Researching Cooperation and Communication in Continuous Software Engineering

Continuous Software Engineering (CSE) - -continuous development and deployment of software - -and DevOps - -the close cooperation or integration of operations and software development - -is about to change how software is developed. Together with the tighter integration of development and operations also with usage this will change coordination and collaboration both between IT professionals and between developers and users. In this short paper, we discuss the CHASE dimension of three core research themes that begin to crystallize in literature. This position paper is intended as a 'call to arms' for the CHASE community to study CSE

Tool Life and Wear Modelling in Metal Cutting, Part 2 ─ Based on Combining the Archard and the Colding Equations

In this article an analytical and empirical model for describing tool life and tool wear in metal cutting is presented. The model is based on combining the Colding tool life equation and an extended version of the Archard wear function. It is shown that through the combining of these two models a substantial saving of resources can be achieved in terms of the workpiece material required, as well as the manpower and machine time needed for determining the model constants and the optimum cutting data to be employed

Selecting Cutting Data Tests for Cutting Data Modeling Using the Colding Tool Life Model

An analysis on selecting cutting speed, cutting feed and depth of cut when collecting data for the Colding Tool Life Model based on Woxen's Equivalent Chip Thickness was performed to achieve the lowest possible model error. All possible combinations of a large data set were evaluated with regard to model error. This work shows that an increase of ratio between the highest and lowest cutting speed, feed, depth of cut and tool life within the five included tool life tests increases the likelihood of an accurate model. Further, to ensure an accurate model, it is not enough to have a large ratio of one single parameter, but a large ratio in all parameters is needed. The paper also presents a suggestion on how to select the cutting data points, derived from the best performing tool life models. It is concluded that one should aim to have one pair of cutting data points with equal equivalent chip thickness while varying cutting speed and three more test points with different equivalent chip thickness

Multimodal agent interfaces and system architectures for health and fitness companions

Multimodal conversational spoken dialogues using physical and virtual agents provide a potential interface to motivate and support users in the domain of health and fitness. In this paper we present how such multimodal conversational Companions can be implemented to support their owners in various pervasive and mobile settings. In particular, we focus on different forms of multimodality and system architectures for such interfaces

Niraparib in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DNA repair gene defects (GALAHAD):a multicentre, open-label, phase 2 trial

Background: Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancers are enriched for DNA repair gene defects (DRDs) that can be susceptible to synthetic lethality through inhibition of PARP proteins. We evaluated the anti-tumour activity and safety of the PARP inhibitor niraparib in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancers and DRDs who progressed on previous treatment with an androgen signalling inhibitor and a taxane. Methods: In this multicentre, open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study, patients aged at least 18 years with histologically confirmed metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mixed histology accepted, with the exception of the small cell pure phenotype) and DRDs (assessed in blood, tumour tissue, or saliva), with progression on a previous next-generation androgen signalling inhibitor and a taxane per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors 1.1 or Prostate Cancer Working Group 3 criteria and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–2, were eligible. Enrolled patients received niraparib 300 mg orally once daily until treatment discontinuation, death, or study termination. For the final study analysis, all patients who received at least one dose of study drug were included in the safety analysis population; patients with germline pathogenic or somatic biallelic pathogenic alterations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA cohort) or biallelic alterations in other prespecified DRDs (non-BRCA cohort) were included in the efficacy analysis population. The primary endpoint was objective response rate in patients with BRCA alterations and measurable disease (measurable BRCA cohort). This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02854436. Findings: Between Sept 28, 2016, and June 26, 2020, 289 patients were enrolled, of whom 182 (63%) had received three or more systemic therapies for prostate cancer. 223 (77%) of 289 patients were included in the overall efficacy analysis population, which included BRCA (n=142) and non-BRCA (n=81) cohorts. At final analysis, with a median follow-up of 10·0 months (IQR 6·6–13·3), the objective response rate in the measurable BRCA cohort (n=76) was 34·2% (95% CI 23·7–46·0). In the safety analysis population, the most common treatment-emergent adverse events of any grade were nausea (169 [58%] of 289), anaemia (156 [54%]), and vomiting (111 [38%]); the most common grade 3 or worse events were haematological (anaemia in 95 [33%] of 289; thrombocytopenia in 47 [16%]; and neutropenia in 28 [10%]). Of 134 (46%) of 289 patients with at least one serious treatment-emergent adverse event, the most common were also haematological (thrombocytopenia in 17 [6%] and anaemia in 13 [4%]). Two adverse events with fatal outcome (one patient with urosepsis in the BRCA cohort and one patient with sepsis in the non-BRCA cohort) were deemed possibly related to niraparib treatment. Interpretation: Niraparib is tolerable and shows anti-tumour activity in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DRDs, particularly in those with BRCA alterations. Funding: Janssen Research & Development

Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition.

