Scaling Agile Beyond Organizational Boundaries: Coordination Challenges in Software Ecosystems

The shift from sequential to agile software development originates from relatively small and co-located teams but soon gained prominence in larger organizations. How to apply and scale agile practices to fit the needs of larger projects has been studied to quite an extent in previous research. However, scaling agile beyond organizational boundaries, for instance in a software ecosystem context, raises additional challenges that existing studies and approaches do not yet investigate or address in great detail. For that reason, we conducted a case study in two software ecosystems that comprise several agile actors from different organizations and, thereby, scale development across organizational boundaries, in order to elaborate and understand their coordination challenges. Our results indicate that most of the identified challenges are caused by long communication paths and a lack of established processes to facilitate these paths. As a result, the participants in our study, among others, experience insufficient responsivity, insufficient communication of prioritizations and deliverables, and alterations or loss of information. As a consequence, agile practices need to be extended to fit the identified needs

2,3,6,7-Tetra­bromo-9-butyl-9H-carbazole

In he title compound, C16H13Br4N, the carbazole skeleton is nearly planar [maximum deviation = 0.026 (4) Å] and makes a dihedral angle of 73.8 (4)° with the butyl chain. The butyl chain adopts a trans conformation. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by π–π stacking inter­actions [centroid–centroid distance = 3.559 (2) Å]

Anatomic & metabolic brain markers of the m.3243A>G mutation: A multi-parametric 7T MRI study

One of the most common mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, the A to G transition at base pair 3243, has been linked to changes in the brain, in addition to commonly observed hearing problems, diabetes and myopathy. However, a detailed quantitative description of m.3243A>G patients' brains has not been provided so far. In this study, ultra-high field MRI at 7T and volume- and surface-based data analyses approaches were used to highlight morphology (i.e. atrophy)-, microstructure (i.e. myelin and iron concentration)- and metabolism (i.e. cerebral blood flow)-related differences between patients (N = 22) and healthy controls (N = 15). The use of quantitative MRI at 7T allowed us to detect subtle changes of biophysical processes in the brain with high accuracy and sensitivity, in addition to typically assessed lesions and atrophy. Furthermore, the effect of m.3243A>G mutation load in blood and urine epithelial cells on these MRI measures was assessed within the patient population and revealed that blood levels were most indicative of the brain's state and disease severity, based on MRI as well as on neuropsychological data. Morphometry MRI data showed a wide-spread reduction of cortical, subcortical and cerebellar gray matter volume, in addition to significantly enlarged ventricles. Moreover, surface-based analyses revealed brain area-specific changes in cortical thickness (e.g. of the auditory cortex), and in T1, T2* and cerebral blood flow as a function of mutation load, which can be linked to typically m.3243A>G-related clinical symptoms (e.g. hearing impairment). In addition, several regions linked to attentional control (e.g. middle frontal gyrus), the sensorimotor network (e.g. banks of central sulcus) and the default mode network (e.g. precuneus) were characterized by alterations in cortical thickness, T1, T2* and/or cerebral blood flow, which has not been described in previous MRI studies. Finally, several hypotheses, based either on vascular, metabolic or astroglial implications of the m.3243A>G mutation, are discussed that potentially explain the underlying pathobiology. To conclude, this is the first 7T and also the largest MRI study on this patient population that provides macroscopic brain correlates of the m.3243A>G mutation indicating potential MRI biomarkers of mitochondrial diseases and might guide future (longitudinal) studies to extensively track neuropathological and clinical changes

Feasibility of pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling at 7 T with whole-brain coverage

Neuro Imaging Researc

Mapping the Organization of Axis of Motion Selective Features in Human Area MT Using High-Field fMRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at high magnetic fields has made it possible to investigate the columnar organization of the human brain in vivo with high degrees of accuracy and sensitivity. Until now, these results have been limited to the organization principles of early visual cortex (V1). While the middle temporal area (MT) has been the first identified extra-striate visual area shown to exhibit a columnar organization in monkeys, evidence of MT's columnar response properties and topographic layout in humans has remained elusive. Research using various approaches suggests similar response properties as in monkeys but failed to provide direct evidence for direction or axis of motion selectivity in human area MT. By combining state of the art pulse sequence design, high spatial resolution in all three dimensions (0.8 mm isotropic), optimized coil design, ultrahigh field magnets (7 Tesla) and novel high resolution cortical grid sampling analysis tools, we provide the first direct evidence for large-scale axis of motion selective feature organization in human area MT closely matching predictions from topographic columnar-level simulations

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 3 - Meeting Abstracts - Antwerp, Belgium. 15–20 July 2017

This work was produced as part of the activities of FAPESP Research,\ud Disseminations and Innovation Center for Neuromathematics (grant\ud 2013/07699-0, S. Paulo Research Foundation). NLK is supported by a\ud FAPESP postdoctoral fellowship (grant 2016/03855-5). ACR is partially\ud supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

