An exploration of individual personality types in software development

Previous research - using conventional psychometric questionnaires - has highlighted the importance of aligning compatible personality types in software development teams. However, there does not exist a dedicated, robust questionnaire instrument for revealing the pertinent personality types for software development practitioners. This study analyzes the validity and reliability of a 70-item (context dependent) personality-profiling questionnaire particularly developed to assess personality types of software practitioners. A systematic process of validation, using an iterative approach to questionnaire development, was employed. The questions were developed both with a qualitative analysis of interview data, and based on the opinions of expert reviewers who revised the items through a set of examination. To investigate how stable the questions and reproducible the results, we measured test-retest reliability of the instrument, yielding satisfactory results. The present study provided evidence for the construct validity of the instrument. Ultimately, an initial comparison of the results delivered by the instrument demonstrated positive correlations with the findings acquired with well- known personality assessment instrument, i.e. the big five personality questionnaire

Case report: A Stauffer’s syndrome variant associated with renal cell carcinoma and thrombocytopenia

Stauffer’s syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic manifestation of renal cell carcinoma which is characterized by elevated alkaline phosphatase, erythrocyte  sedimentation rate, -2-globulin, -glutamyl transferase,  thrombocytosis, prolongation of prothrombin time and hepatosplenomegaly, in the absence of hepatic  metastasis and jaundice. In this case report, we report a patient who was admitted with fever, fatigue,  abdominal pain, weight loss and pruritus in whom renal cell carcinoma was incidentally found in the right kidney during an initial workup.KEYWORDS: Cholestasis; Paraneoplastic syndrome; RCC; Stauffer’s syndrome; Thrombocytopeni

Spinodal Instabilities in Nuclear Matter in a Stochastic Relativistic Mean-Field Approach

Spinodal instabilities and early growth of baryon density fluctuations in symmetric nuclear matter are investigated in the basis of stochastic extension of relativistic mean-field approach in the semi-classical approximation. Calculations are compared with the results of non-relativistic calculations based on Skyrme-type effective interactions under similar conditions. A qualitative difference appears in the unstable response of the system: the system exhibits most unstable behavior at higher baryon densities around $\rho_{b}=0.4 ~\rho_{0}$ in the relativistic approach while most unstable behavior occurs at lower baryon densities around $\rho_{b}=0.2 ~\rho_{0}$ in the non-relativistic calculationsComment: 18 pages, 7 figure

Effects of some humidity and IBA hormone dose applicatýons on rooting of M9 apple clonal rootstock Softwood top cuttings

In this study, softwood cuttings were taken from M9 dwarf apple rootstocks in early June. Different indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) concentrations [0 (control), 500, 1500, 2500 and 3500 ppm], different air humidity levels (85 - 90%, 95-100%) and rooting media of perlite effects on rooting capability and root formation of M9 apple rootstock cuttings were examined. All the cuttings remained alive. The highest ratio of cutting callus formation was found in control group (58%) in 95 - 100% humidity level and 2500 ppm IBA hormone dose application in 85 - 90% humidity level. The highest rooting ratio was obtained from control group (46%) in 95 - 100% humidity level; the lowest one was 3500 ppm IBA doseapplication (17%) in 85 - 90% relative humidity level. The highest rooting surface lenght was found in 1500 ppm hormone dose (0.53 cm) in 95 - 100% and 2500 ppm IBA dose application (0.42 cm) in 85 - 90% humidity level. With respect to root numbers, the highest value was from 1500 ppm IBA application (1.29 number/cutting) in 95 - 100% relative humidity, and 500 and 2500 ppm IBA doses (1.04 number/cutting) in 85 - 90% relative humidity level. The longest root was obtained from control group (2.03 cm) in 95 - 100% humidity level and 500 ppm IBA hormone dose (1.80 cm) in 85 - 90% humidity level. The shortest root was obtained from 2500 ppm IBA hormone dose  application (0.09 cm) in 85-90% humidity level. The highest root branching value was obtained from 1500 ppm hormone doseapplication (0.88 number/cutting) in 95 - 100% humidity level

