has a connected component of at least three vertices, do not admit kernels of (formula presented) bits when parameterized by the number of vertices n for any (formula presented), unless (formula presented). These lower bounds are obtained by elementary gadget constructions, in particular avoiding the use of the Packing Lemma by Dell and van Melkebeek.</p
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