Cross Sectional Study of Agile Software Development Methods and Project Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambert, Tracy

2011-01-01

Agile software development methods, characterized by delivering customer value via incremental and iterative time-boxed development processes, have moved into the mainstream of the Information Technology (IT) industry. However, despite a growing body of research which suggests that a predictive manufacturing approach, with big up-front…

An Agile Course-Delivery Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Capellan, Mirkeya

2009-01-01

In the world of software development, agile methodologies have gained popularity thanks to their lightweight methodologies and flexible approach. Many advocates believe that agile methodologies can provide significant benefits if applied in the educational environment as a teaching method. The need for an approach that engages and motivates…

Implementing Extreme Programming in Distributed Software Project Teams: Strategies and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maruping, Likoebe M.

Agile software development methods and distributed forms of organizing teamwork are two team process innovations that are gaining prominence in today's demanding software development environment. Individually, each of these innovations has yielded gains in the practice of software development. Agile methods have enabled software project teams to meet the challenges of an ever turbulent business environment through enhanced flexibility and responsiveness to emergent customer needs. Distributed software project teams have enabled organizations to access highly specialized expertise across geographic locations. Although much progress has been made in understanding how to more effectively manage agile development teams and how to manage distributed software development teams, managers have little guidance on how to leverage these two potent innovations in combination. In this chapter, I outline some of the strategies and challenges associated with implementing agile methods in distributed software project teams. These are discussed in the context of a study of a large-scale software project in the United States that lasted four months.

Agile Methods in Air Force Sustainment: Status and Outlook

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-01

Schwaber ISBN10: 073561993X X X Agile Project Management : Creating Innovative Products – 2nd Edition Jim Highsmith ISBN 0321658396 X Agile...ISBN 0787974277 X Leading Change John Kotter ISBN 0875847471 X Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead the People Who Deliver Technology Paul ...Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, and James R. Trott ISBN 0321532899 X Managing Transitions: Making the Most of

Balancing Plan-Driven and Agile Methods in Software Engineering Project Courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boehm, Barry; Port, Dan; Winsor Brown, A.

2002-09-01

For the past 6 years, we have been teaching a two-semester software engineering project course. The students organize into 5-person teams and develop largely web-based electronic services projects for real USC campus clients. We have been using and evolving a method called Model- Based (System) Architecting and Software Engineering (MBASE) for use in both the course and in industrial applications. The MBASE Guidelines include a lot of documents. We teach risk-driven documentation: if it is risky to document something, and not risky to leave it out (e.g., GUI screen placements), leave it out. Even so, students tend to associate more documentation with higher grades, although our grading eventually discourages this. We are always on the lookout for ways to have students learn best practices without having to produce excessive documentation. Thus, we were very interested in analyzing the various emerging agile methods. We found that agile methods and milestone plan-driven methods are part of a “how much planning is enough?” spectrum. Both agile and plan-driven methods have home grounds of project characteristics where they clearly work best, and where the other will have difficulties. Hybrid agile/plan-driven approaches are feasible, and necessary for projects having a mix of agile and plan-driven home ground characteristics. Information technology trends are going more toward the agile methods' home ground characteristics of emergent requirements and rapid change, although there is a concurrent increase in concern with dependability. As a result, we are currently experimenting with risk-driven combinations of MBASE and agile methods, such as integrating requirements, test plans, peer reviews, and pair programming into “agile quality management.”

Fighter agility metrics, research, and test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liefer, Randall K.; Valasek, John; Eggold, David P.

1990-01-01

Proposed new metrics to assess fighter aircraft agility are collected and analyzed. A framework for classification of these new agility metrics is developed and applied. A completed set of transient agility metrics is evaluated with a high fidelity, nonlinear F-18 simulation provided by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Test techniques and data reduction methods are proposed. A method of providing cuing information to the pilot during flight test is discussed. The sensitivity of longitudinal and lateral agility metrics to deviations from the pilot cues is studied in detail. The metrics are shown to be largely insensitive to reasonable deviations from the nominal test pilot commands. Instrumentation required to quantify agility via flight test is also considered. With one exception, each of the proposed new metrics may be measured with instrumentation currently available. Simulation documentation and user instructions are provided in an appendix.

Agile Manifesto for Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krehbiel, Timothy C.; Salzarulo, Peter A.; Cosmah, Michelle L.; Forren, John; Gannod, Gerald; Havelka, Douglas; Hulshult, Andrea R.; Merhout, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

A group of faculty members representing six colleges at a public university formed a learning community to study the Agile Way of Working--a method of workplace collaboration widely used in software development--and to determine whether the concepts, practices, and benefits of Agile are applicable to higher education settings. After more than two…

A Quantitative Inquiry into Software Developers' Intentions to Use Agile Scrum Method

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huq, M. Shamsul

2017-01-01

In recent years, organizations have shown increasing willingness to adopt agile scrum method (ASM) to meet the demand of modern-day software development; that is to deliver faster and better software, with a built-in flexibility to absorb last minute changes in requirements. This research study was undertaken to uncover the underlying factors that…

Inserting Agility in System Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-01

Agile IT Acquisition, IT Box, Scrum Inserting Agility in System Development Matthew R. Kennedy and Lt Col Dan Ward, USAF With the fast-paced nature...1,700 individuals and 71 countries, found Scrum and eXtreme Programming to be the most widely followed method- ologies (VersionOne, 2007). Other...University http://www.dau.mil 259 Defense ARJ, July 2012, Vol. 19 No. 3 : 249–264 Scrum Scrum is a framework used for project management, which is

The NERV Methodology: Non-Functional Requirements Elicitation, Reasoning and Validation in Agile Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Domah, Darshan

2013-01-01

Agile software development has become very popular around the world in recent years, with methods such as Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP). Literature suggests that functionality is the primary focus in Agile processes while non-functional requirements (NFR) are either ignored or ill-defined. However, for software to be of good quality both…

Adopting best practices: "Agility" moves from software development to healthcare project management.

PubMed

Kitzmiller, Rebecca; Hunt, Eleanor; Sproat, Sara Breckenridge

2006-01-01

It is time for a change in mindset in how nurses operationalize system implementations and manage projects. Computers and systems have evolved over time from unwieldy mysterious machines of the past to ubiquitous computer use in every aspect of daily lives and work sites. Yet, disconcertingly, the process used to implement these systems has not evolved. Technology implementation does not need to be a struggle. It is time to adapt traditional plan-driven implementation methods to incorporate agile techniques. Agility is a concept borrowed from software development and is presented here because it encourages flexibility, adaptation, and continuous learning as part of the implementation process. Agility values communication and harnesses change to an advantage, which facilitates the natural evolution of an adaptable implementation process. Specific examples of agility in an implementation are described, and plan-driven implementation stages are adapted to incorporate relevant agile techniques. This comparison demonstrates how an agile approach enhances traditional implementation techniques to meet the demands of today's complex healthcare environments.

Potential Use of Agile Methods in Selected DoD Acquisitions: Requirements Development and Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

understanding of common Agile meth- ods, particularly Scrum and eXtreme Programming. For those unfamiliar with the basics of Agile development, the... Scrum (namely, the concepts of product owner, product backlog and self- organized teams) and eXtreme Programming (epics and user stories). These concepts...also been adopted as a requirements specification mechanism by many teams using Scrum , even if those teams don’t use other aspects of eXtreme

Scrum-Based Learning Environment: Fostering Self-Regulated Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linden, Tanya

2018-01-01

Academics teaching software development courses are experimenting with teaching methods aiming to improve students' learning experience and learning outcomes. Since Agile software development is gaining popularity in industry due to positive effects on managing projects, academics implement similar Agile approaches in student-centered learning…

Agile

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trimble, Jay Phillip

2013-01-01

This is based on a previous talk on agile development. Methods for delivering software on a short cycle are described, including interactions with the customer, the affect on the team, and how to be more effective, streamlined and efficient.

Measuring the Impact of Agile Coaching on Students' Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodríguez, Guillermo; Soria, Álvaro; Campo, Marcelo

2016-01-01

Nowadays, considerable attention is paid to agile methods as a means to improve management of software development processes. The widespread use of such methods in professional contexts has encouraged their integration into software engineering training and undergraduate courses. Although several research efforts have focused on teaching Scrum…

AIM - Agile Instrumented Monitoring for Improving User Experience of Participation in HealthIT Development.

PubMed

Pitkänen, Janne; Nieminen, Marko

2017-01-01

Participation of healthcare professionals in information technology development has emerged as an important challenge. As end-users, the professionals are willing to participate in the development activities, but their experiences on the current methods of participation remain mostly negative. There is lack of applicable methods for meeting the needs of agile development approach and scaling up to the largest implementation projects, while maintaining the interest of the professional users to participate in development activities and keeping up their ability to continue working in a productive manner. In this paper, we describe the Agile Instrumented Monitoring as a methodology, based on the methods of instrumented usability evaluation, for improving user experience in HealthIT development. The contribution of the proposed methodology is analyzed in relation to activities of whole iteration cycle and chosen usability evaluation methods, while the user experience of participation is addressed regarding healthcare professionals. Prospective weak and strong market tests for AIM are discussed in the conclusions for future work.

Embedding Agile Practices within a Plan-Driven Hierarchical Project Life Cycle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Millard, W. David; Johnson, Daniel M.; Henderson, John M.

2014-07-28

Organizations use structured, plan-driven approaches to provide continuity, direction, and control to large, multi-year programs. Projects within these programs vary greatly in size, complexity, level of maturity, technical risk, and clarity of the development objectives. Organizations that perform exploratory research, evolutionary development, and other R&D activities can obtain the benefits of Agile practices without losing the benefits of their program’s overarching plan-driven structure. This paper describes application of Agile development methods on a large plan-driven sensor integration program. While the client employed plan-driven, requirements flow-down methodologies, tight project schedules and complex interfaces called for frequent end-to-end demonstrations to provide feedbackmore » during system development. The development process maintained the many benefits of plan-driven project execution with the rapid prototyping, integration, demonstration, and client feedback possible through Agile development methods. This paper also describes some of the tools and implementing mechanisms used to transition between and take advantage of each methodology, and presents lessons learned from the project management, system engineering, and developer’s perspectives.« less

Update 2016: Considerations for Using Agile in DoD Acquisition

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

What Is Agile? 4 2.1 Agile Manifesto and Principles—A Brief History 4 2.2 A Practical Definition 6 2.3 Example Agile Method 6 2.4 Example Agile...5.8 Team Composition 45 5.9 Culture 46 6 Conclusion 48 Appendix A: Examples of Agile Methods 50 Appendix B: Common Objections to Agile 53...thank all those who have contributed to our knowledge of apply- ing “other than traditional” methods for software system acquisition and management over

Application of side-oblique image-motion blur correction to Kuaizhou-1 agile optical images.

PubMed

Sun, Tao; Long, Hui; Liu, Bao-Cheng; Li, Ying

2016-03-21

Given the recent development of agile optical satellites for rapid-response land observation, side-oblique image-motion (SOIM) detection and blur correction have become increasingly essential for improving the radiometric quality of side-oblique images. The Chinese small-scale agile mapping satellite Kuaizhou-1 (KZ-1) was developed by the Harbin Institute of Technology and launched for multiple emergency applications. Like other agile satellites, KZ-1 suffers from SOIM blur, particularly in captured images with large side-oblique angles. SOIM detection and blur correction are critical for improving the image radiometric accuracy. This study proposes a SOIM restoration method based on segmental point spread function detection. The segment region width is determined by satellite parameters such as speed, height, integration time, and side-oblique angle. The corresponding algorithms and a matrix form are proposed for SOIM blur correction. Radiometric objective evaluation indices are used to assess the restoration quality. Beijing regional images from KZ-1 are used as experimental data. The radiometric quality is found to increase greatly after SOIM correction. Thus, the proposed method effectively corrects image motion for KZ-1 agile optical satellites.

Scrum and Global Delivery: Pitfalls and Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadun, Cristiano

Two trends are becoming widespread in software development work—agile development processes and global delivery, both promising sizable benefits in productivity, capacity and so on. Combining the two is a highly attractive possibility, even more so in fast-paced and constrained commercial software engineering projects. However, a degree of conflict exists between the assumptions underlying the two ideas, leading to pitfalls and challenges in agile/distributed projects which are new, both with respect to traditional development and agile or distributed efforts adopted separately. Succeeding in commercial agile/distributed projects implies recognizing these new challenges, proactively planning for them, and actively put in place solutions and methods to overcome them. This chapter illustrates some of the typical challenges that were met during real-world commercial projects, and how they were solved.

Software ``Best'' Practices: Agile Deconstructed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fraser, Steven

This workshop will explore the intersection of agility and software development in a world of legacy code-bases and large teams. Organizations with hundreds of developers and code-bases exceeding a million or tens of millions of lines of code are seeking new ways to expedite development while retaining and attracting staff who desire to apply “agile” methods. This is a situation where specific agile practices may be embraced outside of their usual zone of applicability. Here is where practitioners must understand both what “best practices” already exist in the organization - and how they might be improved or modified by applying “agile” approaches.

