Grounding and making sense of agile software development.

The paper explores areas of strategic frameworks for sense-making, knowledge management and Grounded Theory methodologies to offer a rationalization of some aspects of agile software development. In a variety of projects where knowledge management form part of the solution we have begun to see activities and principles that closely correspond to many aspects of the wide family of agile development methods. We offer reflection on why as a community we are attracted to agile methods and consider why they work

Uncovering a KMSD approach from practice.

There is no credible methodology for knowledge management systems development (KMSD). We report on a KMSD approach that has emerged from an investigation based on action research and grounded theory into a number of business problems experienced by organizations. The KMSD approach is highly participatory, requiring full involvement of members of an organization. It has three interacting aspects: envisioning knowledge work behaviour, design of knowledge management system (KMS), and exploring technology options for supporting the KMS. In the first of these aspects, challenges and opportunities in an organization’s current situation are analysed and an improved situation is envisioned to expose knowledge concepts and their properties. In the second, a logical design of a KMS is produced using knowledge entities, knowledge flows and knowledge interfaces; the design is guided and constrained by an organization’s structure, culture, and resources. The third aspect is to do with introducing appropriate IT into KMS design, integrating organizational, social and technological aspects of the system. The paper describes this KMSD approach and how it emerged from both practical and theoretical investigation

An evolutionary approach to the optimisation of autonomous pod distribution for application in an urban transportation service

For autonomous vehicles (AVs), which when deployed in urban areas are called “pods”, to be used as part of a commercially viable low-cost urban transport system, they will need to operate efficiently. Among ways to achieve efficiency, is to minimise time vehicles are not serving users. To reduce the amount of wasted time, this paper presents a novel approach for distribution of AVs within an urban environment. Our approach uses evolutionary computation, in the form of a genetic algorithm (GA), which is applied to a simulation of an intelligent transportation service, operating in the city of Coventry, UK. The goal of the GA is to optimise distribution of pods, to reduce the amount of user waiting time. To test the algorithm, real-world transport data was obtained for Coventry, which in turn was processed to generate user demand patterns. Results from the study showed a 30% increase in the number of successful journeys completed in a 24 hours, compared to a random distribution. The implications of these findings could yield significant benefits for fleet management companies. These include increases in profits per day, a decrease in capital cost, and better energy efficiency. The algorithm could also be adapted to any service offering pick up and drop of points, including package delivery and transportation of goods

Towards a practical guide for developing knowledge management systems in small organizations.

There is no common method for developing KMS in organizations; practice is dominated by proprietary and ad hoc approaches and is often oriented towards information systems development. Currently KMS development (KMSD) omits the creation of KM cultures in unique organizational contexts, how to ‘operationalize’ knowledge, and how to support KMS with appropriate technologies. The paper provides practical insights via explanatory elements of a guide for a principled and useful KMSD approach, one which is adaptable for the complex situations of constantly and unpredictably changing environments and specific settings and needs of organizations. The guide’s concepts and approach have emerged from and been validated in practice by an inquiry into a number of problems experienced by particular organizations. For practitioners the paper presents insights into how to develop KMS that address organizational needs. For scholars our guide to a KMSD approach addresses calls in the literature for empirical research into the deployment of KMS and the role of IT in supporting KMS

Increased nitric oxide activity compensates for increased oxidative stress to maintain endothelial function in rat aorta in early type 1 diabetes

Hyperglycaemia and oxidative stress are known to acutely cause endothelial dysfunction in vitro, but in the initial stages of diabetes, endothelium-dependent relaxation is preserved. The aim of this study was to investigate how endothelium-dependent relaxation is maintained in the early stages of type 1 diabetes. Diabetes was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats with a single injection of streptozotocin (48 mg/kg, i.v.), and after 6 weeks, endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent relaxations were examined in the thoracic aorta in vitro. Lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence was used to measure superoxide generation from the aorta. Diabetes increased superoxide generation by the aorta (2,180 +/- 363 vs 986 +/- 163 AU/mg dry tissue weight)

Millimeter-wave communication for a last-mile autonomous transport vehicle

Low-speed autonomous transport of passengers and goods is expected to have a strong, positive impact on the reliability and ease of travelling. Various advanced functions of the involved vehicles rely on the wireless exchange of information with other vehicles and the roadside infrastructure, thereby benefitting from the low latency and high throughput characteristics that 5G technology has to offer. This work presents an investigation of 5G millimeter-wave communication links for a low-speed autonomous vehicle, focusing on the effects of the antenna positions on both the received signal quality and the link performance. It is observed that the excess loss for communication with roadside infrastructure in front of the vehicle is nearly half-power beam width independent, and the increase of the root mean square delay spread plays a minor role in the resulting signal quality, as the absolute times are considerably shorter than the typical duration of 5G New Radio symbols. Near certain threshold levels, a reduction of the received power affects the link performance through an increased error vector magnitude of the received signal, and subsequent decrease of the achieved data throughput

Scintillation observations at Ancon and Jicamarca Observatories

Satellite scintillation and diffraction pattern scale size distribution from ionospheric irregularitie