Effect of finishing on performance characteristics of woven and warp-knitted terry fabrics

The influence of some finishing processes has been studied on the performance characteristics of woven and warp-knitted terry fabrics with open-end pile warp. Terry fabrics of similar structural parameters have been produced by weaving or warp knitting and then subjected to finishing processes which are commonly applied by the textile industry. Samples are extracted at different stages of the finishing processes. Water absorption behavior, structural parameters, and mechanical properties are evaluated and the results are compared by statistical analysis of the obtained data. It is observed that compared to greige terry fabrics, the finishing treatment increases basis weight and dimensional stability due to shrinkage occurred with relaxation, water absorption rate due to the removal of size and other hydrophobic substances, and elongation ratio because of the elimination of size film during pretreatment processing. Woven terry fabrics give higher strength values and warp-knitted terry fabrics show higher elongation

Radiological evaluation of the styloid process length in the normal population

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the styloid process (SP) length in the normal population using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT).Materials and methods: In this study, 160 patients who underwent paranasal MDCT between January 2012 and December 2012 were retrospectively evaluated. The patients were divided into groups according to their age and gender: Group 1 age 31–40 years old, 111 subjects; Group 2 age 41–50 years old, 49 subjects; Group A 98 males; Group B 62 females. The mean SP length was calculated from the mean of 2 measurements. SPs were assessed for their average lengths in different gender and age groups. Student’s t-test was used for the comparison of the mean SP lengths between the groups. Differences were considered to be statistically significant at p < 0.05.Results: The mean SP length on both sides varied from 18 to 51 mm (28.4 ± 5.5) in all the patients. The mean SP length was 27.2 ± 5.2 mm in females and 29.2 ± 5.6 mm in males. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean SP lengths in terms of gender (p < 0.028). The mean SP length was 28.5 ± 5.7 mm in Group 1 and 28.2 ± 5.1 mm in Group 2. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean SP lengths in terms of age (p > 0.718).Conclusions: In conclusion, there is still no consensus on the normal values of SP length. Normal values should be determined according to the geographical regions and ethnic groups for the diagnosis of Eagle’s syndrome.

Exponential Metric Fields

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission will use advanced technologies to achieve its science goals: the direct detection of gravitational waves, the observation of signals from compact (small and dense) stars as they spiral into black holes, the study of the role of massive black holes in galaxy evolution, the search for gravitational wave emission from the early Universe. The gravitational red-shift, the advance of the perihelion of Mercury, deflection of light and the time delay of radar signals are the classical tests in the first order of General Relativity (GR). However, LISA can possibly test Einstein's theories in the second order and perhaps, it will show some particular feature of non-linearity of gravitational interaction. In the present work we are seeking a method to construct theoretical templates that limit in the first order the tensorial structure of some metric fields, thus the non-linear terms are given by exponential functions of gravitational strength. The Newtonian limit obtained here, in the first order, is equivalent to GR.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science, 17 page

Equality of averaged and quenched large deviations for random walks in random environments in dimensions four and higher

We consider large deviations for nearest-neighbor random walk in a uniformly elliptic i.i.d. environment. It is easy to see that the quenched and the averaged rate functions are not identically equal. When the dimension is at least four and Sznitman's transience condition (T) is satisfied, we prove that these rate functions are finite and equal on a closed set whose interior contains every nonzero velocity at which the rate functions vanish.Comment: 17 pages. Minor revision. In particular, note the change in the title of the paper. To appear in Probability Theory and Related Fields

Temperature dependence of the Raman-active phonon frequencies in indium sulfide

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The temperature dependence of the Raman-active mode frequencies in indium sulfide was measured in the range from 10 to 300 K. The analysis of the temperature dependence of the A(g) intralayer optical modes show that Raman frequency shift results from the change of harmonic frequency with volume expansion and anharmonic coupling to phonons of other branches. The pure-temperature contribution (phonon-phonon coupling) is due to three- and four-phonon processes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved