Project Management - Software Development Methodology

This article talks about project management in a software development area. The emphasis is given to the process of software development and the main responsibilities of the project manager. Furthermore, some aspects of different management topics that can be found in almost all projects nowadays are also described. To have a successful project one needs to have a team of persons who will participate in the project according to their professional expertise. The teams and sub-teams are defined and their roles are described.project management, software development area, process of software development

Political economy of the US financial crisis 2007-2009

The emphasis of this paper is on the political economy of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States and how the policy makers contributed to it through their legislation and regulations, made under the rising influence of interest groups and the lobbying activities of the finance industry. The “Great Recession” of 2007-2009 began as a bubble-burst in the mortgage market in the United States that spilled over to the entire financial market of the US, and afterwards to the integrated world financial market. The crisis sprang up over the US real sector and, due to the decline in US aggregate demand, spread consequently to the real economy of the rest of the World. No sound evidence has been given for the publicly proclaimed idea that the causes of the crisis lie within the self-regulating free market. The causes of the crisis lie primarily in the activities of political power, i.e. in the extensive government regulation which has, under the strong influence of interest groups and the lobbying power of financial corporations, led to favouritism in macroeconomic policies and inefficient resource allocation. Regulation was enforced by stimulating affordable housing through government sponsored enterprises, oligopoly of the rating agencies, banking regulation and an increasing connection between government and the finance industry.United States financial crisis, political economy, government regulation, lobbying, political power

A Household Daily Non-Mandatory Activity Participation and Duration Modeling Accounting for Person Level Budget Constraints

A key methodological and behavioral innovative component in recent Activity-Based Models (ABMs) used for transportation planning is the household-level non-mandatory activity participation component. While traditional ABMs use a series of simple models to predict non-mandatory activity participation decisions in a sequential manner (which is often not correct), the Multiple Discrete Continuous Extreme Value (MDCEV) model can model both individual and joint non-mandatory activity participation and time allocation decisions in different out-of-home activities of all household members simultaneously. A key advantage of the MDCEV framework is that it accounts for complex intra-household interactions among different household members by allocating the total household time available in a day to different household members in a utility-consistent manner. However, the earlier time-use models worked with a single household level time budget constraint. So, the model ensures consistency of time predictions with the total household available time but it can violate person level budget constraints. The primary objective of this thesis is to enhance the behavioral and prediction accuracy of the MDCEV model in the time-use context by developing an improved model that handles multiple person level budget constraints

Infographic: How are teachers using networked technologies?

From online videos to digital comics and video games – there are countless different ways teachers can use technology to support their lessons. So how are teachers using networked technologies in the classroom? Find out in this Teacher infographic.https://research.acer.edu.au/teacher_graphics/1039/thumbnail.jp

Defining region

Regional studies are right in the center of scientific and political discourse at the moment; regional issues acquire special significance in the countries with a transition economy. However, there is still no clear definition of the term “region”. Due to its multifaceted nature, it certainly has natural, cultural, economic, political, and social dimension. At the same time, this term occupies a wide range of phenomena from small parts of countries to huge continental interstate formations. The goal of this paper is the analysis of various theoretical and methodological approaches to the definition of the region. We have brought different approaches, from the classical school to the New Economic Geography. The latter considers the region as a unit of space for economic activities. Thus, the region becomes a multidisciplinary object of research within the framework of economic theory and economic geography. In Europe, the integration processes put the region on the forefront of economic policy. The issues of regional policy are equally important in the light of the economic modernization processes taking place in Russia and Serbia. This article also summarizes the experience of regional studies of Serbian and Russian schools. The results can be used in further theoretical and applied research, writing theses in the field of economics and economic geography

How a small team of academics correctly predicted a Trump victory

Much like the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, few polling experts predicted Donald Trump would win the US presidential election. But this was not the case for all polling companies. Vuk Vukovic outlines a prediction model he developed with a small team of colleagues that proved remarkably accurate in calling the final result of the election and assesses how the method adopted could be used to provide more accurate predictions of future elections