An Agile Constructionist Mentoring Methodology for Software Projects in the High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meerbaum-Salant, Orni; Hazzan, Orit

2010-01-01

This article describes the construction process and evaluation of the Agile Constructionist Mentoring Methodology (ACMM), a mentoring method for guiding software development projects in the high school. The need for such a methodology has arisen due to the complexity of mentoring software project development in the high school. We introduce the…

Agile manufacturing: The factory of the future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loibl, Joseph M.; Bossieux, Terry A.

1994-01-01

The factory of the future will require an operating methodology which effectively utilizes all of the elements of product design, manufacturing and delivery. The process must respond rapidly to changes in product demand, product mix, design changes or changes in the raw materials. To achieve agility in a manufacturing operation, the design and development of the manufacturing processes must focus on customer satisfaction. Achieving greatest results requires that the manufacturing process be considered from product concept through sales. This provides the best opportunity to build a quality product for the customer at a reasonable rate. The primary elements of a manufacturing system include people, equipment, materials, methods and the environment. The most significant and most agile element in any process is the human resource. Only with a highly trained, knowledgeable work force can the proper methods be applied to efficiently process materials with machinery which is predictable, reliable and flexible. This paper discusses the affect of each element on the development of agile manufacturing systems.

Architected Agile Solutions for Software-Reliant Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boehm, Barry; Lane, Jo Ann; Koolmanojwong, Supannika; Turner, Richard

Systems are becoming increasingly reliant on software due to needs for rapid fielding of “70% capabilities,” interoperability, net-centricity, and rapid adaptation to change. The latter need has led to increased interest in agile methods of software development, in which teams rely on shared tacit interpersonal knowledge rather than explicit documented knowledge. However, such systems often need to be scaled up to higher level of performance and assurance, requiring stronger architectural support. Several organizations have recently transformed themselves by developing successful combinations of agility and architecture that can scale to projects of up to 100 personnel. This chapter identifies a set of key principles for such architected agile solutions for software-reliant systems, provides guidance for how much architecting is enough, and illustrates the key principles with several case studies.

Exploring the Role of Value Networks for Software Innovation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morgan, Lorraine; Conboy, Kieran

This paper describes a research-in-progress that aims to explore the applicability and implications of open innovation practices in two firms - one that employs agile development methods and another that utilizes open source software. The open innovation paradigm has a lot in common with open source and agile development methodologies. A particular strength of agile approaches is that they move away from 'introverted' development, involving only the development personnel, and intimately involves the customer in all areas of software creation, supposedly leading to the development of a more innovative and hence more valuable information system. Open source software (OSS) development also shares two key elements of the open innovation model, namely the collaborative development of the technology and shared rights to the use of the technology. However, one shortfall with agile development in particular is the narrow focus on a single customer representative. In response to this, we argue that current thinking regarding innovation needs to be extended to include multiple stakeholders both across and outside the organization. Additionally, for firms utilizing open source, it has been found that their position in a network of potential complementors determines the amount of superior value they create for their customers. Thus, this paper aims to get a better understanding of the applicability and implications of open innovation practices in firms that employ open source and agile development methodologies. In particular, a conceptual framework is derived for further testing.

Design of a Wireless Sensor System with the Algorithms of Heart Rate and Agility Index for Athlete Evaluation

PubMed Central

Li, Meina; Kim, Youn Tae

2017-01-01

Athlete evaluation systems can effectively monitor daily training and boost performance to reduce injuries. Conventional heart-rate measurement systems can be easily affected by artifact movement, especially in the case of athletes. Significant noise can be generated owing to high-intensity activities. To improve the comfort for athletes and the accuracy of monitoring, we have proposed to combine robust heart rate and agility index monitoring algorithms into a small, light, and single node. A band-pass-filter-based R-wave detection algorithm was developed. The agility index was calculated by preprocessing with band-pass filtering and employing the zero-crossing detection method. The evaluation was conducted under both laboratory and field environments to verify the accuracy and reliability of the algorithm. The heart rate and agility index measurements can be wirelessly transmitted to a personal computer in real time by the ZigBee telecommunication system. The results show that the error rate of measurement of the heart rate is within 2%, which is comparable with that of the traditional wired measurement method. The sensitivity of the agility index, which could be distinguished as the activity speed, changed slightly. Thus, we confirmed that the developed algorithm could be used in an effective and safe exercise-evaluation system for athletes. PMID:29039763

Agile Development Methods for Space Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trimble, Jay; Webster, Chris

2012-01-01

Main stream industry software development practice has gone from a traditional waterfall process to agile iterative development that allows for fast response to customer inputs and produces higher quality software at lower cost. How can we, the space ops community, adopt state of the art software development practice, achieve greater productivity at lower cost, and maintain safe and effective space flight operations? At NASA Ames, we are developing Mission Control Technologies Software, in collaboration with Johnson Space Center (JSC) and, more recently, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Opening up the Agile Innovation Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conboy, Kieran; Donnellan, Brian; Morgan, Lorraine; Wang, Xiaofeng

The objective of this panel is to discuss how firms can operate both an open and agile innovation process. In an era of unprecedented changes, companies need to be open and agile in order to adapt rapidly and maximize their innovation processes. Proponents of agile methods claim that one of the main distinctions between agile methods and their traditional bureaucratic counterparts is their drive toward creativity and innovation. However, agile methods are rarely adopted in their textbook, "vanilla" format, and are usually adopted in part or are tailored or modified to suit the organization. While we are aware that this happens, there is still limited understanding of what is actually happening in practice. Using innovation adoption theory, this panel will discuss the issues and challenges surrounding the successful adoption of agile practices. In addition, this panel will report on the obstacles and benefits reported by over 20 industrial partners engaged in a pan-European research project into agile practices between 2006 and 2009.

Development of a Computer Program for Analyzing Preliminary Aircraft Configurations in Relationship to Emerging Agility Metrics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauer, Brent

1993-01-01

This paper discusses the development of a FORTRAN computer code to perform agility analysis on aircraft configurations. This code is to be part of the NASA-Ames ACSYNT (AirCraft SYNThesis) design code. This paper begins with a discussion of contemporary agility research in the aircraft industry and a survey of a few agility metrics. The methodology, techniques and models developed for the code are then presented. Finally, example trade studies using the agility module along with ACSYNT are illustrated. These trade studies were conducted using a Northrop F-20 Tigershark aircraft model. The studies show that the agility module is effective in analyzing the influence of common parameters such as thrust-to-weight ratio and wing loading on agility criteria. The module can compare the agility potential between different configurations. In addition, one study illustrates the module's ability to optimize a configuration's agility performance.

Test Methods for Robot Agility in Manufacturing.

PubMed

Downs, Anthony; Harrison, William; Schlenoff, Craig

2016-01-01

The paper aims to define and describe test methods and metrics to assess industrial robot system agility in both simulation and in reality. The paper describes test methods and associated quantitative and qualitative metrics for assessing robot system efficiency and effectiveness which can then be used for the assessment of system agility. The paper describes how the test methods were implemented in a simulation environment and real world environment. It also shows how the metrics are measured and assessed as they would be in a future competition. The test methods described in this paper will push forward the state of the art in software agility for manufacturing robots, allowing small and medium manufacturers to better utilize robotic systems. The paper fulfills the identified need for standard test methods to measure and allow for improvement in software agility for manufacturing robots.

Distilling Design Patterns From Agile Curation Case Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedict, K. K.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Young, J. W.

2016-12-01

In previous work the authors have argued that there is a need to take a new look at the data management lifecycle. Our core argument is that the data management lifecycle needs to be in essence deconstructed and rebuilt. As part of this process we also argue that much can be gained from applying ideas, concepts, and principles from agile software development methods. To be sure we are not arguing for a rote application of these agile software approaches, however, given various trends related to data and technology, it is imperative to update our thinking about how to approach the data management lifecycle, recognize differing project scales, corresponding variations in structure, and alternative models for solving the problems of scientific data curation. In this paper we will describe what we term agile curation design patterns, borrowing the concept of design patterns from the software world and we will present some initial thoughts on agile curation design patterns as informed by a sample of data curation case studies solicited from participants in agile data curation meeting sessions conducted in 2015-16.

Peridigm summary report : lessons learned in development with agile components.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Salinger, Andrew Gerhard; Mitchell, John Anthony; Littlewood, David John

2011-09-01

This report details efforts to deploy Agile Components for rapid development of a peridynamics code, Peridigm. The goal of Agile Components is to enable the efficient development of production-quality software by providing a well-defined, unifying interface to a powerful set of component-based software. Specifically, Agile Components facilitate interoperability among packages within the Trilinos Project, including data management, time integration, uncertainty quantification, and optimization. Development of the Peridigm code served as a testbed for Agile Components and resulted in a number of recommendations for future development. Agile Components successfully enabled rapid integration of Trilinos packages into Peridigm. A cost of thismore » approach, however, was a set of restrictions on Peridigm's architecture which impacted the ability to track history-dependent material data, dynamically modify the model discretization, and interject user-defined routines into the time integration algorithm. These restrictions resulted in modifications to the Agile Components approach, as implemented in Peridigm, and in a set of recommendations for future Agile Components development. Specific recommendations include improved handling of material states, a more flexible flow control model, and improved documentation. A demonstration mini-application, SimpleODE, was developed at the onset of this project and is offered as a potential supplement to Agile Components documentation.« less

Test Methods for Robot Agility in Manufacturing

PubMed Central

Downs, Anthony; Harrison, William; Schlenoff, Craig

2017-01-01

Purpose The paper aims to define and describe test methods and metrics to assess industrial robot system agility in both simulation and in reality. Design/methodology/approach The paper describes test methods and associated quantitative and qualitative metrics for assessing robot system efficiency and effectiveness which can then be used for the assessment of system agility. Findings The paper describes how the test methods were implemented in a simulation environment and real world environment. It also shows how the metrics are measured and assessed as they would be in a future competition. Practical Implications The test methods described in this paper will push forward the state of the art in software agility for manufacturing robots, allowing small and medium manufacturers to better utilize robotic systems. Originality / value The paper fulfills the identified need for standard test methods to measure and allow for improvement in software agility for manufacturing robots. PMID:28203034

SLS Flight Software Testing: Using a Modified Agile Software Testing Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bolton, Albanie T.

2016-01-01

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is an advanced launch vehicle for a new era of exploration beyond earth's orbit (BEO). The world's most powerful rocket, SLS, will launch crews of up to four astronauts in the agency's Orion spacecraft on missions to explore multiple deep-space destinations. Boeing is developing the SLS core stage, including the avionics that will control vehicle during flight. The core stage will be built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, LA using state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment. At the same time, the rocket's avionics computer software is being developed here at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. At Marshall, the Flight and Ground Software division provides comprehensive engineering expertise for development of flight and ground software. Within that division, the Software Systems Engineering Branch's test and verification (T&V) team uses an agile test approach in testing and verification of software. The agile software test method opens the door for regular short sprint release cycles. The idea or basic premise behind the concept of agile software development and testing is that it is iterative and developed incrementally. Agile testing has an iterative development methodology where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between cross-functional teams. With testing and development done incrementally, this allows for increased features and enhanced value for releases. This value can be seen throughout the T&V team processes that are documented in various work instructions within the branch. The T&V team produces procedural test results at a higher rate, resolves issues found in software with designers at an earlier stage versus at a later release, and team members gain increased knowledge of the system architecture by interfacing with designers. SLS Flight Software teams want to continue uncovering better ways of developing software in an efficient and project beneficial manner. Through agile testing, there has been increased value through individuals and interactions over processes and tools, improved customer collaboration, and improved responsiveness to changes through controlled planning. The presentation will describe agile testing methodology as taken with the SLS FSW Test and Verification team at Marshall Space Flight Center.

Tools for Supporting Distributed Agile Project Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xin; Maurer, Frank; Morgan, Robert; Oliveira, Josyleuda

Agile project planning plays an important part in agile software development. In distributed settings, project planning is severely impacted by the lack of face-to-face communication and the inability to share paper index cards amongst all meeting participants. To address these issues, several distributed agile planning tools were developed. The tools vary in features, functions and running platforms. In this chapter, we first summarize the requirements for distributed agile planning. Then we give an overview on existing agile planning tools. We also evaluate existing tools based on tool requirements. Finally, we present some practical advices for both designers and users of distributed agile planning tools.

Preparing your Offshore Organization for Agility: Experiences in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, Jayakanth

Two strategies that have significantly changed the way we conventionally think about managing software development and sustainment are the family of development approaches collectively referred to as agile methods, and the distribution of development efforts on a global scale. When you combine the two strategies, organizations have to address not only the technical challenges that arise from introducing new ways of working, but more importantly have to manage the 'soft' factors that if ignored lead to hard challenges. Using two case studies of distributed agile software development in India we illustrate the areas that organizations need to be aware of when transitioning work to India. The key issues that we emphasize are the need to recruit and retain personnel; the importance of teaching, mentoring and coaching; the need to manage customer expectations; the criticality of well-articulated senior leadership vision and commitment; and the reality of operating in a heterogeneous process environment.