Phenotypic traits and their associated trade-offs have been shown to have globally consistent effects on individual plant physiological functions, but how these effects scale up to influence competition, a key driver of community assembly in terrestrial vegetation, has remained unclear. Here we use growth data from more than 3 million trees in over 140,000 plots across the world to show how three key functional traits--wood density, specific leaf area and maximum height--consistently influence competitive interactions. Fast maximum growth of a species was correlated negatively with its wood density in all biomes, and positively with its specific leaf area in most biomes. Low wood density was also correlated with a low ability to tolerate competition and a low competitive effect on neighbours, while high specific leaf area was correlated with a low competitive effect. Thus, traits generate trade-offs between performance with competition versus performance without competition, a fundamental ingredient in the classical hypothesis that the coexistence of plant species is enabled via differentiation in their successional strategies. Competition within species was stronger than between species, but an increase in trait dissimilarity between species had little influence in weakening competition. No benefit of dissimilarity was detected for specific leaf area or wood density, and only a weak benefit for maximum height. Our trait-based approach to modelling competition makes generalization possible across the forest ecosystems of the world and their highly diverse species composition.We are especially grateful to the researchers whose long-term commitment to establish and maintain forest plots and their associated databases made this study possible, and to those who granted us data access: forest inventories and permanent plots of New Zealand, Spain (MAGRAMA), France, Switzerland, Sweden, US and Canada (for the provinces of Quebec provided by the Ministère des Ressources Naturelles du Québec, Ontario provided by OnTAP’s Growth and Yield Program of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador), CTFS (BCI and LTER-Luquillo), Taiwan (Fushan), Cirad (Paracou with funding by CEBA, ANR-10-LABX-25-01), Cirad, MEFCP and ICRA (M’Baïki) and Japan. We thank MPI-BGC Jena, who host TRY, and the international funding networks supporting TRY (IGBP, DIVERSITAS, GLP, NERC, QUEST, FRB and GIS Climate). G.K. was supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Program (Demo-Traits project, no. 299340). The working group that initiated this synthesis was supported by Macquarie University and by Australian Research Council through a fellowship to M.W.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature1647

Archive of Darkness:William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire

Situating itself in histories of cinema and installation art, William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire (2005) raises questions about screens, exhibition space, site-specificity and spectatorship. Through his timely intervention in a debate on Germany’s colonial past, Kentridge’s postcolonial art has contributed to the recognition and remembrance of a forgotten, colonial genocide. This article argues that, by transposing his signature technique of drawings for projection onto a new set of media, Kentridge explores how and what we can know through cinematic projection in the white cube. In particular, his metaphor of the illuminated shadow enables him to animate archival fragments as shadows and silhouettes. By creating a multi-directional archive, Black Box enables an affective engagement with the spectres of colonialism and provides a forum for the calibration of moral questions around reparation, reconciliation and forgiveness

Niraparib in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DNA repair gene defects (GALAHAD): a multicentre, open-label, phase 2 trial