Biyodizel kullanımında püskürtme avansının performans ve emisyonlara etkisi

BİYODİZEL KULLANIMINDA PÜSKÜRTME AVANSININ PERFORMANS VE EMİSYONLARA ETKİSİ Endüstrileşmedeki ve nüfustaki artıştan dolayı, enerji ihtiyacı giderek artmaktadır. Fosil yakıtların kullanımı sayesinde insanların hayat standartları yükselmiştir. Ancak fosil yakıtların hızla tüketilmeleri ve kullanımından kaynaklanan hava kirliliği önemli bir sorun haline gelmiştir. Bu nedenle günümüzde alternatif yakıtlar üzerindeki çalışmalar önem kazanmaya başlamış ve bitkisel yağlardan üretilen biyodizelin dizel motorlarda önemli bir değişiklik yapılmaksızın kullanılması gündeme gelmiştir. Buna ilişkin olarak, motor performansını ve emisyonlarını etkileyen temel faktörlerden birisi olan püskürtme avansı üzerindeki çalışmalar önem kazanmıştır. Bu çalışmada, biyodizel-dizel yakıtı karışımı kullanılan tek silindirli, dört zamanlı ve direkt püskürtmeli bir dizel motorda püskürtme avansının motor performansı ve egzoz emisyonlarına etkisi deneysel olarak araştırılmıştır. Motor testlerinde B5, B20, B50 ve B100 yakıt karışımları kullanılmıştır. Her yakıt sabit motor devrinde (2200 d/d) farklı püskürtme avanslarında ve farklı motor yüklerinde (5, 10, 15, 20 N.m) test edilmiştir. Test motorunun standart püskürtme avansı üst ölü noktadan önce 20o krank mili açısıdır. Bu çalışmada üç farklı püskürtme avansı (üst ölü noktadan önce 15o, 20o ve 25o krank mili açısı) kullanılmıştır. Test sonuçlarına göre; karışım içindeki biyodizel miktarı arttıkça özgül yakıt tüketimi, özgül enerji tüketimi, sıcaklık, azot oksit ve karbondioksit emisyonlarında artış ve karbonmonoksit, hidrokarbon ve is emisyonları ile efektif verimde azalma gözlemlenmiştir. Aynı şekilde, püskürtme avansı standart değerin dışına çıkarıldığı zaman, özgül yakıt tüketimi ve özgül enerji tüketiminde artış, efektif verimde azalma gözlemlenmiştir. Püskürtme avansı standart değerden erkene alındığı zaman karbonmonoksit, hidrokarbon ve is emisyonlarında azalma, karbondioksit, azot oksit emisyonları ile sıcaklıkta artış meydana gelmiştir. Püskürtme avansı standart değerden geciktirildiği zaman ise, karbonmonoksit, hidrokarbon ve is emisyonlarında artış, karbondioksit, azot oksit emisyonlarında ve sıcaklıkta azalma meydana gelmiştir. ABSTRACT EFFECT OF INJECTION TIMING ON THE PERFORMANCE AND EMISSIONS WITH BIODIESEL Because of the industrialization and the increase in population, the need for energy grew increasingly. Life standards of people increased thanks to the use of fossil fuels. But, rapid consumption of fossil fuels and air pollution resulting from their usage has become a major concern. Thus, nowadays studies on alternative fuels have become more of an issue and use of biodiesel produced from vegetable oils in diesel engines without a major modification has become a current issue. Related to this, studies on injection timing, one of the main elements affecting the engine performance and emissions, have gain importance. In this study; the influence of the injection timing on the engine performance and exhaust emissions of a single cylinder, four-stroke and direct injection diesel engine using biodiesel-diesel fuel blend has been investigated experimentally. Fuel blends B5, B20, B50 and B100 were used on engine tests. All fuels were tested at fixed engine speed (2200 rpm) with various injecting timings and engine loads (5, 10, 15, 20 N.m). Standard injection timing of the test engine was 20o crankshaft angle before top dead center. In this study, three different injection timings (15o, 20o and 25o crankshaft angle before top dead center) were used. According to the test results; when the biodiesel content in the mixture increased, there was an increase in specific fuel consumption, specific energy consumption, temperature, nitrogen oxide and carbonmonoxide emissions, and a decrease in carbonmonoxide, hydrocarbon and smoke emissions together with thermal efficiency. In the same way, when the injection timing was varied from the standard value, there was an increase in specific fuel consumption and specific energy consumption and a decrease in thermal efficiency. When the injection timing was advanced, there was a decrease in carbonmonoxide, hydrocarbon, smoke emissions and there was an increase in carbondioxide, nitrogen oxide emissions and temperature. When the injection timing was retarded, there was an increase in carbonmonoxide, hydrocarbon, smoke emissions and there was a decrease in carbondioxide, nitrogen oxide emissions and temperature