Analysis and optimization of preliminary aircraft configurations in relationship to emerging agility metrics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandlin, Doral R.; Bauer, Brent Alan

1993-01-01

This paper discusses the development of a FORTRAN computer code to perform agility analysis on aircraft configurations. This code is to be part of the NASA-Ames ACSYNT (AirCraft SYNThesis) design code. This paper begins with a discussion of contemporary agility research in the aircraft industry and a survey of a few agility metrics. The methodology, techniques and models developed for the code are then presented. Finally, example trade studies using the agility module along with ACSYNT are illustrated. These trade studies were conducted using a Northrop F-20 Tigershark aircraft model. The studies show that the agility module is effective in analyzing the influence of common parameters such as thrust-to-weight ratio and wing loading on agility criteria. The module can compare the agility potential between different configurations. In addition one study illustrates the module's ability to optimize a configuration's agility performance.

SU-E-T-610: Comparison of Treatment Times Between the MLCi and Agility Multileaf Collimators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ramsey, C; Bowling, J

2014-06-01

Purpose: The Agility is a new 160-leaf MLC developed by Elekta for use in their Infinity and Versa HD linacs. As compared to the MLCi, the Agility increased the maximum leaf speed from 2 cm/s to 3.5 cm/s, and the maximum primary collimator speed from 1.5 cm/s to 9.0 cm/s. The purpose of this study was to determine if the Agility MLC resulted in improved plan quality and/or shorter treatment times. Methods: An Elekta Infinity that was originally equipped with a 80 leaf MLCi was upgraded to an 160 leaf Agility. Treatment plan quality was evaluated using the Pinnacle planningmore » system with SmartArc. Optimization was performed once for the MLCi and once for the Agility beam models using the same optimization parameters and the same number of iterations. Patient treatment times were measured for all IMRT, VMAT, and SBRT patients treated on the Infinity with the MLCi and Agility MLCs. Treatment times were extracted from the EMR and measured from when the patient first walked into the treatment room until exiting the treatment room. Results: 11,380 delivery times were measured for patients treated with the MLCi, and 1,827 measurements have been made for the Agility MLC. The average treatment times were 19.1 minutes for the MLCi and 20.8 minutes for the Agility. Using a t-test analysis, there was no difference between the two groups (t = 0.22). The dose differences between patients planned with the MLCi and the Agility MLC were minimal. For example, the dose difference for the PTV, GTV, and cord for a head and neck patient planned using Pinnacle were effectively equivalent. However, the dose to the parotid glands was slightly worse with the Agility MLC. Conclusion: There was no statistical difference in treatment time, or any significant dosimetric difference between the Agility MLC and the MLCi.« less

Built To Last: Using Iterative Development Models for Sustainable Scientific Software Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jasiak, M. E.; Truslove, I.; Savoie, M.

2013-12-01

In scientific research, software development exists fundamentally for the results they create. The core research must take focus. It seems natural to researchers, driven by grant deadlines, that every dollar invested in software development should be used to push the boundaries of problem solving. This system of values is frequently misaligned with those of the software being created in a sustainable fashion; short-term optimizations create longer-term sustainability issues. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has taken bold cultural steps in using agile and lean development and management methodologies to help its researchers meet critical deadlines, while building in the necessary support structure for the code to live far beyond its original milestones. Agile and lean software development and methodologies including Scrum, Kanban, Continuous Delivery and Test-Driven Development have seen widespread adoption within NSIDC. This focus on development methods is combined with an emphasis on explaining to researchers why these methods produce more desirable results for everyone, as well as promoting developers interacting with researchers. This presentation will describe NSIDC's current scientific software development model, how this addresses the short-term versus sustainability dichotomy, the lessons learned and successes realized by transitioning to this agile and lean-influenced model, and the current challenges faced by the organization.

Utilization of an agility assessment module in analysis and optimization of preliminary fighter configuration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ngan, Angelen; Biezad, Daniel

1996-01-01

A study has been conducted to develop and to analyze a FORTRAN computer code for performing agility analysis on fighter aircraft configurations. This program is one of the modules of the NASA Ames ACSYNT (AirCraft SYNThesis) design code. The background of the agility research in the aircraft industry and a survey of a few agility metrics are discussed. The methodology, techniques, and models developed for the code are presented. The validity of the existing code was evaluated by comparing with existing flight test data. A FORTRAN program was developed for a specific metric, PM (Pointing Margin), as part of the agility module. Example trade studies using the agility module along with ACSYNT were conducted using a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet aircraft model. Tile sensitivity of thrust loading, wing loading, and thrust vectoring on agility criteria were investigated. The module can compare the agility potential between different configurations and has capability to optimize agility performance in the preliminary design process. This research provides a new and useful design tool for analyzing fighter performance during air combat engagements in the preliminary design.

Development of an agility assessment module for preliminary fighter design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ngan, Angelen; Bauer, Brent; Biezad, Daniel; Hahn, Andrew

1996-01-01

A FORTRAN computer program is presented to perform agility analysis on fighter aircraft configurations. This code is one of the modules of the NASA Ames ACSYNT (AirCraft SYNThesis) design code. The background of the agility research in the aircraft industry and a survey of a few agility metrics are discussed. The methodology, techniques, and models developed for the code are presented. FORTRAN programs were developed for two specific metrics, CCT (Combat Cycle Time) and PM (Pointing Margin), as part of the agility module. The validity of the code was evaluated by comparing with existing flight test data. Example trade studies using the agility module along with ACSYNT were conducted using Northrop F-20 Tigershark and McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet aircraft models. The sensitivity of thrust loading and wing loading on agility criteria were investigated. The module can compare the agility potential between different configurations and has the capability to optimize agility performance in the preliminary design process. This research provides a new and useful design tool for analyzing fighter performance during air combat engagements.

Addressing the Barriers to Agile Development in the Department of Defense: Program Structure, Requirements, and Contracting

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-30

approach directly contrast with the traditional DoD acquisition model designed for a single big-bang waterfall approach (Broadus, 2013). Currently...progress, reduce technical and programmatic risk, and respond to feedback and changes more quickly than traditional waterfall methods (Modigliani...requirements, and contracting. The DoD can address these barriers by utilizing a proactively tailored Agile acquisition model , implementing an IT Box

The Paving Stones: initial feed-back on an attempt to apply the AGILE principles for the development of a CubeSat space mission to Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Segret, Boris; Semery, Alain; Vannitsen, Jordan; Mosser, Benoît.; Miau, Jiun-Jih; Juang, Jyh-Ching; Deleflie, Florent

2014-08-01

The AGILE principles in the software industry seems well adapted to the paradigm of CubeSat missions that involve students for the development of space missions. Some of well-known engineering and program processes are revisited on the example of an interplanetary CubeSat mission profile that has been developed by several teams of students in various countries and at various educational levels since 02/2013. The lessons learned at adapting traditional space mission methods are emphasized and they produce a metaphoric image of paving stones.

Towards a Better Understanding of CMMI and Agile Integration - Multiple Case Study of Four Companies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pikkarainen, Minna

The amount of software is increasing in the different domains in Europe. This provides the industries in smaller countries good opportunities to work in the international markets. Success in the global markets however demands the rapid production of high quality, error free software. Both CMMI and agile methods seem to provide a ready solution for quality and lead time improvements. There is not, however, much empirical evidence available either about 1) how the integration of these two aspects can be done in practice or 2) what it actually demands from assessors and software process improvement groups. The goal of this paper is to increase the understanding of CMMI and agile integration, in particular, focusing on the research question: how to use ‘lightweight’ style of CMMI assessments in agile contexts. This is done via four case studies in which assessments were conducted using the goals of CMMI integrated project management and collaboration and coordination with relevant stakeholder process areas and practices from XP and Scrum. The study shows that the use of agile practices may support the fulfilment of the goals of CMMI process areas but there are still many challenges for the agile teams to be solved within the continuous improvement programs. It also identifies practical advices to the assessors and improvement groups to take into consideration when conducting assessment in the context of agile software development.

Lean Mission Operations Systems Design - Using Agile and Lean Development Principles for Mission Operations Design and Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trimble, Jay Phillip

2014-01-01

The Resource Prospector Mission seeks to rove the lunar surface with an in-situ resource utilization payload in search of volatiles at a polar region. The mission operations system (MOS) will need to perform the short-duration mission while taking advantage of the near real time control that the short one-way light time to the Moon provides. To maximize our use of limited resources for the design and development of the MOS we are utilizing agile and lean methods derived from our previous experience with applying these methods to software. By using methods such as "say it then sim it" we will spend less time in meetings and more time focused on the one outcome that counts - the effective utilization of our assets on the Moon to meet mission objectives.

An agile implementation of SCRUM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gannon, Michele

Is Agile a way to cut corners? To some, the use of an Agile Software Development Methodology has a negative connotation - “ Oh, you're just not producing any documentation” . So can a team with no experience in Agile successfully implement and use SCRUM?

Applying scrum methods to ITS projects.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-08-01

The introduction of new technology generally brings new challenges and new methods to help with deployments. Agile methodologies have been introduced in the information technology industry to potentially speed up development. The Federal Highway Admi...

Development of a fast screening and confirmatory method by liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry for glucuronide-conjugated methyltestosterone metabolite in tilapia.

PubMed

Amarasinghe, Kande; Chu, Pak-Sin; Evans, Eric; Reimschuessel, Renate; Hasbrouck, Nicholas; Jayasuriya, Hiranthi

2012-05-23

This paper describes the development of a fast method to screen and confirm methyltestosterone 17-O-glucuronide (MT-glu) in tilapia bile. The method consists of solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The system used was an Agilent 6530 Q-TOF with an Agilent Jet stream electrospray ionization interface. The glucuronide detected in the bile was characterized as MT-glu by comparison with a chemically synthesized standard. MT-glu was detected in bile for up to 7 days after dosing. Semiquantification was done with matrix-matched calibration curves, because MT-glu showed signal suppression due to matrix effects. This method provides a suitable tool to monitor the illegal use of methyltestosterone in tilapia culture.

Effect of Exercise Program Speed, Agility, and Quickness (SAQ) in Improving Speed, Agility, and Acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azmi, K.; Kusnanik, N. W.

2018-01-01

This study aimed to analyze the effect of speed, agility and quickness training program to increase in speed, agility and acceleration. This study was conducted at 26 soccer players and divided into 2 groups with 13 players each group. Group 1 was given SAQ training program, and Group 2 conventional training program for 8 weeks. This study used a quantitative approach with quasi-experimental method. The design of this study used a matching-only design. Data was collected by testing 30-meter sprint (speed), agility t-test (agility), and run 10 meters (acceleration) during the pretest and posttest. Furthermore, the data was analyzed using paired sample t-test and independent t-test. The results showed: that there was a significant effect of speed, agility and quickness training program in improving in speed, agility and acceleration. In summary, it can be concluded that the speed, agility and quickness training program can improve the speed, agility and acceleration of the soccer players.

Hybrid performance measurement of a business process outsourcing - A Malaysian company perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oluyinka, Oludapo Samson; Tamyez, Puteri Fadzline; Kie, Cheng Jack; Freida, Ayodele Ozavize

2017-05-01

It's no longer new that customer perceived value for product and services are now greatly influenced by its psychological and social advantages. In order to meet up with the increasing operational cost, response time, quality and innovative capabilities many companies turned their fixed operational cost to a variable cost through outsourcing. Hence, the researcher explored different underlying outsourcing theories and infer that these theories are essential to performance improvement. In this study, the researcher evaluates the performance of a business process outsource company by a combination of lean and agile method. To test the hypotheses, we analyze different variability that a business process company faces, how lean and agile have been used in other industry to address such variability and discuss the result using a predictive multiple regression analysis on data collected from companies in Malaysia. The findings from this study revealed that while each method has its own advantage, a business process outsource company could achieve more (up to 87%) increase in performance level by developing a strategy which focuses on a perfect mixture of lean and agile improvement methods. Secondly, this study shows that performance indicator could be better evaluated with non-metrics variables of the agile method. Thirdly, this study also shows that business process outsourcing company could perform better when they concentrate more on strengthening internal process integration of employees.

FODEM: A Multi-Threaded Research and Development Method for Educational Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suhonen, Jarkko; de Villiers, M. Ruth; Sutinen, Erkki

2012-01-01

Formative development method (FODEM) is a multithreaded design approach that was originated to support the design and development of various types of educational technology innovations, such as learning tools, and online study programmes. The threaded and agile structure of the approach provides flexibility to the design process. Intensive…

Investigating the strategic antecedents of agility in humanitarian logistics.

PubMed

L'Hermitte, Cécile; Brooks, Benjamin; Bowles, Marcus; Tatham, Peter H

2017-10-01

This study investigates the strategic antecedents of operational agility in humanitarian logistics. It began by identifying the particular actions to be taken at the strategic level of a humanitarian organisation to support field-level agility. Next, quantitative data (n=59) were collected on four strategic-level capabilities (being purposeful, action-focused, collaborative, and learning-oriented) and on operational agility (field responsiveness and flexibility). Using a quantitative analysis, the study tested the relationship between organisational capacity building and operational agility and found that the four strategic-level capabilities are fundamental building blocks of agility. Collectively they account for 52 per cent of the ability of humanitarian logisticians to deal with ongoing changes and disruptions in the field. This study emphasises the need for researchers and practitioners to embrace a broader perspective of agility in humanitarian logistics. In addition, it highlights the inherently strategic nature of agility, the development of which involves focusing simultaneously on multiple drivers. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Towards seamless workflows in agile data science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klump, J. F.; Robertson, J.

