Context: The context of this paper is Global Software Development (GSD) which is a current trend concerning the development of software in a distributed manner throughout different countries. This paradigm has several advantages, but unfortunately there are a number of challenges that hinder projects’ successful development. Objective: The main goal of this paper is to discover which factors af...

Human experience with interactive games will be enhanced if the game-playing software agents learn from their failures and do not make the same mistakes over and over again. Reinforcement learning, e.g., Q-Learning, provides one method for learning from failures. Model-based meta-reasoning that uses an agent’s self-model for blame assignment provides another. In this paper, we combine the two m...

Optical cavities provide a route to sensing through the shift of the optical resonant peak. However, effective sensing with optical cavities requires the optimization of the modal quality factor, Q, and the field overlap with the sample, f. For a photonic crystal slab (PCS) this figure of merit, M = fQ, involves two competing effects. The air modes usually have large f but small Q, whereas the ...

The unresolved Q-branch profiles in the Raman spectra of' nitrogen in premixed, laminar, methane-air, propane-air and butane-air flames with lean to stoichiometric fuel-air equivalence ratios have been recorded experimentally and used to determine flame temperature s with a precision of about 10f0using an iterative computer program which fitted calculated nitrogen spectra to the experimentally ...

We propose a new approach for creating reconfigurable high-Q cavities in defect-free photonic crystal slabs (PCSs). The approach relies on selective air-hole infiltration in otherwise defect-free PCSs. We show that using this method we can design ultrahigh-Q microcavities, with Q~10(6). Numerical calculations indicate a large number of high-Q modes with high sensitivity, which are ideal for sim...

Climate change poses direct or indirect influences on physiological mechanisms in plants. In particular, long living plants like trees have to cope with the predicted climate changes (i.e. drought and air warming) during their life span. The present study aimed to quantify the consequences of simulated climate change for foliar N metabolites over a drought-rewetting-drought course. Saplings of ...

CSE blew the lid on smog and smogmakers in 1996 in its book Slow murder: The deadly story of vehicular pollution in India. The study found that the problem of vehicular pollution in India was the result of a combination of outdated engine technology, poor fuel quality, defective transportation planning and bad maintenance of vehicles on road. CSE exposed that the government was indulging in the...

Many existing phenomena in nature are considered new design ideas in various fields of industry. Bionics is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. By performing bionic review, the researchers found the penguins by delivering air locked under their wings and creating air bubbles, the drag significant...

The sorption of VOCs by different building materials can significantly affect VOC concentrations in indoor environments. In this paper, a new model has been developed for simulating VOC sorption and desorption rates of homogeneous building materials with constant diffusion coefficients and material-air partition coefficients. The model analytically solves the VOC sorption rate at the material-a...

OBJECTIVES To assess the clinical performance of the Ambu Aura-i (Aura-i) in children. AIM To compare the Aura-i with the air-Q intubating laryngeal airway (air-Q) for the purposes of fiberoptic-guided tracheal intubation. BACKGROUND The Aura-i is a new supraglottic airway designed for tracheal intubation. MATERIALS/METHODS One hundred twenty children, ages 1 month to 6 years, were random...