Mot monitorering av fotovoltaiske kraftverk med fotoluminescensavbildning

It is predicted that the photovoltaic energy conversion will be the largest installed power capacity by 2027. The least costly option for new electricity generation in many of the world’s countries will be the utility-scale solar photovoltaic electricity generation. Accurate monitoring of solar plants for localizing and detecting faults is expected to be one of the critical tasks facing the energy industry. Imaging of photovoltaic modules for the purpose of fault detection can be more efficient and accurate compared to measurements of electrical parameters. Different spectral regions provide different types of information about a faulty module. Detection of photoluminescence, that is, radiation emitted upon band-to-band recombination after charge carrier excitation with an illumination source, has shown a great potential in the laboratory setting. In the recent years, the first approaches in the outdoor setting have been conducted on silicon modules with the Sun as an excitation source. However, the reflected sunlight overlaps spectrally with the emitted photoluminescence. The imaging apparatus detects the total signal out of which only a few percent represent the emitted photoluminescence. Several approaches for elimination of more than 95% of the total signal have been suggested in the recent years. They are either based on controlling the emission of photoluminescence during imaging to achieve a variation in signal strength and, thus, a separation from the reflected solar irradiance, or on filtering of reflected solar irradiance with specially designed, narrow band-pass filters. The former requires interfering with the production to modulate the operating point of the modules between two operating conditions. This has been implemented by using additional equipment connected physically to a certain number of modules it is dimensioned for and by moving it during imaging. We have tried to develop an approach for photoluminescence imaging which would enable imaging of as many modules as possible with as little interference as possible for an easier implementation on a utility-scale photovoltaic power plant. This has been done by using the capabilities of a string inverter to change the operating point of a string. The first approach is based on remote control of the operating point between two conditions. The second approach is far less invasive and takes the advantage of the string inverter’s built-in functionality to conduct current-voltage curve sweeps. Both approaches enable variation of the operating point on more than one string. The approach with current-voltage curve sweeps implies that a string undergoes an entire range of operating conditions, which results in a continuously changing photoluminescence signal. From such a data set one can obtain more information about modules’ defects than what is possible from an image set obtained during controlled modulation between two conditions. Therefore, it is more timeconsuming to process an image set acquired during a current-voltage curve sweep. We propose an alternative algorithm which performs better in case of unsupervised image processing in real time. This way of imaging and data processing is also applicable in irradiance conditions below 100 Wm−2. The mentioned aspects of our photoluminescence imaging approach and the novel algorithm make this technique promising for large-scale inspections.Ifølge prognoser vil fotovoltaisk energikonvertering vare den største installerte effektkapasiteten innen 2027. I mange land vil storskala solcelleanlegg være den rimeligste løsningen for ny energiproduksjon. Presis monitorering av fotovoltaiske kraftverk med mål om lokalisering og detektering av feil forventes å være én av energiindustriens kritiske oppgaver. Avbildning av fotovoltaiske moduler for å detektere feil kan vare mer effektivt og gi mer nøyaktige resultater enn målinger av elektriske parametere. Detektering av fotoluminescens med kamera, dvs. stråling avgitt fra halvledermaterialet silisium i forbindelse med bånd-til-bånd-rekombinasjon etter eksitasjon av elektroner med en lyskilde, har vist stort potensiale. De første forsøkene med sola som eksitasjonskilde har blitt gjennomført på silisium moduler i de siste årene. Det reflekterte sollyset i det samme bølgelengdeområdet som det fotoluminescerende signalet blir også detektert av kamerautstyret. Fotoluminescens utgjør kun noen få prosent av det totale signalet. Flere metoder for å skille fotoluminescens fra det reflekterte sollyset har blitt foreslått. De baserer seg enten på kontrollert emisjon av fotoluminescenssignalet i løpet av avbildningen for å oppnå en variasjon i signalet som skal gjøre det mulig å separere det fra det reflekterte sollyset, eller på detektering av kun fotoluminescens gjennom spesiallagde, smale bånd-pass filtre. Førstnevnte krever inngrep i modulenes strømproduksjon for å styre operasjonspunktet mellom to tilstander. Dette kan gjennomføres ved at tilleggsutstyr kobles på modulene og flyttes i løpet av avbildningen. Vi har jobbet med å utvikle en tilnærming for fotoluminescensavbildning av så mange moduler så mulig med så lite inngrep som mulig. Formålet har vært å utvikle en avbildningsmetode som vil kunne gjennomføres på storskala solcelleanlegg. Dette har blitt gjort ved å utnytte funksjonalitetene til en strenginverter. Den ene tilnærmingen har vært kontaktløs styring av operasjonspunktet gjennom strenginverteren og dermed uten tilleggsutstyr som må flyttes i løpet av avbildningen. En forbedring av denne metoden baserer seg på utnyttelse av strenginverterens innebygde egenskap til å skanne strøm-spenningsskarakteristikken til en gitt streng og er derfor betraktelig mindre inngripende. Begge tilnærmingene muliggjør en endring i operasjonspunktet på mer enn ´en streng av gangen. Tilnærmingen med skanningen av strøm-spenningsskarakteristikken innebærer at strengen(e) går gjennom en hel rekke av operasjonstilstander som resulterer i et fotoluminescenssignal i kontinuerlig endring. En slik bildeserie gir mer informasjon om modulenes defekter enn en bildeserie tatt i løpet av den kontrollerte styringen av operasjonspunktet mellom to tilstander. Det er derfor mer tidkrevende å prosessere en bildeserie samlet med den førstnevnte metoden. I den forbindelse foreslår vi en alternativ algoritme som gir bedre resultater med ikke-styrt bildebehandling i sanntid. Metoden er også anvendelig ved veldig lave irradiansnivåer, under 100 Wm−2. Metoden for fotoluminescensavbildning mens skanningen av strøm-spenningskarakteristikken pågår i kombinasjon med den nye algoritmen for bildebehandling er lovende for videre utvikling med hensyn på storskala avbildning.The Research Center for Sustainable Solar Cell Technolog