2017-12-01

Agile workflows are a response to projects with requirements that may change over time. They prioritise rapid and flexible responses to change, preferring to adapt to changes in requirements rather than predict them before a project starts. This suits the needs of research very well because research is inherently agile in its methodology. The adoption of agile methods has made collaborative data analysis much easier in a research environment fragmented across institutional data stores, HPC, personal and lab computers and more recently cloud environments. Agile workflows use tools that share a common worldview: in an agile environment, there may be more that one valid version of data, code or environment in play at any given time. All of these versions need references and identifiers. For example, a team of developers following the git-flow conventions (github.com/nvie/gitflow) may have several active branches, one for each strand of development. These workflows allow rapid and parallel iteration while maintaining identifiers pointing to individual snapshots of data and code and allowing rapid switching between strands. In contrast, the current focus of versioning in research data management is geared towards managing data for reproducibility and long-term preservation of the record of science. While both are important goals in the persistent curation domain of the institutional research data infrastructure, current tools emphasise planning over adaptation and can introduce unwanted rigidity by insisting on a single valid version or point of truth. In the collaborative curation domain of a research project, things are more fluid. However, there is no equivalent to the "versioning iso-surface" of the git protocol for the management and versioning of research data. At CSIRO we are developing concepts and tools for the agile management of software code and research data for virtual research environments, based on our experiences of actual data analytics projects in the geosciences. We use code management that allows researchers to interact with the code through tools like Jupyter Notebooks while data are held in an object store. Our aim is an architecture allowing seamless integration of code development, data management, and data processing in virtual research environments.

Agile Learning: Sprinting through the Semester

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lang, Guido

2017-01-01

This paper introduces agile learning, a novel pedagogical approach that applies the processes and principles of agile software development to the context of learning. Agile learning is characterized by short project cycles, called sprints, in which a usable deliverable is fully planned, designed, built, tested, reviewed, and launched. An…

Final Report of the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance Agile Benchmarking Team

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wetherholt, Martha

2016-01-01

To ensure that the NASA Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) community remains in a position to perform reliable Software Assurance (SA) on NASAs critical software (SW) systems with the software industry rapidly transitioning from waterfall to Agile processes, Terry Wilcutt, Chief, Safety and Mission Assurance, Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) established the Agile Benchmarking Team (ABT). The Team's tasks were: 1. Research background literature on current Agile processes, 2. Perform benchmark activities with other organizations that are involved in software Agile processes to determine best practices, 3. Collect information on Agile-developed systems to enable improvements to the current NASA standards and processes to enhance their ability to perform reliable software assurance on NASA Agile-developed systems, 4. Suggest additional guidance and recommendations for updates to those standards and processes, as needed. The ABT's findings and recommendations for software management, engineering and software assurance are addressed herein.

Evaluation of Purine Salvage as a Chemotherapeutic Target in the Plasmodium yoelii Rodent Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

total RNA was extracted from the WT and the B3 and D1 clones of the KO parasite lines using the Trizol method on saponin lysed parasites. For each...group, RNA originating from the two mice was pooled. Total RNA integrity was checked using the Agilent Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies , Santa Clara...twice on the array. The array has been developed and previously evaluated with hybridizations of total RNA extracted from blood stages. Probe

Teaching Agile Software Development: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devedzic, V.; Milenkovic, S. R.

2011-01-01

This paper describes the authors' experience of teaching agile software development to students of computer science, software engineering, and other related disciplines, and comments on the implications of this and the lessons learned. It is based on the authors' eight years of experience in teaching agile software methodologies to various groups…

Moving target detection for frequency agility radar by sparse reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quan, Yinghui; Li, YaChao; Wu, Yaojun; Ran, Lei; Xing, Mengdao; Liu, Mengqi

2016-09-01

Frequency agility radar, with randomly varied carrier frequency from pulse to pulse, exhibits superior performance compared to the conventional fixed carrier frequency pulse-Doppler radar against the electromagnetic interference. A novel moving target detection (MTD) method is proposed for the estimation of the target's velocity of frequency agility radar based on pulses within a coherent processing interval by using sparse reconstruction. Hardware implementation of orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm is executed on Xilinx Virtex-7 Field Programmable Gata Array (FPGA) to perform sparse optimization. Finally, a series of experiments are performed to evaluate the performance of proposed MTD method for frequency agility radar systems.

Moving target detection for frequency agility radar by sparse reconstruction.

PubMed

Quan, Yinghui; Li, YaChao; Wu, Yaojun; Ran, Lei; Xing, Mengdao; Liu, Mengqi

2016-09-01

Frequency agility radar, with randomly varied carrier frequency from pulse to pulse, exhibits superior performance compared to the conventional fixed carrier frequency pulse-Doppler radar against the electromagnetic interference. A novel moving target detection (MTD) method is proposed for the estimation of the target's velocity of frequency agility radar based on pulses within a coherent processing interval by using sparse reconstruction. Hardware implementation of orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm is executed on Xilinx Virtex-7 Field Programmable Gata Array (FPGA) to perform sparse optimization. Finally, a series of experiments are performed to evaluate the performance of proposed MTD method for frequency agility radar systems.

Future Research in Agile Systems Development: Applying Open Innovation Principles Within the Agile Organisation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conboy, Kieran; Morgan, Lorraine

A particular strength of agile approaches is that they move away from ‘introverted' development and intimately involve the customer in all areas of development, supposedly leading to the development of a more innovative and hence more valuable information system. However, we argue that a single customer representative is too narrow a focus to adopt and that involvement of stakeholders beyond the software development itself is still often quite weak and in some cases non-existent. In response, we argue that current thinking regarding innovation in agile development needs to be extended to include multiple stakeholders outside the business unit. This paper explores the intra-organisational applicability and implications of open innovation in agile systems development. Additionally, it argues for a different perspective of project management that includes collaboration and knowledge-sharing with other business units, customers, partners, and other relevant stakeholders pertinent to the business success of an organisation, thus embracing open innovation principles.

ISS Double-Gimbaled CMG Subsystem Simulation Using the Agile Development Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Inampudi, Ravi

2016-01-01

This paper presents an evolutionary approach in simulating a cluster of 4 Control Moment Gyros (CMG) on the International Space Station (ISS) using a common sense approach (the agile development method) for concurrent mathematical modeling and simulation of the CMG subsystem. This simulation is part of Training systems for the 21st Century simulator which will provide training for crew members, instructors, and flight controllers. The basic idea of how the CMGs on the space station are used for its non-propulsive attitude control is briefly explained to set up the context for simulating a CMG subsystem. Next different reference frames and the detailed equations of motion (EOM) for multiple double-gimbal variable-speed control moment gyroscopes (DGVs) are presented. Fixing some of the terms in the EOM becomes the special case EOM for ISS's double-gimbaled fixed speed CMGs. CMG simulation development using the agile development method is presented in which customer's requirements and solutions evolve through iterative analysis, design, coding, unit testing and acceptance testing. At the end of the iteration a set of features implemented in that iteration are demonstrated to the flight controllers thus creating a short feedback loop and helping in creating adaptive development cycles. The unified modeling language (UML) tool is used in illustrating the user stories, class designs and sequence diagrams. This incremental development approach of mathematical modeling and simulating the CMG subsystem involved the development team and the customer early on, thus improving the quality of the working CMG system in each iteration and helping the team to accurately predict the cost, schedule and delivery of the software.

Enabling Agile Testing through Continuous Integration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stolberg, Sean E.

2009-08-24

A Continuous Integration system is often considered one of the key elements involved in supporting an agile software development and testing environment. As a traditional software tester transitioning to an agile development environment it became clear to me that I would need to put this essential infrastructure in place and promote improved development practices in order to make the transition to agile testing possible. This experience report discusses a continuous integration implementation I lead last year. The initial motivations for implementing continuous integration are discussed and a pre and post-assessment using Martin Fowler's "Practices of Continuous Integration" is provided alongmore » with the technical specifics of the implementation. Finally, I’ll wrap up with a retrospective of my experiences implementing and promoting continuous integration within the context of agile testing.« less

Accelerating Software Development through Agile Practices--A Case Study of a Small-Scale, Time-Intensive Web Development Project at a College-Level IT Competition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Xuesong; Dorn, Bradley

2012-01-01

Agile development has received increasing interest both in industry and academia due to its benefits in developing software quickly, meeting customer needs, and keeping pace with the rapidly changing requirements. However, agile practices and scrum in particular have been mainly tested in mid- to large-size projects. In this paper, we present…

Relationship between agility and lower limb muscle strength, targeting university badminton players.

PubMed

Sonoda, Takuya; Tashiro, Yuto; Suzuki, Yusuke; Kajiwara, Yu; Zeidan, Hala; Yokota, Yuki; Kawagoe, Mirei; Nakayama, Yasuaki; Bito, Tsubasa; Shimoura, Kanako; Tatsumi, Masataka; Nakai, Kengo; Nishida, Yuichi; Yoshimi, Soyoka; Aoyama, Tomoki

2018-02-01

[Purpose] Targeting university badminton players, this study investigated the relationship between agility, which is associated with performance in badminton, and lower limb muscle strength, and examined which muscles influence agility. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 23 male university badminton players were evaluated for side-shuffle test scores and lower limb strength. The relationships between agility, lower limb strength, and duration of experience playing badminton were evaluated using a correlation analysis. Moreover, the relationship between agility and lower limb strength was evaluated by partial correlation analysis, adjusting for the effects of experience of each badminton player. [Results] The agility score correlated with hip extension and ankle plantar flexion strength, with adjustment for badminton experience. [Conclusion] This study suggests that hip extension training and improvement in ankle plantar flexion strength may improve agility.

A Virtual World Workshop Environment for Learning Agile Software Development Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parsons, David; Stockdale, Rosemary

2012-01-01

Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) are the subject of increasing interest for educators and trainers. This article reports on a longitudinal project that seeks to establish a virtual agile software development workshop hosted in the Open Wonderland MUVE, designed to help learners to understand the basic principles of some core agile software…

Combining Agile and Traditional: Customer Communication in Distributed Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korkala, Mikko; Pikkarainen, Minna; Conboy, Kieran

Distributed development is a radically increasing phenomenon in modern software development environments. At the same time, traditional and agile methodologies and combinations of those are being used in the industry. Agile approaches place a large emphasis on customer communication. However, existing knowledge on customer communication in distributed agile development seems to be lacking. In order to shed light on this topic and provide practical guidelines for companies in distributed agile environments, a qualitative case study was conducted in a large globally distributed software company. The key finding was that it might be difficult for an agile organization to get relevant information from a traditional type of customer organization, even though the customer communication was indicated to be active and utilized via multiple different communication media. Several challenges discussed in this paper referred to "information blackout" indicating the importance of an environment fostering meaningful communication. In order to evaluate if this environment can be created a set of guidelines is proposed.

Organizational Agility and Complex Enterprise System Innovations: A Mixed Methods Study of the Effects of Enterprise Systems on Organizational Agility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kharabe, Amol T.

2012-01-01

Over the last two decades, firms have operated in "increasingly" accelerated "high-velocity" dynamic markets, which require them to become "agile." During the same time frame, firms have increasingly deployed complex enterprise systems--large-scale packaged software "innovations" that integrate and automate…

Agility in Team Sports: Testing, Training and Factors Affecting Performance.

PubMed

Paul, Darren J; Gabbett, Tim J; Nassis, George P

2016-03-01

Agility is an important characteristic of team sports athletes. There is a growing interest in the factors that influence agility performance as well as appropriate testing protocols and training strategies to assess and improve this quality. The objective of this systematic review was to (1) evaluate the reliability and validity of agility tests in team sports, (2) detail factors that may influence agility performance, and (3) identify the effects of different interventions on agility performance. The review was undertaken in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We conducted a search of PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and SPORTDiscus databases. We assessed the methodological quality of intervention studies using a customized checklist of assessment criteria. Intraclass correlation coefficient values were 0.80-0.91, 0.10-0.81, and 0.81-0.99 for test time using light, video, and human stimuli. A low-level reliability was reported for youth athletes using the video stimulus (0.10-0.30). Higher-level participants were shown to be, on average, 7.5% faster than their lower level counterparts. Reaction time and accuracy, foot placement, and in-line lunge movement have been shown to be related to agility performance. The contribution of strength remains unclear. Efficacy of interventions on agility performance ranged from 1% (vibration training) to 7.5% (small-sided games training). Agility tests generally offer good reliability, although this may be compromised in younger participants responding to various scenarios. A human and/or video stimulus seems the most appropriate method to discriminate between standard of playing ability. Decision-making and perceptual factors are often propositioned as discriminant factors; however, the underlying mechanisms are relatively unknown. Research has focused predominantly on the physical element of agility. Small-sided games and video training may offer effective methods of improving agility, although practical issues may hinder the latter.

