Enterprise Experience into the Integration of Human-Centered Design and Kanban

he integration of Human-Centered Design (HCD) and Agile Software Development (ASD) promises the development of competitive products comprising a good User Experience (UX). This study has investigated the integration of HCD and Kanban with the aim to gain industrial experiences in a real world context. A case study showed that requirements flow into the development process in a structured manner by adding a design board. To this end, the transparency concerning recurring requirements increased. We contribute to the body of knowledge of software development by providing practical insights into Human-Centered Agile Development (HCAD). On one hand, it is shown that the integration of HCD and Kanban leads to a product with a good UX and makes the development process more human-centered. On the other hand, we conclude that a cross-functional collaboration speeds up product development.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

Valuing Biodiversity in Life Cycle Impact Assessment

Erratum published on 13 March 2020, see Sustainability 2020, 12(6), 2270. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11205628In this article, the authors propose an impact assessment method for life cycle assessment (LCA) that adheres to established LCA principles for land use-related impact assessment, bridges current research gaps and addresses the requirements of different stakeholders for a methodological framework. The conservation of biodiversity is a priority for humanity, as expressed in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Addressing biodiversity across value chains is a key challenge for enabling sustainable production pathways. Life cycle assessment is a standardised approach to assess and compare environmental impacts of products along their value chains. The impact assessment method presented in this article allows the quantification of the impact of land-using production processes on biodiversity for several broad land use classes. It provides a calculation framework with degrees of customisation (e.g., to take into account regional conservation priorities), but also offers a default valuation of biodiversity based on naturalness. The applicability of the method is demonstrated through an example of a consumer product. The main strength of the approach is that it yields highly aggregated information on the biodiversity impacts of products, enabling biodiversity-conscious decisions about raw materials, production routes and end user products

Low-mass star formation in CG1: a diffraction limited search for pre-main sequence stars next to NX Puppis

Using adaptive optics at the ESO 3.6m telescope, we obtained diffraction limited JHK-images of the region around the Herbig AeBe star NX Pup. We clearly resolved the close companion (sep. 0.128") to NX Pup -- originally discovered by HST -- and measured its JHK magnitudes. A third object at a separation of 7.0" from NX Pup was identified as a classical T Tauri star so that NX Pup may in fact form a hierarchical triple system. We discuss the evolutionary status of these stars and derive estimates for their spectral types, luminosities, masses and ages.Comment: Latex using l-aa-ps.sty with links to 5 postscript figures. Complete postscript version also available at http://lucky.astro.uni-wuerzburg.de/ Accepted for publication in A&

Young People’s Conceptualization of Their Wellbeing: Culturally Situated Understandings in the Context of Kazakhstan

Little is known about the wellbeing of young people living in post-Soviet nation contexts such as Kazakhstan. The qualitative data reported represents the views of 309 Kazakhstani young people on their conceptualisations of wellbeing that fell broadly into three major thematic categories: external factors from one’s surroundings; relationships with others, and internal aspects of the self. The direct consequence of inadequate physical environment on health and the environment’s impact on psychological wellbeing through leisure, lifestyle, education, and employment opportunities were emphasised. Affirmative connections with others were associated with increased levels of emotional wellbeing. The importance of making independent choices as well as being actively involved in leisure, volunteering and extracurricular school activities for achieving optimal levels of wellbeing was highlighted.Newton – Al-Farabi Partnership Programme” (Reference number 172734464

Blood Vessel Density in Basal Cell Carcinomas and Benign Trichogenic Tumors as a Marker for Differential Diagnosis in Dermatopathology

In order to get insight into the density of blood vessels in the stroma of benign and malignant trichogenic neoplasms, immunohistological quantification of CD 31 positive vessels was performed in 112 tumors, comprised of 50 BCCs of nodular (35) or morphoeic (15) growth patterns, 17 Pinkus' tumors, as well as 17 trichoepitheliomas of which 6 were desmoplastic, 8 trichofolliculomas, and 20 trichoblastomas. Methods. Vessel density was counted within the tumors, in the tumor-surrounding stroma, and, as a control, in the normal skin of the operation specimen. The results were compared using statistical methods. Results. Whereas, irrespective of the patients' age and location of tumors, the vessel density in normal skin showed no significant differences (8.8 ± 2.7), the counts in the peritumoral stroma revealed significant differences between the different tumors investigated. The highest counts were obtained in BCC (24.7 ± 6.7) and the lowest in benign trichogenic neoplasms (around 14) Pinkus' tumors revealed intermediate counts (19.7 ± 6.6). The vessel densities within the tumors were generally low, and no correlation to the dignity was found. Conclusion. Determination of blood vessel density in the peritumoral stroma may be an additional parameter for differential diagnosis of trichogenic tumors of uncertain dignity

Scattering amplitudes of massive Nambu-Goldstone bosons

Massive Nambu-Goldstone (mNG) bosons are quasiparticles whose gap is determined exactly by symmetry. They appear whenever a symmetry is broken spontaneously in the ground state of a quantum many-body system, and at the same time explicitly by the system's chemical potential. In this paper, we revisit mNG bosons and show that apart from their gap, symmetry also protects their scattering amplitudes. Just like for ordinary gapless NG bosons, the scattering amplitudes of mNG bosons vanish in the long-wavelength limit. Unlike for gapless NG bosons, this statement holds for any scattering process involving one or more external mNG states; there are no kinematic singularities associated with the radiation of a soft mNG boson from an on-shell initial or final state.Comment: 12 pages; v2: added discussion of the double-soft limit in response to the referee report; matches version published in PR

A contextually adapted model of school engagement in Kazakhstan

This study introduces a culturally adapted 17-item scale of school engagement. It seeks to measure school engagement in young people in a society undergoing a rapid transition from a collectivist to individualist mind-set, and an education system focused on improving performance in international assessments such as PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS. The school engagement scale is validated by testing the empirical fit of a second-order multidimensional factor model of school engagement taken from the Western literature to large-scale data in Kazakhstan. Culturally relevant features are added, such as the strong influence of ‘important others. The model tested was formed from 1) an individual’s cognitions and behaviours associated with school and 2) the social influences of parents, peers, and teachers. 1744 secondary education students in Kazakhstan participated in the study. Confirmatory analyses supported the hypothesized additional contributory factors to school engagement. Differences in means across gender, grade, school-type, and geographic location showed: (1) higher cognitive engagement for young women; (2) rural students with higher levels of behavioural engagement; and (3) substantial differences in social support by grade and rurality.Funding for this project covered the period 1st April 2015 to 30th May 2017 and was provided jointly by The British Council and Al-Farabi Foundation through the Newton Fund, Institutional Links Programme (Reference: 172734464)