La peine de mort en Yugoslavie socialiste et le conflit des sources normatives

The author analyses a discussion on death penalty that took place in Belgrade, at the end of the socialist era, between Igor Primorac and Ivan Jankovic. Primorac attacked the utilitarian justification of the socialist penal system, though he agreed on different, retributive grounds that death penalty for premeditated murder should be preserved. Jankovic advocated utilitarian ideas and rejected the death penalty as an atavistic aberration. In the first part of the article, their main arguments are presented and their contextual meaning is being explained. In the second part of the article, the author analyses those arguments and concludes that a) retributivism has not been the philosophy of death penalty during its history, b) that retentionist conclusions do not follow from retributive premises, c) that utilitarianism, in spite of its historical connection with abolitionism, can justify death penalty, d) that since the problem cannot be resolved on moral grounds alone, it should be resolved on political grounds, and e) that political considerations require the abolition of death penalty

Hollow core large mode area fibre employing a subwavelength grating reflector

Hollow core large mode area fibres are ideal candidates to guide light at high powers while avoiding non-linear effects and, as such, they are generating much scientific interest. A variety of fibres have been investigated, including tube lattice photonic bandgap fibres and Kagomé-latticed photonic crystal fibres. One of the major challenges in obtaining low loss hollow core fibres is related to the unavoidable perturbations induced by the coupling between the core and cladding modes which is responsible for the increase of leakage loss. Recent approach based on the insertion of additional antiresonant elements demonstrates the significance of fibre geometrical parameters and shows leakage loss of an order of ~10-4 dB/m. In this paper, we present preliminary results of a novel approach to fibres that guide light in a large hollow core, starting from the high index contrast grating reflector platform. Subwavelength gratings have been used to achieve broadband mirrors with reflectivity greater than 99%. Importantly, the physical dimensions of the grating must be smaller than the wavelength of incident light, which implies that the diffraction order of interest is 0th. Under a surface normal incidence on diffraction grating, evanescent orders in the direction parallel to the grating period overlap with the leaky mode of the grating leading to the effect of guided mode resonance and a destructive interference effect between the two grating modes, which results in high reflection