In-flight simulation of high agility through active control: Taming complexity by design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Padfield, Gareth D.; Bradley, Roy

1993-01-01

The motivation for research into helicopter agility stems from the realization that marked improvements relative to current operational types are possible, yet there is a dearth of useful criteria for flying qualities at high performance levels. Several research laboratories are currently investing resources in developing second generation airborne rotorcraft simulators. The UK's focus has been the exploitation of agility through active control technology (ACT); this paper reviews the results of studies conducted to date. The conflict between safety and performance in flight research is highlighted and the various forms of safety net to protect against system failures are described. The role of the safety pilot, and the use of actuator and flight envelope limiting are discussed. It is argued that the deep complexity of a research ACT system can only be tamed through a requirement specification assembled using design principles and cast in an operational simulation form. Work along these lines conducted at DRA is described, including the use of the Jackson System Development method and associated Ada simulation.

Comparison of physical activities of female football players in junior high school and high school.

PubMed

Inoue, Yuri; Otani, Yoshitaka; Takemasa, Seiichi

2017-08-01

[Purpose] This study aimed to compare physical activities between junior high school and high school female football players in order to explain the factors that predispose to a higher incidence of sports injuries in high school female football players. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty-nine female football players participated. Finger floor distance, the center of pressure during single limb stance with eyes open and closed, the 40-m linear sprint time, hip abduction and extension muscle strength and isokinetic knee flexion and extension peak torque were measured. The modified Star Excursion Balance Test, the three-steps bounding test and three-steps hopping tests, agility test 1 (Step 50), agility test 2 (Forward run), curl-up test for 30 seconds and the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test were performed. [Results] The high school group was only significantly faster than the junior high school group in the 40-m linear sprint time and in the agility tests. The distance of the bounding test in the high school group was longer than that in the junior high school group. [Conclusion] Agility and speed increase with growth; however, muscle strength and balance do not develop alongside. This unbalanced development may cause a higher incidence of sports injuries in high school football players.

Evaluation of Basketball-Specific Agility: Applicability of Preplanned and Nonplanned Agility Performances for Differentiating Playing Positions and Playing Levels.

PubMed

Sekulic, Damir; Pehar, Miran; Krolo, Ante; Spasic, Miodrag; Uljevic, Ognjen; Calleja-González, Julio; Sattler, Tine

2017-08-01

Sekulic, D, Pehar, M, Krolo, A, Spasic, M, Uljevic, O, Calleja-González, J, and Sattler, T. Evaluation of basketball-specific agility: applicability of preplanned and nonplanned agility performances for differentiating playing positions and playing levels. J Strength Cond Res 31(8): 2278-2288, 2017-The importance of agility in basketball is well known, but there is an evident lack of studies examining basketball-specific agility performances in high-level players. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability and discriminative validity of 1 standard agility test (test of preplanned agility [change-of-direction speed] over T course, T-TEST), and 4 newly developed basketball-specific agility tests, in defining playing positions and performance levels in basketball. The study comprised 110 high-level male basketball players (height: 194.92 ± 8.09 cm; body mass: 89.33 ± 10.91 kg; age: 21.58 ± 3.92 years). The variables included playing position (Guard, Forward, Center), performance level (first division vs. second division), anthropometrics (body height, body mass, and percentage of body fat), T-TEST, nonplanned basketball agility test performed on dominant (BBAGILdom) and nondominant sides (BBAGILnond), and a preplanned (change-of-direction speed) basketball agility test performed on dominant (BBCODSdom) and nondominant sides (BBCODSnond). The reliability of agility tests was high (intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.81-0.95). Forwards were most successful in the T-TEST (F test: 13.57; p = 0.01). Guards outperformed Centers in BBCODSdom, BBCODSndom, BBAGILdom, and BBAGILnond (F test: 5.06, p = 0.01; 6.57, 0.01; 6.26, 0.01; 3.37, 0.04, respectively). First division Guards achieved better results than second division Guards in BBCODSdom (t: 2.55; p = 0.02; moderate effect size differences), BBAGILdom, and BBAGILnond (t: 3.04 and 3.06, respectively; both p = 0.01 and moderate effect size differences). First division Centers outperformed second division Centers in BBAGILdom (t: 2.50; p = 0.02; moderate effect size differences). The developed basketball-specific agility tests are applicable when defining position-specific agility. Both preplanned and nonplanned agilities are important qualities in differentiating between Guards of 2 performance levels. The results confirmed the importance of testing basketball-specific nonplanned agility when evaluating the performance level of Centers.

Living Lab as an Agile Approach in Developing User-Friendly Welfare Technology.

PubMed

Holappa, Niina; Sirkka, Andrew

2017-01-01

This paper discusses living lab as a method of developing user-friendly welfare technology, and presents a qualitative evaluation research of how living lab tested technologies impacted on the life of healthcare customers and professionals over test periods.

Agile hardware and software systems engineering for critical military space applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Philip M.; Knuth, Andrew A.; Krueger, Robert O.; Garrison-Darrin, Margaret A.

2012-06-01

The Multi Mission Bus Demonstrator (MBD) is a successful demonstration of agile program management and system engineering in a high risk technology application where utilizing and implementing new, untraditional development strategies were necessary. MBD produced two fully functioning spacecraft for a military/DOD application in a record breaking time frame and at dramatically reduced costs. This paper discloses the adaptation and application of concepts developed in agile software engineering to hardware product and system development for critical military applications. This challenging spacecraft did not use existing key technology (heritage hardware) and created a large paradigm shift from traditional spacecraft development. The insertion of new technologies and methods in space hardware has long been a problem due to long build times, the desire to use heritage hardware, and lack of effective process. The role of momentum in the innovative process can be exploited to tackle ongoing technology disruptions and allowing risk interactions to be mitigated in a disciplined manner. Examples of how these concepts were used during the MBD program will be delineated. Maintaining project momentum was essential to assess the constant non recurring technological challenges which needed to be retired rapidly from the engineering risk liens. Development never slowed due to tactical assessment of the hardware with the adoption of the SCRUM technique. We adapted this concept as a representation of mitigation of technical risk while allowing for design freeze later in the program's development cycle. By using Agile Systems Engineering and Management techniques which enabled decisive action, the product development momentum effectively was used to produce two novel space vehicles in a fraction of time with dramatically reduced cost.

Results of an Experimental Exploration of Advanced Automated Geospatial Tools: Agility in Complex Planning

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

AUTOMATED GEOSPATIAL TOOLS : AGILITY IN COMPLEX PLANNING Primary Topic: Track 5 – Experimentation and Analysis Walter A. Powell [STUDENT] - GMU...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Results of an Experimental Exploration of Advanced Automated Geospatial Tools : Agility in Complex Planning 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER...Std Z39-18 Abstract Typically, the development of tools and systems for the military is requirement driven; systems are developed to meet

Analysis on critical success factors for agile manufacturing evaluation in original equipment manufacturing industry-an AHP approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ajay Guru Dev, C.; Senthil Kumar, V. S.

2016-09-01

Manufacturing industries are facing challenges in the implementation of agile manufacturing in their products and processes. Agility is widely accepted as a new competitive concept in the manufacturing sector in fulfilling varying customer demand. Thus, evaluation of agile manufacturing in industries has become a necessity. The success of an organisation depends on its ability to manage finding the critical success factors and give them special and continued attention in order to bring about high performance. This paper proposes a set of critical success factors (CSFs) for evaluating agile manufacturing considered appropriate for the manufacturing sector. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method is applied for prioritizing the success factors, by summarizing the opinions of experts. It is believed that the proposed CSFs enable and assist manufacturing industries to achieve a higher performance in agile manufacturing so as to increase competitiveness.

Agile Methods in Air Force Sustainment: Status and Outlook

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

manage for it through iterations, anticipation and adaptation  unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate...073561993X X X Agile Project Management : Creating Innovative Products – 2nd Edition Jim Highsmith ISBN 0321658396 X Agile Retrospectives...X Leading Change John Kotter ISBN 0875847471 X Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead the People Who Deliver Technology Paul Glen ISBN

Reactive Agility Performance in Handball; Development and Evaluation of a Sport-Specific Measurement Protocol

PubMed Central

Spasic, Miodrag; Krolo, Ante; Zenic, Natasa; Delextrat, Anne; Sekulic, Damir

2015-01-01

There is no current study that examined sport-specific tests of reactive-agility and change-of-direction-speed (CODS) to replicate real-sport environment in handball (team-handball). This investigation evaluated the reliability and validity of two novel tests designed to assess reactive-agility and CODS of handball players. Participants were female (25.14 ± 3.71 years of age; 1.77 ± 0.09 m and 74.1 ± 6.1 kg) and male handball players (26.9 ± 4.1 years of age; 1.90 ± 0.09 m and 93.90±4.6 kg). Variables included body height, body mass, body mass index, broad jump, 5-m sprint, CODS and reactive-agility tests. Results showed satisfactory reliability for reactive-agility-test and CODS-test (ICC of 0.85-0.93, and CV of 2.4-4.8%). The reactive-agility and CODS shared less than 20% of the common variance. The calculated index of perceptual and reactive capacity (P&RC; ratio between reactive-agility- and CODS-performance) is found to be valid measure in defining true-game reactive-agility performance in handball in both genders. Therefore, the handball athletes’ P&RC should be used in the evaluation of real-game reactive-agility performance. Future studies should explore other sport-specific reactive-agility tests and factors associated to such performance in sports involving agile maneuvers. Key points Reactive agility and change-of-direction-speed should be observed as independent qualities, even when tested over the same course and similar movement template The reactive-agility-performance of the handball athletes involved in defensive duties is closer to their non-reactive-agility-score than in their peers who are not involved in defensive duties The handball specific “true-game” reactive-agility-performance should be evaluated as the ratio between reactive-agility and corresponding CODS performance. PMID:26336335

Reactive Agility Performance in Handball; Development and Evaluation of a Sport-Specific Measurement Protocol.

PubMed

Spasic, Miodrag; Krolo, Ante; Zenic, Natasa; Delextrat, Anne; Sekulic, Damir

2015-09-01

There is no current study that examined sport-specific tests of reactive-agility and change-of-direction-speed (CODS) to replicate real-sport environment in handball (team-handball). This investigation evaluated the reliability and validity of two novel tests designed to assess reactive-agility and CODS of handball players. Participants were female (25.14 ± 3.71 years of age; 1.77 ± 0.09 m and 74.1 ± 6.1 kg) and male handball players (26.9 ± 4.1 years of age; 1.90 ± 0.09 m and 93.90±4.6 kg). Variables included body height, body mass, body mass index, broad jump, 5-m sprint, CODS and reactive-agility tests. Results showed satisfactory reliability for reactive-agility-test and CODS-test (ICC of 0.85-0.93, and CV of 2.4-4.8%). The reactive-agility and CODS shared less than 20% of the common variance. The calculated index of perceptual and reactive capacity (P&RC; ratio between reactive-agility- and CODS-performance) is found to be valid measure in defining true-game reactive-agility performance in handball in both genders. Therefore, the handball athletes' P&RC should be used in the evaluation of real-game reactive-agility performance. Future studies should explore other sport-specific reactive-agility tests and factors associated to such performance in sports involving agile maneuvers. Key pointsReactive agility and change-of-direction-speed should be observed as independent qualities, even when tested over the same course and similar movement templateThe reactive-agility-performance of the handball athletes involved in defensive duties is closer to their non-reactive-agility-score than in their peers who are not involved in defensive dutiesThe handball specific "true-game" reactive-agility-performance should be evaluated as the ratio between reactive-agility and corresponding CODS performance.

Control research in the NASA high-alpha technology program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gilbert, William P.; Nguyen, Luat T.; Gera, Joseph

1990-01-01

NASA is conducting a focused technology program, known as the High-Angle-of-Attack Technology Program, to accelerate the development of flight-validated technology applicable to the design of fighters with superior stall and post-stall characteristics and agility. A carefully integrated effort is underway combining wind tunnel testing, analytical predictions, piloted simulation, and full-scale flight research. A modified F-18 aircraft has been extensively instrumented for use as the NASA High-Angle-of-Attack Research Vehicle used for flight verification of new methods and concepts. This program stresses the importance of providing improved aircraft control capabilities both by powered control (such as thrust-vectoring) and by innovative aerodynamic control concepts. The program is accomplishing extensive coordinated ground and flight testing to assess and improve available experimental and analytical methods and to develop new concepts for enhanced aerodynamics and for effective control, guidance, and cockpit displays essential for effective pilot utilization of the increased agility provided.

Strategy quantification using body worn inertial sensors in a reactive agility task.

PubMed

Eke, Chika U; Cain, Stephen M; Stirling, Leia A

2017-11-07

Agility performance is often evaluated using time-based metrics, which provide little information about which factors aid or limit success. The objective of this study was to better understand agility strategy by identifying biomechanical metrics that were sensitive to performance speed, which were calculated with data from an array of body-worn inertial sensors. Five metrics were defined (normalized number of foot contacts, stride length variance, arm swing variance, mean normalized stride frequency, and number of body rotations) that corresponded to agility terms defined by experts working in athletic, clinical, and military environments. Eighteen participants donned 13 sensors to complete a reactive agility task, which involved navigating a set of cones in response to a vocal cue. Participants were grouped into fast, medium, and slow performance based on their completion time. Participants in the fast group had the smallest number of foot contacts (normalizing by height), highest stride length variance (normalizing by height), highest forearm angular velocity variance, and highest stride frequency (normalizing by height). The number of body rotations was not sensitive to speed and may have been determined by hand and foot dominance while completing the agility task. The results of this study have the potential to inform the development of a composite agility score constructed from the list of significant metrics. By quantifying the agility terms previously defined by expert evaluators through an agility score, this study can assist in strategy development for training and rehabilitation across athletic, clinical, and military domains. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of agile methodologies on team capacity in automotive radio-navigation projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prostean, G.; Hutanu, A.; Volker, S.

