A decision support framework for metrics selection in goal-based measurement programs: GQM-DSFMS

Software organizations face challenges in managing and sustaining their measurement programs over time. The complexity of measurement programs increase with exploding number of goals and metrics to collect. At the same time, organizations usually have limited budget and resources for metrics collection. It has been recognized for quite a while that there is the need for prioritizing goals, which then ought to drive the selection of metrics. On the other hand, the dynamic nature of the organizations requires measurement programs to adapt to the changes in the stakeholders, their goals, information needs and priorities. Therefore, it is crucial for organizations to use structured approaches that provide transparency, traceability and guidance in choosing an optimum set of metrics that would address the highest priority information needs considering limited resources. This paper proposes a decision support framework for metrics selection (DSFMS) which is built upon the widely used Goal Question Metric (GQM) approach. The core of the framework includes an iterative goal-based metrics selection process incorporating decision making mechanisms in metrics selection, a pre-defined Attributes/Metrics Repository, and a Traceability Model among GQM elements. We also discuss alternative prioritization and optimization techniques for organizations to tailor the framework according to their needs. The evaluation of the GQM-DSFMS framework was done through a case study in a CMMI Level 3 software company.     

Prediction of Dry Powder Inhaler Formulation Performance From Surface Energetics and Blending Dynamics

The purpose of these studies was to investigate the ability of surface energy measurements and rates of mixing in dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations to predict aerosol dispersion performance. Two lactose carrier systems comprising either spray-dried or milled particles were developed such that they had identical physical characteristics except for surface morphology and surface energies avoiding confounding variables common in other studies. Surface energy measurements confirmed significant differences between the powder systems. Spray-dried lactose had a higher surface entropy (0.20 vs. 0.13 mJ/m²K) and surface enthalpy (103.2 vs. 79.2 mJ/m²) compared with milled lactose. Mixing rates of budesonide or fluorescein were assessed dynamically, and significant differences in blending were observed between lactose systems for both drugs. Surface energies of the lactose carriers were inversely proportional to dispersion performance. In addition, the root mean square (RMS) of blending rates correlated positively with aerosol dispersion performance. Both techniques have potential utility in routine screening of DPI formulations.     

Embedded passive components in advanced 3D chips and micro/nano electronic systems

Microsystem Technologies - Electronic devices are shrinking day by day, while the speed and reliability is increasing. At the same time, IC designs and micro/nano electronic systems are becoming...     

Toward the modeling of data provenance in scientific publications

In this paper, we implement a provenance-aware system for documenting publications, called PADS. It employs a three-layered provenance hierarchy, which can output diverse types of provenance data related to the research life cycle. From this, we generate different profiles for research ventures, reviewers, and authors. PADS employs the standard Open Provenance Model (OPM) specification for capturing provenance data, and stores this data as ontological instances. We show that data is retrieved without any apparent delay in the execution time of the queries. We also demonstrate how this data can be used to make useful recommendations to the organizers, in order to manage upcoming research ventures.     

Estimation of the thermohydraulic efficiency of swirlers at small Reynolds numbers

To estimate the thermohydraulic efficiency of different types of swirlers of heat exchange in pipes, we have generalized the experimental data, which has made it possible to determine the optimal range of Reynolds numbers and the optimal geometric sizes of swirlers. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 23–30, January–February, 2009.     

Elastic Constants of Erbia Single Crystals

The elastic properties of single-crystalline erbia (Er₂O₃) at room temperature have been investigated using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy. The three independent stiffness constants of anisotropic Er₂O₃ cubic type-C crystals have been measured. The values of the stiffness constants were c ₁₁= 256.4 GPa, c ₁₂= 146.8 GPa, and c ₄₄= 75.2 GPa. From the stiffness constants, the estimated values for dense polycrystalline erbia for Young's modulus, the shear modulus, the bulk modulus, and Poisson's ratio at room temperature were 179 GPa, 67 GPa, 183.3 GPa, and 0.337, respectively. The value of Young's modulus is a minimum along [001] and a maximum along [111]. The value of the shear modulus is independent of the direction in the (001) and (111) planes, whereas it decreases in (11¯0) from 75 GPa along [001] to 55 GPa along [110].     

Effect of polyacrylic acid (PAA) binder system on particle orientation during dry-pressing

Effect of polyacrylic acid (PAA) binder system on the development of particle orientation during uniaxial pressing is reported. Granules of different properties were compacted using uniaxial pressing at various pressure and their degree of particle orientation (DPO) was determined. The increment trend of DPO varies with granule strength and shows higher value for binder system of higher flexibility. Anisotropic shrinkage related to particle orientation is shown by compact of higher relative density (RD) and DPO; whereas anisotropic shrinkage related to non-uniform packing density is shown by compact of lower RD and DPO. Anisotropic shrinkage remains in the former compact while isotropic shrinkage was obtained for the latter compact at sintering temperature of 1600 °C. Subsequent cold isostatic pressing increases DPO and sintering shrinkage ratio of uniaxially pressed compacts.     

Effect of kappa distribution on the damping rate of the obliquely propagating magnetosonic mode

Data from spacecrafts suggest that space plasma has an abundance of suprathermal particles which are controlled by the spectral index κ when modeled on kappa particle velocity distribution. In this paper, considering homogeneous plasma, the effect of integer values of κ on the damping rate of an obliquely propagating magnetosonic(MS) wave is studied. The frequency of the MS wave is assumed to be less than ion cyclotron frequency, i.e.,iw(28)w. Under this assumption, the dispersion relation is investigated both numerically and analytically, and it is found that the real frequency of the wave is not a sensitive function of κ, but the imaginary part of the frequency is. It is also shown that for those values of κ where a large number of resonant particles participate in wave–particle interaction, the wave is heavily damped, as expected. The possible application of the results to the solar wind is discussed.     

Low voltage low noise open loop automatic amplitude control for voltage-controlled oscillators

This paper presents a low voltage low noise open loop automatic amplitude control method for voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO’s). In this method a feedback mechanism keeps the VCO at its optimum amplitude over temperature and process variations and then the loop is broken to avoid noise injection form the control circuitry to the VCO. The loop does not add extra noise to the VCO. Based on the proposed method, a low voltage low noise LC-VCO was designed for a low phase noise application in TSMC 0.18 micron RFCMOS technology. Simulations show considerable improvement in the phase noise with the application of the proposed method.