Background Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancers are enriched for DNA repair gene defects (DRDs) that can be susceptible to synthetic lethality through inhibition of PARP proteins. We evaluated the anti-tumour activity and safety of the PARP inhibitor niraparib in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancers and DRDs who progressed on previous treatment with an androgen signalling inhibitor and a taxane. Methods In this multicentre, open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study, patients aged at least 18 years with histologically confirmed metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mixed histology accepted, with the exception of the small cell pure phenotype) and DRDs (assessed in blood, tumour tissue, or saliva), with progression on a previous next-generation androgen signalling inhibitor and a taxane per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors 1.1 or Prostate Cancer Working Group 3 criteria and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–2, were eligible. Enrolled patients received niraparib 300 mg orally once daily until treatment discontinuation, death, or study termination. For the final study analysis, all patients who received at least one dose of study drug were included in the safety analysis population; patients with germline pathogenic or somatic biallelic pathogenic alterations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA cohort) or biallelic alterations in other prespecified DRDs (non-BRCA cohort) were included in the efficacy analysis population. The primary endpoint was objective response rate in patients with BRCA alterations and measurable disease (measurable BRCA cohort). This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02854436. Findings Between Sept 28, 2016, and June 26, 2020, 289 patients were enrolled, of whom 182 (63%) had received three or more systemic therapies for prostate cancer. 223 (77%) of 289 patients were included in the overall efficacy analysis population, which included BRCA (n=142) and non-BRCA (n=81) cohorts. At final analysis, with a median follow-up of 10·0 months (IQR 6·6–13·3), the objective response rate in the measurable BRCA cohort (n=76) was 34·2% (95% CI 23·7–46·0). In the safety analysis population, the most common treatment-emergent adverse events of any grade were nausea (169 [58%] of 289), anaemia (156 [54%]), and vomiting (111 [38%]); the most common grade 3 or worse events were haematological (anaemia in 95 [33%] of 289; thrombocytopenia in 47 [16%]; and neutropenia in 28 [10%]). Of 134 (46%) of 289 patients with at least one serious treatment-emergent adverse event, the most common were also haematological (thrombocytopenia in 17 [6%] and anaemia in 13 [4%]). Two adverse events with fatal outcome (one patient with urosepsis in the BRCA cohort and one patient with sepsis in the non-BRCA cohort) were deemed possibly related to niraparib treatment. Interpretation Niraparib is tolerable and shows anti-tumour activity in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DRDs, particularly in those with BRCA alterations

Att möta patienten där den är En kvalitativ studie om kuratorssamtalets betydelse för patienter i somatisk öppenvård

Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva och söka förståelse för vilken betydelse kuratorssamtal kan ha för patienter i somatisk öppenvård samt på vilket sätt kuratorssamtalet kan komplettera den medicinska vården. Utifrån våra frågeställningar handlade undersökningen om vad som enligt patienterna varit viktigt i kuratorssamtalet, på vilket sätt kuratorssamtalet har förändrat patienternas sätt att förhålla sig till sin livssituation samt på vilket sätt kuratorssamtalet kan vara ett komplement till den medicinska vården. Vi har använt oss av kvalitativ metod och semistrukturerad intervju som insamlingsinstrument. Vi genomförde totalt sex intervjuer med dels patienter som har pågående kuratorssamtal och dels patienter som avslutat sina kuratorssamtal tidigast 2008. Vår empiri har vi analyserat utifrån begrepp ur teori för psykosocialt arbete, copingteori, känsla av sammanhang (KASAM), WHO:s definition av hälsa samt tidigare forskning. Resultatet visade att en viktig initial del i kuratorssamtalet var att patientens behov och hjälpförväntningar uppmärksammades vilket sedan kunde resultera i en god behandlingsrelation. Som andra viktiga faktorer kunde patienterna få vägledning samt använda kuratorn som ett bollplank. Vi kunde konstatera att flera patienter genom kuratorssamtalet förändrat sitt förhållningssätt till sin livssituation. Det framkom att ett förändrat förhållningssätt kunde vara av både praktisk och vardaglig karaktär men också kognitivt. Patienten kunde därav på ett mer adekvat sätt bemöta de följder som blivit av sjukdom. Resultatet visade även på att kuratorssamtalet som ett komplement till den medicinska vården bidrog till att patienten upplevde sig sedd utifrån sin helhetssituation och att någon hade förståelse för det som sjukdomen orsakat. Samtalsstödet som kuratorn erbjöd var en faktor som gjorde att patienten kunde bearbeta det som var en följd av somatisk sjukdom. Utifrån vår empiri drog vi slutsatsen att kuratorssamtalet har stor betydelse för patienter i somatisk öppenvård. Utan kuratorn riskerar sjukvården att inte ha någon som ser patienten i sin sociala kontext och kan ge stöd utöver den medicinska vården. Ytterligare konklusioner är att det är viktigt att kuratorn uppmärksammar patientens hjälpförväntningar för att stödet i kuratorssamtalet upplevs adekvat. Vi har även sett att kuratorssamtalet bidrar till en förståelse och att situationen upplevs påverkbar