2017-01-01

The development processes used in automotive radio-navigation projects are constantly under adaption pressure. While the software development models are based on automotive production processes, the integration of peripheral components into an automotive system will trigger a high number of requirement modifications. The use of traditional development models in automotive industry will bring team’s development capacity to its boundaries. The root cause lays in the inflexibility of actual processes and their adaption limits. This paper addresses a new project management approach for the development of radio-navigation projects. The understanding of weaknesses of current used models helped us in development and integration of agile methodologies in traditional development model structure. In the first part we focus on the change management methods to reduce request for change inflow. Established change management risk analysis processes enables the project management to judge the impact of a requirement change and also gives time to the project to implement some changes. However, in big automotive radio-navigation projects the saved time is not enough to implement the large amount of changes, which are submitted to the project. In the second phase of this paper we focus on increasing team capacity by integrating at critical project phases agile methodologies into the used traditional model. The overall objective of this paper is to prove the need of process adaption in order to solve project team capacity bottlenecks.

Agile Walker.

PubMed

Katz, Reuven

2015-01-01

The goal of the Agile Walker is to improve the outdoor mobility of healthy elderly people with some mobility limitations. It is a newly developed, all-terrain walker, equipped with an electric drive system and speed control that can assists elderly people to walk outdoors or to hike. The walker has a unique product design with an attractive look that will appeal to "active-agers" population. This paper describes product design requirements and the development process of the Agile Walker, its features and some preliminary testing results.

Development of perceived competence, tactical skills, motivation, technical skills, and speed and agility in young soccer players.

PubMed

Forsman, Hannele; Gråstén, Arto; Blomqvist, Minna; Davids, Keith; Liukkonen, Jarmo; Konttinen, Niilo

2016-07-01

The objective of this 1-year, longitudinal study was to examine the development of perceived competence, tactical skills, motivation, technical skills, and speed and agility characteristics of young Finnish soccer players. We also examined associations between latent growth models of perceived competence and other recorded variables. Participants were 288 competitive male soccer players ranging from 12 to 14 years (12.7 ± 0.6) from 16 soccer clubs. Players completed the self-assessments of perceived competence, tactical skills, and motivation, and participated in technical, and speed and agility tests. Results of this study showed that players' levels of perceived competence, tactical skills, motivation, technical skills, and speed and agility characteristics remained relatively high and stable across the period of 1 year. Positive relationships were found between these levels and changes in perceived competence and motivation, and levels of perceived competence and speed and agility characteristics. Together these results illustrate the multi-dimensional nature of talent development processes in soccer. Moreover, it seems crucial in coaching to support the development of perceived competence and motivation in young soccer players and that it might be even more important in later maturing players.

Coping with Uncertainty in an Agile Systems Development Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taipalus, Toni; Seppänen, Ville; Pirhonen, Maritta

2018-01-01

Uncertain and ambiguous environments are commonplace in information systems development (ISD) projects, and while different Agile frameworks welcome changes in organizational, technical, and business environments, the incurred uncertainty is known to negatively affect the development process and the quality of the final product. The effects of…

Using formal methods to scope performance challenges for Smart Manufacturing Systems: focus on agility.

PubMed

Jung, Kiwook; Morris, K C; Lyons, Kevin W; Leong, Swee; Cho, Hyunbo

2015-12-01

Smart Manufacturing Systems (SMS) need to be agile to adapt to new situations by using detailed, precise, and appropriate data for intelligent decision-making. The intricacy of the relationship of strategic goals to operational performance across the many levels of a manufacturing system inhibits the realization of SMS. This paper proposes a method for identifying what aspects of a manufacturing system should be addressed to respond to changing strategic goals. The method uses standard modeling techniques in specifying a manufacturing system and the relationship between strategic goals and operational performance metrics. Two existing reference models related to manufacturing operations are represented formally and harmonized to support the proposed method. The method is illustrated for a single scenario using agility as a strategic goal. By replicating the proposed method for other strategic goals and with multiple scenarios, a comprehensive set of performance challenges can be identified.

Using formal methods to scope performance challenges for Smart Manufacturing Systems: focus on agility

PubMed Central

Jung, Kiwook; Morris, KC; Lyons, Kevin W.; Leong, Swee; Cho, Hyunbo

2016-01-01

Smart Manufacturing Systems (SMS) need to be agile to adapt to new situations by using detailed, precise, and appropriate data for intelligent decision-making. The intricacy of the relationship of strategic goals to operational performance across the many levels of a manufacturing system inhibits the realization of SMS. This paper proposes a method for identifying what aspects of a manufacturing system should be addressed to respond to changing strategic goals. The method uses standard modeling techniques in specifying a manufacturing system and the relationship between strategic goals and operational performance metrics. Two existing reference models related to manufacturing operations are represented formally and harmonized to support the proposed method. The method is illustrated for a single scenario using agility as a strategic goal. By replicating the proposed method for other strategic goals and with multiple scenarios, a comprehensive set of performance challenges can be identified. PMID:27141209

Thinking Outside the Box: Agile Business Models for CNOs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loss, Leandro; Crave, Servane

This paper introduces the idea of an agile Business Model for CNOs grounded on a new model of innovation based on the effects of globalization and of Knowledge Economy. The agile Business Model considers the resources that are spread out and available worldwide as well as the need for each customer to receive a unique customer experience. It aims at reinforcing in the context of the Knowledge Economy the different business models approaches developed so far. The paper also identifies the levers and the barriers of Agile Business Models Innovation in CNOs.

Knowledge Sharing through Pair Programming in Learning Environments: An Empirical Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kavitha, R. K.; Ahmed, M. S.

2015-01-01

Agile software development is an iterative and incremental methodology, where solutions evolve from self-organizing, cross-functional teams. Pair programming is a type of agile software development technique where two programmers work together with one computer for developing software. This paper reports the results of the pair programming…

Developing a model for agile supply: an empirical study from Iranian pharmaceutical supply chain.

PubMed

Rajabzadeh Ghatari, Ali; Mehralian, Gholamhossein; Zarenezhad, Forouzandeh; Rasekh, Hamid Reza

2013-01-01

Agility is the fundamental characteristic of a supply chain needed for survival in turbulent markets, where environmental forces create additional uncertainty resulting in higher risk in the supply chain management. In addition, agility helps providing the right product, at the right time to the consumer. The main goal of this research is therefore to promote supplier selection in pharmaceutical industry according to the formative basic factors. Moreover, this paper can configure its supply network to achieve the agile supply chain. The present article analyzes the supply part of supply chain based on SCOR model, used to assess agile supply chains by highlighting their specific characteristics and applicability in providing the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). This methodology provides an analytical modeling; the model enables potential suppliers to be assessed against the multiple criteria using both quantitative and qualitative measures. In addition, for making priority of critical factors, TOPSIS algorithm has been used as a common technique of MADM model. Finally, several factors such as delivery speed, planning and reorder segmentation, trust development and material quantity adjustment are identified and prioritized as critical factors for being agile in supply of API.

Developing a Model for Agile Supply: an Empirical Study from Iranian Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

PubMed Central

Rajabzadeh Ghatari, Ali; Mehralian, Gholamhossein; Zarenezhad, Forouzandeh; Rasekh, Hamid Reza

2013-01-01

Agility is the fundamental characteristic of a supply chain needed for survival in turbulent markets, where environmental forces create additional uncertainty resulting in higher risk in the supply chain management. In addition, agility helps providing the right product, at the right time to the consumer. The main goal of this research is therefore to promote supplier selection in pharmaceutical industry according to the formative basic factors. Moreover, this paper can configure its supply network to achieve the agile supply chain. The present article analyzes the supply part of supply chain based on SCOR model, used to assess agile supply chains by highlighting their specific characteristics and applicability in providing the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). This methodology provides an analytical modeling; the model enables potential suppliers to be assessed against the multiple criteria using both quantitative and qualitative measures. In addition, for making priority of critical factors, TOPSIS algorithm has been used as a common technique of MADM model. Finally, several factors such as delivery speed, planning and reorder segmentation, trust development and material quantity adjustment are identified and prioritized as critical factors for being agile in supply of API. PMID:24250689

A Novel Approach for Collaborative Pair Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goel, Sanjay; Kathuria, Vanshi

2010-01-01

The majority of an engineer's time in the software industry is spent working with other programmers. Agile methods of software development like eXtreme Programming strongly rely upon practices like daily meetings and pair programming. Hence, the need to learn the skill of working collaboratively is of primary importance for software developers.…

Agile Methods and Request for Change (RFC): Observations from DoD Acquisition Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

at the Software Development Plan, then it’s worth having a conversation with the contractor that includes answering the above questions. MSA TD EMD...Lap- ham 2010] CMU/SEI-2013-TN-031 | 18 those undertaken in more traditional waterfall-based developments. Some of the government PMO enabling

AM-OER: An Agile Method for the Development of Open Educational Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arimoto, Maurício M.; Barroca, Leonor; Barbosa, Ellen F.

2016-01-01

Open Educational Resources have emerged as important elements of education in the contemporary society, promoting life-long and personalized learning that transcends social, economic and geographical barriers. To achieve the potential of OERs and bring impact on education, it is necessary to increase their development and supply. However, one of…

A comparison of linear speed, closed-skill agility, and open-skill agility qualities between backcourt and frontcourt adult semiprofessional male basketball players.

PubMed

Scanlan, Aaron T; Tucker, Patrick S; Dalbo, Vincent J

2014-05-01

The measurement of fitness qualities relevant to playing position is necessary to inform basketball coaching and conditioning staff of role-related differences in playing groups. To date, sprinting and agility performance have not been compared between playing positions in adult male basketball players. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe and compare linear speed, closed-skill agility, and open-skill agility qualities between backcourt (point guard and shooting guard positions) and frontcourt (small forward, power forward, and center positions) semiprofessional basketball players. Six backcourt (mean ± SD: age, 24.3 ± 7.9 years; stature, 183.4 ± 4.0 cm; body mass, 85.5 ± 12.3 kg; VO2max, 51.9 ± 4.8 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) and 6 frontcourt (mean ± SD: age, 27.5 ± 5.5 years; stature, 194.4 ± 7.1 cm; body mass, 109.4 ± 8.8 kg; VO2max, 47.1 ± 5.0 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) adult male basketball players completed 20-m sprint, closed-skill agility, and open-skill agility performance tests. Magnitude-based inferences revealed that backcourt players (5 m, 1.048 ± 0.027 seconds; 10 m, 1.778 ± 0.048 seconds; 20 m, 3.075 ± 0.121 seconds) possessed likely quicker linear sprint times than frontcourt players (5 m, 1.095 ± 0.085 seconds; 10 m, 1.872 ± 0.127 seconds; 20 m, 3.242 ± 0.221 seconds). Conversely, frontcourt players (1.665 ± 0.096 seconds) held possible superior closed-skill agility performance than backcourt players (1.613 ± 0.111 seconds). In addition, unclear positional differences were apparent for open-skill agility qualities. These findings indicate that linear speed and change of direction speed might be differently developed across playing positions. Furthermore, position-related functions might similarly depend on the aspects of open-skill agility performance across backcourt and frontcourt players. Basketball coaching and conditioning staff should consider the development of position-targeted training drills to improve speed, agility, and cognitive qualities in players.

On the Biomimetic Design of Agile-Robot Legs

PubMed Central

Garcia, Elena; Arevalo, Juan Carlos; Muñoz, Gustavo; Gonzalez-de-Santos, Pablo

2011-01-01

The development of functional legged robots has encountered its limits in human-made actuation technology. This paper describes research on the biomimetic design of legs for agile quadrupeds. A biomimetic leg concept that extracts key principles from horse legs which are responsible for the agile and powerful locomotion of these animals is presented. The proposed biomimetic leg model defines the effective leg length, leg kinematics, limb mass distribution, actuator power, and elastic energy recovery as determinants of agile locomotion, and values for these five key elements are given. The transfer of the extracted principles to technological instantiations is analyzed in detail, considering the availability of current materials, structures and actuators. A real leg prototype has been developed following the biomimetic leg concept proposed. The actuation system is based on the hybrid use of series elasticity and magneto-rheological dampers which provides variable compliance for natural motion. From the experimental evaluation of this prototype, conclusions on the current technological barriers to achieve real functional legged robots to walk dynamically in agile locomotion are presented. PMID:22247667

On the biomimetic design of agile-robot legs.

