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A Proposed Way for European Software Industries to Achieve Growth Within the Global Marketplace
No full textGlobal market expansion forces the competition in the field of software development to grow extremely fast. Accordingly, countries that base their brand in the field of information technologies are looking forward to quality and productivity improvement along with price reduction. One of the major trends in the global market is outsourcing, which is considered to be an opportunity to achieve best knowledge, extra resources and assurance of quality development, speed time to market, and cut costs. The role of emerging nations in this context increases every day, pushing out the old players. This article will therefore suggest how software development should change within the Northern Ireland (NI) software industry and adopt a global software development model in order to continue as a major player within the global software development industry
Adept – A Software Process Appraisal Method for Small to Medium-sized Software Development Organisations
No full textIn this paper we describe the appraisal method that was developed by Lero (the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre) and Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) 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 developed a method, called Adept, through investigating the key factors that contribute to an effective software assessment method, reflecting the desires of Irish SMEs in terms of providing a “manageable” approach to SPI and through expanding upon the Express Process Appraisal (EPA) method [1] to fulfil these objectives
Pacemaker activity in urethral interstitial cells is not dependent on capacitative calcium entry.
No full textThe aim of the present study was to investigate the properties and role of capacitative Ca(2+) entry (CCE) in interstitial cells (IC) isolated from the rabbit urethra. Ca(2+) entry in IC was larger in cells with depleted intracellular Ca(2+) stores compared with controls, consistent with influx via a CCE pathway. The nonselective Ca(2+) entry blockers Gd(3+) (10 microM), La(3+) (10 microM), and Ni(2+) (100 microM) reduced CCE by 67% (n = 14), 65% (n = 11), and 55% (n = 9), respectively. These agents did not inhibit Ca(2+) entry when stores were not depleted. Conversely, CCE in IC was resistant to SKF-96365 (10 microM), wortmannin (10 microM), and nifedipine (1 microM). Spontaneous transient inward currents were recorded from IC voltage-clamped at -60 mV. These events were not significantly affected by Gd(3+) (10 microM) or La(3+) (10 microM) and were only slightly decreased in amplitude by 100 microM Ni(2+). The results from this study demonstrate that freshly dispersed IC from the rabbit urethra possess a CCE pathway. However, influx via this pathway does not appear to contribute to spontaneous activity in these cells
Growth through export
No full textThe vast majority of businesses in Ireland are small and medium sized enterprises. The importance of the SME contribution to the Irish economy in general, and export earnings in particular, is therefore clear. However, small business survival rates are unacceptably low and in the struggle for survival, growth is clearly an important element. Exporting is one of the most important forms of such growth. Therefore, success in export markets is crucial to the long term growth of Irish business and the Irish economy. In response to the above an extensive amount of research has been conducted with the object of tracing factors impeding export activity. In light of certain gaps in the relevant literature, this study attempts to improve our understanding of some of the factors that encourage and discourage SMEs to export. The study examines the characteristics of both exporting and non-exporting SMEs and how they differentiate from each other in regard to the background of the owner-manager, company background, and the barriers they face in relation to exporting. Following a review of extant literature certain organisational and managerial elements along with external factors were identified as potentially important discriminators between exporting and non-exporting. The methodology adopted in the study is outlined and justified. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to extract statistics. Thereafter, findings are presented and discussed. The results suggest that exporters and non-exporters differ in many ways. The main barriers appear to be within the domestic country. The report recommends that the Irish government must do more to facility SMEs exporters and non-exporters
An Evaluation of CMMI Process Areas for Small to Medium Sized Software Development Organisations
No full textIn this paper we describe the results of CMMI software process appraisal work with six small-to-medium sized software development companies. Our analysis of six CMMI Process Areas appraised within each of these organisations is presented. Commonly practiced or not practiced elements of the model are identified, leading to the notion of perceived value associated with each specific CMMI practice. A finer grained framework which
encompasses the notion of perceived value within specific practices is presented. We argue that such a framework provides incentive to small-to-medium sized enterprises starting process improvement programmes
The civil service, the State and the Irish Revolution, 1886-1938
Get PDFThe thesis utilizes the records of the State in Ireland under British and Irish governments, the records of the civil service trade unions and organizations, and the personal papers of the key politicians and civil servants of the period to analyze the role and response of the bureaucracy in a revolutionary transformation of the State
How European Software Industries can prepare for growth within the Global Marketplace - Northern Irish Strategies
No full textGlobal market expansion forces the competition in the field of software development to grow extremely fast. Accordingly, countries that base their brand in the field of information technologies are looking forward to quality and productivity improvement along with price reduction. One of the major trends in the global market is outsourcing, which is considered to be an opportunity to achieve best knowledge, extra resources and assurance of quality development, speed time-to-market, and cut costs. The role of emerging nations in this context increases every day, pushing out the old players. This paper will therefore suggest how software development should change within the Northern Ireland (NI) software industry and adopt a global software development model in order to continue as a major player within the global software development industry
Calcium oscillations in interstitial cells of the rabbit urethra
Get PDFMeasurements were made (using fast confocal microscopy) of intracellular Ca2+ levels in fluo-4 loaded interstitial cells isolated from the rabbit urethra. These cells exhibited regular Ca2+ oscillations which were associated with spontaneous transient inward currents recorded under voltage clamp. Interference with D-myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) induced Ca2+ release using 100 microm 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate, and the phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitors 2-nitro-4-carboxyphenyl N,N-diphenylcarbamate and U73122 decreased the amplitude of spontaneous oscillations but did not abolish them. However, oscillations were abolished when ryanodine receptors were blocked with tetracaine or ryanodine. Oscillations ceased in the absence of external Ca2+, and frequency was directly proportional to the external Ca2+ concentration. Frequency of Ca2+ oscillation was reduced by SKF-96365, but not by nifedipine. Lanthanum and cadmium completely blocked oscillations. These results suggest that Ca2+ oscillations in isolated rabbit urethral interstitial cells are initiated by Ca2+ release from ryanodine-sensitive intracellular stores, that oscillation frequency is very sensitive to the external Ca2+ concentration and that conversion of the primary oscillation to a propagated Ca2+ wave depends upon IP3-induced Ca2+ release
One Island-2 Systems
Get PDFoai:eprints.dkit.ie:9A comparison of health status and health and social
service use by community-dwelling older people in
the Republic of Ireland and Northern Irelan