Focus on Non-Functionals! The Effect of Focussing on Non- Functional Requirements on the Maturity of the Requirements Engineering Process

When developing IT systems it is important to know the requirements of the system. Requirements can be classified into different categories. In this study we look at functional and non-functional requirements. Respectively these describe the behaviour of the system (functional requirements) and the criteria under which the system works (the non-functional requirements). Furthermore this paper contributes to the understanding of the relation between the focus on non-functional requirements and the maturity of the requirements engineering process. The research question this paper addresses is: How does the focus on non-functional requirements influence the maturity of the requirements engineering process?” The method of the International Requirements Engineering Board is used as the standard for the requirements engineering process. Based on this a questionnaire was developed to measure both the maturity of the requirement engineering process and whether non-functional requirements are taken into account or not. This questionnaire was then sent to a population of people with an IT function, like IT architects and developers. 69 people from different organizations participated in the survey; of this 65 responses were valid and used for the analysis. The results of the analysis show that there is a positive correlation between the focus on non-functional requirements and the maturity

Measurement of the uranium-236(n,g) cross section for the thorium fuel cycle at the CERN n_TOF facility

This manuscript details the successful measurement, and subsequent analysis, of the uranium-236(n,g) radiative capture kernels in the resolved resonance region, of importance to the thorium fuel cycle. The experiment took advantage of the convenient features of the CERN n_TOF facility. Features such as a fully digital DAQ, high instantaneous neutron flux, and the powerful background rejection capabilities offered by the BaF2 Total Absorption Calorimeter (TAC) detector, owing to its near 4 pi solid angle coverage and high segmentation. These features, coupled with a high purity (99.85%) U-236 sample, resulted in the successful measurement of the radiative kernels to within 10%. Having successfully extracted the radiative kernels up to 1500 eV with the R-matrix code SAMMY, and accounted for all sources of uncertainty, is was possible to quantify the total uncertainty for the radiative kernels. In this manner, the uncertainties were found to range from 2.3%, for resonances with little scattering and pile-up, to 5.3% for resonances with more significant scattering and pile-up effects. Hence not only was the goal of achieving the requested accuracy of 10% achieved, but even reaching the desired 5%. Given the limited data available for this reaction, it is of value to be able to contribute the results of the current work to the nuclear data community to bolster the information currently available for the U-236 neutron capture cross section. Comparison with the latest versions of three of the major libraries, our cross section is in overall agreement with JEFF-3.2, 6% larger than JENDL-4.0 and 20% larger than ENDF/B-VII.1. These are sizable differences considering our accuracy of just 2-5%, suggesting that some revision of the libraries may be in order

A Generalization Of The Shapley-Ichiishi Result And Its Application To Convex Games

In this paper we present a generalization of the Shapley-Ichiishi result for convex games to the class of all exact games. Then we discuss two applications to the class of convex games. First we show that it can indeed be used to give an alternative proof of the Shapley-Ichiishi result. Secondly we use our generalization to derive the minimal dening system of linear inequalities of the class of convex games.Economics ;

General and natural gas geology of the California quadrangle Washington County, Pennsylvania

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Multiplex genotyping system for efficient inference of matrilineal genetic ancestry with continental resolution

Abstract Background: In recent years, phylogeographic studies have produced detailed knowledge on the worldwide distribution of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants, linking specific clades of the mtDNA phylogeny with certain geographic areas. However, a multiplex genotyping system for the detection of the mtDNA haplogroups of major continental distribution that would be desirable for efficient DNA-based bio-geographic ancestry testing in various applications is still missing. Results: Three multiplex genotyping assays, based on single-base primer extension technology, were developed targeting a total of 36 coding-region mtDNA variants that together differentiate 43 matrilineal haplo-/paragroups. These include the major diagnostic haplogroups for Africa, Western Eurasia, Eastern Eurasia and Native America. The assays show high sensitivity with respect to the amount of template DNA: successful amplification could still be obtained when using as little as 4 pg of genomic DNA and the technology is suitable for medium-throughput analyses. Conclusions: We introduce an efficient and sensitive multiplex genotyping system for bio-geographic ancestry inference from mtDNA that provides resolution on the continental level. The method can be applied in forensics, to aid tracing unknown suspects, as well as in population studies, genealogy and personal ancestry testing. For more complete inferences of overall bio-geographic ancestry from DNA, the mtDNA system provided here can be combined with multiplex systems for suitable autosomal and, in the case of males, Y-chromosomal ancestrysensitive DNA markers

The stimulative effect of an unconditional block grant on the decentralized provision of care

Understanding the impact of central government grants on decentralized healthcare provision is of crucial importance for the design of grant systems, yet empirical evidence on the prevalence of flypaper effects in this domain is rare. We study the decentralization of home care in the Netherlands and exploit the gradual introduction of formula-based equalization to identify the effect of exogenous changes in an unconditional block grant on local expenditure and utilization. A one euro increase in central government grants raises local expenditure by twenty to fifty cents. Adjustments occur through the number of hours as well as through substitution between basic and more advanced types of assistance. These findings suggest that conditioning of grants is not required for the central government to retain a moderate degree of control over the decentralized provision of care

Integrating law, technology, and design : teaching data protection and privacy law in a digital age

Key Points The data protection lawyer of the future will be a key intermediary of innovation—or ‘transaction engineer’—who facilitates and coordinates new forms of business and other social relationships in rapidly evolving multi-disciplinary settings. The effective performance of this function requires legal professionals to develop a different mindset, along with new skills and capacities, specifically a better understanding of the underlying technologies and the value and techniques of legal design, as well as a knowledge of relevant data protection law. Transferable principles for teaching data protection law and privacy law in a digital age are identified. The article proposes a task-oriented, gamified, and sandbox approach to data protection education that delivers a more relevant student experience that cultivates meaningful capacities and skills that are more closely aligned with the needs and values of a digital age.©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Mycolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis modulate the flow of cholesterol for bacillary proliferation in murine macrophages

The differentiation of macrophages into lipid-filled foam cells is a hallmark of the lung granuloma that forms in patients with active tuberculosis (TB). Mycolic acids (MAs), the abundant lipid virulence factors in the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), can induce this foam phenotype possibly as a way to perturb host cell lipid homeostasis to support the infection. It is not exactly clear how MAs allow differentiation of foam cells during Mtb infection. Here we investigated how chemically synthetic MAs, each with a defined stereochemistry similar to natural Mtb-associated mycolates, influence cell foamy phenotype and mycobacterial proliferation in murine host macrophages. Using light and laser-scanning-confocal microscopy, we assessed the influence of MA structure first on the induction of granuloma cell types, second on intracellular cholesterol accumulation, and finally on mycobacterial growth. While methoxy-MAs (mMAs) effected multi-vacuolar giant cell formation, keto-MAs (kMAs) induced abundant intracellular lipid droplets that were packed with esterified cholesterol. Macrophages from mice treated with kMA were permissive to mycobacterial growth, whereas cells from mMA treatment were not. This suggests a separate yet key involvement of oxygenated MAs in manipulating host cell lipid homeostasis to establish the state of TB