PubMed

Garcia, Elena; Arevalo, Juan Carlos; Muñoz, Gustavo; Gonzalez-de-Santos, Pablo

2011-01-01

The development of functional legged robots has encountered its limits in human-made actuation technology. This paper describes research on the biomimetic design of legs for agile quadrupeds. A biomimetic leg concept that extracts key principles from horse legs which are responsible for the agile and powerful locomotion of these animals is presented. The proposed biomimetic leg model defines the effective leg length, leg kinematics, limb mass distribution, actuator power, and elastic energy recovery as determinants of agile locomotion, and values for these five key elements are given. The transfer of the extracted principles to technological instantiations is analyzed in detail, considering the availability of current materials, structures and actuators. A real leg prototype has been developed following the biomimetic leg concept proposed. The actuation system is based on the hybrid use of series elasticity and magneto-rheological dampers which provides variable compliance for natural motion. From the experimental evaluation of this prototype, conclusions on the current technological barriers to achieve real functional legged robots to walk dynamically in agile locomotion are presented.

Calibration of X-Ray diffractometer by the experimental comparison method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dudka, A. P., E-mail: dudka@ns.crys.ras.ru

2015-07-15

A software for calibrating an X-ray diffractometer with area detector has been developed. It is proposed to search for detector and goniometer calibration models whose parameters are reproduced in a series of measurements on a reference crystal. Reference (standard) crystals are prepared during the investigation; they should provide the agreement of structural models in repeated analyses. The technique developed has been used to calibrate Xcalibur Sapphire and Eos, Gemini Ruby (Agilent) and Apex x8 and Apex Duo (Bruker) diffractometers. The main conclusions are as follows: the calibration maps are stable for several years and can be used to improve structuralmore » results, verified CCD detectors exhibit significant inhomogeneity of the efficiency (response) function, and a Bruker goniometer introduces smaller distortions than an Agilent goniometer.« less

Agile Data Curation Case Studies Leading to the Identification and Development of Data Curation Design Patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedict, K. K.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Young, J. W.; Gordon, L. C.; Hughes, S.; Santhana Vannan, S. K.

2017-12-01

The planning for and development of efficient workflows for the creation, reuse, sharing, documentation, publication and preservation of research data is a general challenge that research teams of all sizes face. In response to: requirements from funding agencies for full-lifecycle data management plans that will result in well documented, preserved, and shared research data products increasing requirements from publishers for shared data in conjunction with submitted papers interdisciplinary research team's needs for efficient data sharing within projects, and increasing reuse of research data for replication and new, unanticipated research, policy development, and public use alternative strategies to traditional data life cycle approaches must be developed and shared that enable research teams to meet these requirements while meeting the core science objectives of their projects within the available resources. In support of achieving these goals, the concept of Agile Data Curation has been developed in which there have been parallel activities in support of 1) identifying a set of shared values and principles that underlie the objectives of agile data curation, 2) soliciting case studies from the Earth science and other research communities that illustrate aspects of what the contributors consider agile data curation methods and practices, and 3) identifying or developing design patterns that are high-level abstractions from successful data curation practice that are related to common data curation problems for which common solution strategies may be employed. This paper provides a collection of case studies that have been contributed by the Earth science community, and an initial analysis of those case studies to map them to emerging shared data curation problems and their potential solutions. Following the initial analysis of these problems and potential solutions, existing design patterns from software engineering and related disciplines are identified as a starting point for the development of a catalog of data curation design patterns that may be reused in the design and execution of new data curation processes.

Optical flows method for lightweight agile remote sensor design and instrumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chong; Xing, Fei; Wang, Hongjian; You, Zheng

2013-08-01

Lightweight agile remote sensors have become one type of the most important payloads and were widely utilized in space reconnaissance and resource survey. These imaging sensors are designed to obtain the high spatial, temporary and spectral resolution imageries. Key techniques in instrumentation include flexible maneuvering, advanced imaging control algorithms and integrative measuring techniques, which are closely correlative or even acting as the bottle-necks for each other. Therefore, mutual restrictive problems must be solved and optimized. Optical flow is the critical model which to be fully represented in the information transferring as well as radiation energy flowing in dynamic imaging. For agile sensors, especially with wide-field-of view, imaging optical flows may distort and deviate seriously when they perform large angle attitude maneuvering imaging. The phenomena are mainly attributed to the geometrical characteristics of the three-dimensional earth surface as well as the coupled effects due to the complicated relative motion between the sensor and scene. Under this circumstance, velocity fields distribute nonlinearly, the imageries may badly be smeared or probably the geometrical structures are changed since the image velocity matching errors are not having been eliminated perfectly. In this paper, precise imaging optical flow model is established for agile remote sensors, for which optical flows evolving is factorized by two forms, which respectively due to translational movement and image shape changing. Moreover, base on that, agile remote sensors instrumentation was investigated. The main techniques which concern optical flow modeling include integrative design with lightweight star sensors along with micro inertial measurement units and corresponding data fusion, the assemblies of focal plane layout and control, imageries post processing for agile remote sensors etc. Some experiments show that the optical analyzing method is effective to eliminate the limitations for the performance indexes, and succeeded to be applied for integrative system design. Finally, a principle prototype of agile remote sensor designed by the method is discussed.

Taking Another Look at the Data Management Life Cycle: Deconstruction, Agile, and Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, J. W.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Parsons, M. A.; Benedict, K. K.

2014-12-01

The data life cycle has figured prominently in describing the context of digital scientific data stewardship and cyberinfractructure in support of science. There are many different versions of the data life cycle, but they all follow a similar basic pattern: plan, collect, ingest, asses, preserve, discover, and reuse. The process is often interpreted in a fairly linear fashion despite it being a cycle conceptually. More recently at GeoData 2014 and elsewhere, questions have been raised about the utility of the data life cycle as it is currently represented. We are proposing to the community a re-examination of the data life cycle using an agile lens. Our goal is not to deploy agile methods, but to use agile principles as a heuristic to think about how to incorporate data stewardship across the scientific process from proposal stage to research and beyond. We will present alternative conceptualizations of the data life cycle with a goal to solicit feedback and to develop a new model for conceiving and describing the overall data stewardship process. We seek to re-examine past assumptions and shed new light on the challenges and necessity of data stewardship. The ultimate goal is to support new science through enhanced data interoperability, usability, and preservation.

Onshore and Offshore Outsourcing with Agility: Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kussmaul, Clifton

This chapter reflects on case study based an agile distributed project that ran for approximately three years (from spring 2003 to spring 2006). The project involved (a) a customer organization with key personnel distributed across the US, developing an application with rapidly changing requirements; (b) onshore consultants with expertise in project management, development processes, offshoring, and relevant technologies; and (c) an external offsite development team in a CMM-5 organization in southern India. This chapter is based on surveys and discussions with multiple participants. The several years since the project was completed allow greater perspective on both the strengths and weaknesses, since the participants can reflect on the entire life of the project, and compare it to subsequent experiences. Our findings emphasize the potential for agile project management in distributed software development, and the importance of people and interactions, taking many small steps to find and correct errors, and matching the structures of the project and product to support implementation of agility.

Agile rediscovering values: Similarities to continuous improvement strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Díaz de Mera, P.; Arenas, J. M.; González, C.

2012-04-01

Research in the late 80's on technological companies that develop products of high value innovation, with sufficient speed and flexibility to adapt quickly to changing market conditions, gave rise to the new set of methodologies known as Agile Management Approach. In the current changing economic scenario, we considered very interesting to study the similarities of these Agile Methodologies with other practices whose effectiveness has been amply demonstrated in both the West and Japan. Strategies such as Kaizen, Lean, World Class Manufacturing, Concurrent Engineering, etc, would be analyzed to check the values they have in common with the Agile Approach.

The Mediating Role of Organizational Learning in the Relationship of Organizational Intelligence and Organizational Agility.

PubMed

Bahrami, Mohammad Amin; Kiani, Mohammad Mehdi; Montazeralfaraj, Raziye; Zadeh, Hossein Fallah; Zadeh, Morteza Mohammad

2016-06-01

Organizational learning is defined as creating, absorbing, retaining, transferring, and application of knowledge within an organization. This article aims to examine the mediating role of organizational learning in the relationship of organizational intelligence and organizational agility. This analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 at four teaching hospitals of Yazd city, Iran. A total of 370 administrative and medical staff contributed to the study. We used stratified-random method for sampling. Required data were gathered using three valid questionnaires including Alberkht (2003) organizational intelligence, Neefe (2001) organizational learning, and Sharifi and Zhang (1999) organizational agility questionnaires. Data analysis was done through R and SPSS 18 statistical software. The results showed that organizational learning acts as a mediator in the relationship of organizational intelligence and organizational agility (path coefficient = 0.943). Also, organizational learning has a statistical relationship with organizational agility (path coefficient = 0.382). Our findings suggest that the improvement of organizational learning abilities can affect an organization's agility which is crucial for its survival.

Collaboration, Communication and Co-ordination in Agile Software Development Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, Hugh; Sharp, Helen

This chapter analyses the results of a series of observational studies of agile software developmentagile software development teams, identifying commonalities in collaboration, co-ordination and communication activities. Pairing and customer collaborationcustomer collaboration are focussed on to illustrate the nature of collaboration and communication, as are two simple physical artefacts that emerged through analysis as being an information-rich focal point for the co-ordination of collaboration and communication activities. The analysis shows that pairingpairing has common characteristics across all teams, while customer collaboration differs between the teams depending on the application and organisational context of development.

A LC/UV/Vis method for determination of cyanocobalamin in multivitamin dietary supplements with on-line sample clean-up

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A HPLC-UV method using a two-column strategy with a switching valve for on-line sample clean-up was developed for the determination of cyanocobalamin (CN-CBL-vitamin B12, in dietary supplements. The method uses two columns, an Agilent Zorbax C8 (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 um particle) reversed-phase column...

Mapping CMMI Level 2 to Scrum Practices: An Experience Report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diaz, Jessica; Garbajosa, Juan; Calvo-Manzano, Jose A.

CMMI has been adopted advantageously in large companies for improvements in software quality, budget fulfilling, and customer satisfaction. However SPI strategies based on CMMI-DEV require heavy software development processes and large investments in terms of cost and time that medium/small companies do not deal with. The so-called light software development processes, such as Agile Software Development (ASD), deal with these challenges. ASD welcomes changing requirements and stresses the importance of adaptive planning, simplicity and continuous delivery of valuable software by short time-framed iterations. ASD is becoming convenient in a more and more global, and changing software market. It would be greatly useful to be able to introduce agile methods such as Scrum in compliance with CMMI process model. This paper intends to increase the understanding of the relationship between ASD and CMMI-DEV reporting empirical results that confirm theoretical comparisons between ASD practices and CMMI level2.

Allometric multilevel modelling of agility and dribbling speed by skeletal age and playing position in youth soccer players.

PubMed

Valente-dos-Santos, J; Coelho-e-Silva, M J; Duarte, J; Pereira, J; Rebelo-Gonçalves, R; Figueiredo, A; Mazzuco, M A; Sherar, L B; Elferink-Gemser, M T; Malina, R M

2014-08-01

This study evaluates the contributions of age, skeletal maturation, body size and composition, training and playing position to the development of agility and dribbling speed in young male soccer players (10-18 years) followed longitudinally. 83 players [defenders (n=35), midfielders (n=27), forwards (n=21)] were followed annually over 5 years (average: 4.4 observations per player). Skeletal age (SA), stature, body mass, triceps and subscapular skinfolds, agility and dribbling speed were measured annually. Body composition was estimated from the 2 skinfolds. Annual training volume was estimated from weekly participation forms completed by coaches. The multiplicative allometric models with the best statistical fit showed that statural growth of 1 cm predicts 1.334 s and 1.927 s of improvement in agility and dribbling speed, respectively. Significant independent effects of fat-free mass and annual volume training were found for agility and dribbling speed, respectively (P<0.05). Predicted agility (from 12 to 18 years of SA) and dribbling speed (from 13 to 18 years of SA) differed significantly among players by playing positions (midfielders>forwards>defenders). The present results provide developmental models for the interpretation of intra- and inter-individual variability in agility and dribbling speed among youth soccer players across adolescence, and may provide a framework for trainers and coaches to develop and evaluate individualized training protocols. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Increasing agility in unmanned ground vehicles using variable internal mass and inertial properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nie, Chenghui; Cusi Van Dooren, Simo; Shah, Jainam; Spenko, Matthew

2009-05-01

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) that possess agility, or the ability to quickly change directions without a significant loss in speed, would have several advantages in field operations over conventional UGVs. The agile UGVs would have greater maneuverability in cluttered environments and improved obstacle avoidance capabilities. The UGVs would also be able to better recover from unwanted dynamic behaviors. This paper presents a novel method of increasing UGV agility by actively altering the location of the vehicle's center of mass during locomotion. This allows the vehicle to execute extreme dynamic maneuvers by controlling the normal force acting on the wheels. A theoretical basis for this phenomenon is presented and experimental results are shown that validate the approach.

Systems 2020: Strategic Initiative

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-29

research areas that enable agile, assured, efficient, and scalable systems engineering approaches to support the development of these systems. This...To increase development efficiency and ensure flexible solutions in the field, systems engineers need powerful, agile, interoperable, and scalable...design and development will be transformed as a result of Systems 2020, along with complementary enabling acquisition practice improvements initiated in

A Capstone Course on Agile Software Development Using Scrum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahnic, V.

