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Lightweight SPI Assessments: What is the real Cost?
No full textIn this paper we describe the implementation of an assessment method that was developed to assess software processes within small to medium-sized Irish software organisations that have little or no experience of software process improvement (SPI) programmes. We discuss the actual overheads associated with performing software process assessments based upon our experiences of performing assessments in three small to medium sized (SMEs) software development companies
Improving Software Risk Management in a Medical Device Company
No full textSoftware Risk Management (RM) within Medical Device (MD) companies is a critical area. Failure of the software can have potentially catastrophic effects, leading to injury of patients or even death. Therefore regulators penalise MD manufacturers that do not devote sufficient attention to the areas of hazard analysis and RM throughout the software lifecycle.
This paper describes the experience of a MD software development organization when they engaged in a research project to improve their RM practices. We explain how this was achieved through the development of a software process improvement RM model that integrates regulatory MD RM requirements with the goals and practices of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). This model is known as the Risk Management Capability Model (RMCM). The authors describe the complete project lifecycle and evaluate the success of the project
Metal uptake in Lolium perenne established on spent mushroom compost amended lead-zinc tailings
Get PDFA greenhouse trial was performed to contrast the growth and metal accumulation in Lolium perenne established on pyritic tailings amended with varying applications of spent mushroom compost (SMC). The lead-zinc tailings were retrieved from a moderately vegetated land impoundment facility located at Gortmore, Silvermines, Co. Tipperary and SMC was incorporated at application rates of 0, 50, 100, 200 and 400 t ha-1. The grass species Lolium perenne was sown at an application rate of 200 kg ha-1 and the subsequent biomass determined after 42 days and 84 days. For the most part, metal concentrations in Lolium perenne showed a significant linear response (P<0.05) to SMC application and generally decreased favorably with increasing SMC application (P<0.05). This phenomenon may be attributed to the vast biosorption capacity of SMC owing to the presence of phenolic, carboxyl and phenolic functional groups, the development of stable metal chelates by the organic matter present in SMC and/or by the biosorbing of toxic metals by fungal mycelium, however this reduction in metal uptake by Lolium perenne is most likely due to greater plant dry weight caused by the increasing SMC applications. In spite of this, Lolium perenne suffered severe toxicity resulting from the inherently high concentrations of total zinc (1443 to 5920 mg kg-1), lead (33 to 478 mg kg-1) and cadmium (1.4 to 49 mg kg-1) accumulated within the plant 84 days after seeding, the grass had adversely withered irrespective of SMC application. Therefore, a barrier break must be introduced in the tailings facility to prevent the uptake and accumulation of these lethal metal concentrations by plants. Only then should SMC and other suitable soil forming materials be utilized as growing media, as the incorporation of an organic amendment followed by direct seeding of a grass species is not economically or environmentally viable for permanent revegetation of the Gortmore TMF
Voice Recognition Technology for Spreadsheet Navigation and Information Retrieval
No full textDue to the large volume of data that spreadsheets can store, finding meaningful information
can be a difficult task. Existing tools can be quite complex and difficult to master, especially for novice
spreadsheet users. In the past Natural Language Interfaces have been used to improve the efficiency of
using similar tools. This work aims to look at the use of a Natural Language Interface to provide an easier
means of interaction with information retrieval tools for novice spreadsheet users
Preparing for Product Derivation: Activities and Issues
No full textSoftware product lines (SPL) advocates the development of applications by reusing shared software assets across a set of related products. Current approaches to the derivation of products from a product line has focused on handling the commonalities and variabilities of the shared software assets. These approaches have failed to consider the early phases of product derivation. In this paper we report on how we compared both industrial and academic approaches to the establishment of a product derivation project. Based on this research and our experiences, we have identified key activities and important issues that should be considered when establishing a product
derivation projec
An investigation of macrophyte and macroinvertebrates communities in lowland sites in on the rivers of Milltown (Muckno Mill) lake catchment, Co. Monaghan, Ireland
Get PDFRisk Management capability model for the development of medical device software
Get PDFFailure of medical device (MD) software can have potentially catastrophic effects, leading to injury of patients or even death. Therefore regulators penalise MD manufacturers who do not demonstrate that sufficient attention is devoted to the areas of hazard analysis and risk management (RM) throughout the software lifecycle. This paper has two main objectives. The first objective is to compare how thorough current MD regulations are with relation to the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®) in specifying what RM practices MD companies should adopt when developing software. The second objective is to present a Risk Management Capability Model (RMCM) for the MD software industry, that is geared towards improving software quality, safety and reliability. Our analysis indicates that 41 RM sub-practices would have to be performed in order to satisfy MD regulations and that only an additional 8 sub-practices would be required in order to satisfy all the CMMI® level 1 requirements. Additionally, MD companies satisfying the CMMI® goals of the RM process area by performing the CMMI® RM practices will not meet the requirements of the MD software RM regulations as an additional 20 MD specific sub-practices had to be added to meet the objectives of RMC
Inner-Active Art: an Examination of Aesthetic & Communicative Issues in Physiologically Based Artworks
Get PDFMuch art seeks to describe or stimulate the feelings and emotions of the viewer, through both
abstract and literal representation. With the exponential increase in computing power over recent years we also seek new ways of interacting with technology and exploring the virtual world. Physiological signals from the human body provide us with a view into the autonomic nervous system, that part of the nervous system largely unmediated by the direct intentions of the viewer. With the appropriate choice of signals and processing, we can even develop systems with the ability to interact with us on an emotional level - machines that know how we feel and can react accordingly (Haag et. al., 2004). This gives us the ability to see into and map the interior worlds of artists and viewers through a direct and visceral connection, the human body itself.
A key issue in the development of physiologically based artwork is to make the observer-artwork dialogue meaningful to the observer, a question of translating the input bio-signals to visual, auditory or experiential events. We have yet to develop a suitable language for this dialogue and so this paper seeks to explore some potential mappings for bio-signal art, illustrated using several case studies from past and current works (Knapp et.al., 2008) (Gonsalves, 2009).
We also examine some of the other philosophical and artistic issues involved in 'affective' and bio-art such as monitoring emotion v. engendering emotion, the involvement of the observer in creating and contributing to bio-signal art and strategies for effectively developing such works