2012-01-01

In this paper, an undergraduate capstone course in software engineering is described that not only exposes students to agile software development, but also makes it possible to observe the behavior of developers using Scrum for the first time. The course requires students to work as Scrum Teams, responsible for the implementation of a set of user…

Impact of Agile Software Development Model on Software Maintainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gawali, Ajay R.

2012-01-01

Software maintenance and support costs account for up to 60% of the overall software life cycle cost and often burdens tightly budgeted information technology (IT) organizations. Agile software development approach delivers business value early, but implications on software maintainability are still unknown. The purpose of this quantitative study…

Investigation of a Graphical CONOPS Development Environment for Agile Systems Engineering - Phase 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-31

Westerman, Crawshaw , Hockey, and Sauer, 1998) for practitioners. Thus, CTA extends research by providing a toolbox of methods for understanding teams...drive process and performance. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. pp. 3-8. Shrayne, N. M., Westerman, S. J., Crawshaw , C. M

Evaluation of agile designs in first-in-human (FIH) trials--a simulation study.

PubMed

Perlstein, Itay; Bolognese, James A; Krishna, Rajesh; Wagner, John A

2009-12-01

The aim of the investigation was to evaluate alternatives to standard first-in-human (FIH) designs in order to optimize the information gained from such studies by employing novel agile trial designs. Agile designs combine adaptive and flexible elements to enable optimized use of prior information either before and/or during conduct of the study to seamlessly update the study design. A comparison of the traditional 6 + 2 (active + placebo) subjects per cohort design with alternative, reduced sample size, agile designs was performed by using discrete event simulation. Agile designs were evaluated for specific adverse event models and rates as well as dose-proportional, saturated, and steep-accumulation pharmacokinetic profiles. Alternative, reduced sample size (hereafter referred to as agile) designs are proposed for cases where prior knowledge about pharmacokinetics and/or adverse event relationships are available or appropriately assumed. Additionally, preferred alternatives are proposed for a general case when prior knowledge is limited or unavailable. Within the tested conditions and stated assumptions, some agile designs were found to be as efficient as traditional designs. Thus, simulations demonstrated that the agile design is a robust and feasible approach to FIH clinical trials, with no meaningful loss of relevant information, as it relates to PK and AE assumptions. In some circumstances, applying agile designs may decrease the duration and resources required for Phase I studies, increasing the efficiency of early clinical development. We highlight the value and importance of useful prior information when specifying key assumptions related to safety, tolerability, and PK.

Social media as an information system: improving the technological agility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senadheera, Vindaya; Warren, Matthew; Leitch, Shona

2017-04-01

There is an increased focus on research involving social media. This research however has failed to catch up with the pace of the technology development and may prove disadvantageous for both practice and theory. The longitudinal study presented in the paper was conducted over a 3-year period involving Australian banks and popular social media technologies. The paper empirically tests the Honeycomb model as a tool that enhances the technological agility of social media. The paper fills a key research gap and provides dynamism to social media strategy formation, continuous improvement of strategy development in support of greater business agility.

Agile parallel bioinformatics workflow management using Pwrake.

PubMed

Mishima, Hiroyuki; Sasaki, Kensaku; Tanaka, Masahiro; Tatebe, Osamu; Yoshiura, Koh-Ichiro

2011-09-08

In bioinformatics projects, scientific workflow systems are widely used to manage computational procedures. Full-featured workflow systems have been proposed to fulfil the demand for workflow management. However, such systems tend to be over-weighted for actual bioinformatics practices. We realize that quick deployment of cutting-edge software implementing advanced algorithms and data formats, and continuous adaptation to changes in computational resources and the environment are often prioritized in scientific workflow management. These features have a greater affinity with the agile software development method through iterative development phases after trial and error.Here, we show the application of a scientific workflow system Pwrake to bioinformatics workflows. Pwrake is a parallel workflow extension of Ruby's standard build tool Rake, the flexibility of which has been demonstrated in the astronomy domain. Therefore, we hypothesize that Pwrake also has advantages in actual bioinformatics workflows. We implemented the Pwrake workflows to process next generation sequencing data using the Genomic Analysis Toolkit (GATK) and Dindel. GATK and Dindel workflows are typical examples of sequential and parallel workflows, respectively. We found that in practice, actual scientific workflow development iterates over two phases, the workflow definition phase and the parameter adjustment phase. We introduced separate workflow definitions to help focus on each of the two developmental phases, as well as helper methods to simplify the descriptions. This approach increased iterative development efficiency. Moreover, we implemented combined workflows to demonstrate modularity of the GATK and Dindel workflows. Pwrake enables agile management of scientific workflows in the bioinformatics domain. The internal domain specific language design built on Ruby gives the flexibility of rakefiles for writing scientific workflows. Furthermore, readability and maintainability of rakefiles may facilitate sharing workflows among the scientific community. Workflows for GATK and Dindel are available at http://github.com/misshie/Workflows.

Agile parallel bioinformatics workflow management using Pwrake

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background In bioinformatics projects, scientific workflow systems are widely used to manage computational procedures. Full-featured workflow systems have been proposed to fulfil the demand for workflow management. However, such systems tend to be over-weighted for actual bioinformatics practices. We realize that quick deployment of cutting-edge software implementing advanced algorithms and data formats, and continuous adaptation to changes in computational resources and the environment are often prioritized in scientific workflow management. These features have a greater affinity with the agile software development method through iterative development phases after trial and error. Here, we show the application of a scientific workflow system Pwrake to bioinformatics workflows. Pwrake is a parallel workflow extension of Ruby's standard build tool Rake, the flexibility of which has been demonstrated in the astronomy domain. Therefore, we hypothesize that Pwrake also has advantages in actual bioinformatics workflows. Findings We implemented the Pwrake workflows to process next generation sequencing data using the Genomic Analysis Toolkit (GATK) and Dindel. GATK and Dindel workflows are typical examples of sequential and parallel workflows, respectively. We found that in practice, actual scientific workflow development iterates over two phases, the workflow definition phase and the parameter adjustment phase. We introduced separate workflow definitions to help focus on each of the two developmental phases, as well as helper methods to simplify the descriptions. This approach increased iterative development efficiency. Moreover, we implemented combined workflows to demonstrate modularity of the GATK and Dindel workflows. Conclusions Pwrake enables agile management of scientific workflows in the bioinformatics domain. The internal domain specific language design built on Ruby gives the flexibility of rakefiles for writing scientific workflows. Furthermore, readability and maintainability of rakefiles may facilitate sharing workflows among the scientific community. Workflows for GATK and Dindel are available at http://github.com/misshie/Workflows. PMID:21899774

AGILE/GRID Science Alert Monitoring System: The Workflow and the Crab Flare Case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulgarelli, A.; Trifoglio, M.; Gianotti, F.; Tavani, M.; Conforti, V.; Parmiggiani, N.

2013-10-01

During the first five years of the AGILE mission we have observed many gamma-ray transients of Galactic and extragalactic origin. A fast reaction to unexpected transient events is a crucial part of the AGILE monitoring program, because the follow-up of astrophysical transients is a key point for this space mission. We present the workflow and the software developed by the AGILE Team to perform the automatic analysis for the detection of gamma-ray transients. In addition, an App for iPhone will be released enabling the Team to access the monitoring system through mobile phones. In 2010 September the science alert monitoring system presented in this paper recorded a transient phenomena from the Crab Nebula, generating an automated alert sent via email and SMS two hours after the end of an AGILE satellite orbit, i.e. two hours after the Crab flare itself: for this discovery AGILE won the 2012 Bruno Rossi prize. The design of this alert system is maximized to reach the maximum speed, and in this, as in many other cases, AGILE has demonstrated that the reaction speed of the monitoring system is crucial for the scientific return of the mission.

An Examination of an Information Security Framework Implementation Based on Agile Values to Achieve Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Security Rule Compliance in an Academic Medical Center: The Thomas Jefferson University Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reis, David W.

2012-01-01

Agile project management is most often examined in relation to software development, while information security frameworks are often examined with respect to certain risk management capabilities rather than in terms of successful implementation approaches. This dissertation extended the study of both Agile project management and information…

Future Software Sizing Metrics and Estimation Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

systems 4. Ultrahigh software system assurance 5. Legacy maintenance and Brownfield development 6. Agile and Lean/ Kanban development. This paper...refined as the design of the maintenance modifications or Brownfield re-engineering is determined. VII. 6. AGILE AND LEAN/ KANBAN DEVELOPMENT The...difficulties of software maintenance estimation can often be mitigated by using lean workflow management techniques such as Kanban [25]. In Kanban

Addressing the Barriers to Agile Development in DoD

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-01

Acquisition Small, Frequent Releases Iteratively Developed Review Working Software Vice Extensive Docs Responsive to Changes...Distribution Unlimited. Case Number 15-1457’ JCIDS IT Box Model  Streamlined requirements process for software >$15M  JROC approves IS-ICD...Services (FAR Part 37) Product-based Pay for the time and expertise of an Agile development contractor Contract for a defined software delivery

A Review of Agile and Lean Manufacturing as Issues in Selected International and National Research and Development Programs and Roadmaps

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castro, Helio; Putnik, Goran D.; Shah, Vaibhav

2012-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to analyze international and national research and development (R&D) programs and roadmaps for the manufacturing sector, presenting how agile and lean manufacturing models are addressed in these programs. Design/methodology/approach: In this review, several manufacturing research and development programs and…

Origami: An Active Learning Exercise for Scrum Project Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sibona, Christopher; Pourreza, Saba; Hill, Stephen

2018-01-01

Scrum is a popular project management model for iterative delivery of software that subscribes to Agile principles. This paper describes an origami active learning exercise to teach the principles of Scrum in management information systems courses. The exercise shows students how Agile methods respond to changes in requirements during project…

Software Intensive Systems Data Quality and Estimation Research in Support of Future Defense Cost Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-13

Legacy Maintenance and Brownfield Development 6.6.6 Agile and Kanban Development 6.6.7 Putting It All Together at the Large-Project or Enterprise Level...NDI)-intensive systems Ultrahigh software system assurance; Legacy maintenance and brownfield development; and Agile and kanban development. This...be furnished by NDI components or may need to be developed for special systems. Legacy Maintenance and Brownfield Development Fewer and fewer software

Safe Surgery Trainer Project Management Plan (PMP), Version 1.0

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-30

Methodology including SCRUM (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(management) for more info). Although this Safe Surgery Trainer - PMP Version 1.0 5...Agile method similar to Scrum . The internal development team works on a minor iteration cycle that begins/ends on Wednesday. At the beginning of

Agile Development of Various Computational Power Adaptive Web-Based Mobile-Learning Software Using Mobile Cloud Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zadahmad, Manouchehr; Yousefzadehfard, Parisa

2016-01-01

Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) aims to improve all mobile applications such as m-learning systems. This study presents an innovative method to use web technology and software engineering's best practices to provide m-learning functionalities hosted in a MCC-learning system as service. Components hosted by MCC are used to empower developers to create…

Development of an Agility Test for Badminton Players and Assessment of Its Validity and Test-Retest Reliability.

PubMed

Loureiro, Luiz de França Bahia; de Freitas, Paulo Barbosa

2016-04-01

Badminton requires open and fast actions toward the shuttlecock, but there is no specific agility test for badminton players with specific movements. To develop an agility test that simultaneously assesses perception and motor capacity and examine the test's concurrent and construct validity and its test-retest reliability. The Badcamp agility test consists of running as fast as possible to 6 targets placed on the corners and middle points of a rectangular area (5.6 × 4.2 m) from the start position located in the center of it, following visual stimuli presented in a luminous panel. The authors recruited 43 badminton players (17-32 y old) to evaluate concurrent (with shuttle-run agility test--SRAT) and construct validity and test-retest reliability. Results revealed that Badcamp presents concurrent and construct validity, as its performance is strongly related to SRAT (ρ = 0.83, P < .001), with performance of experts being better than nonexpert players (P < .01). In addition, Badcamp is reliable, as no difference (P = .07) and a high intraclass correlation (ICC = .93) were found in the performance of the players on 2 different occasions. The findings indicate that Badcamp is an effective, valid, and reliable tool to measure agility, allowing coaches and athletic trainers to evaluate players' athletic condition and training effectiveness and possibly detect talented individuals in this sport.

Investigation into the impact of agility on conceptual fighter design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engelbeck, R. M.

1995-01-01

The Agility Design Study was performed by the Boeing Defense and Space Group for the NASA Langley Research Center. The objective of the study was to assess the impact of agility requirements on new fighter configurations. Global trade issues investigated were the level of agility, the mission role of the aircraft (air-to-ground, multi-role, or air-to-air), and whether the customer is Air force, Navy, or joint service. Mission profiles and design objectives were supplied by NASA. An extensive technology assessment was conducted to establish the available technologies to industry for the aircraft. Conceptual level methodology is presented to assess the five NASA-supplied agility metrics. Twelve configurations were developed to address the global trade issues. Three-view drawings, inboard profiles, and performance estimates were made and are included in the report. A critical assessment and lessons learned from the study are also presented.

Transitioning from Distributed and Traditional to Distributed and Agile: An Experience Report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wildt, Daniel; Prikladnicki, Rafael

Global companies that experienced extensive waterfall phased plans are trying to improve their existing processes to expedite team engagement. Agile methodologies have become an acceptable path to follow because it comprises project management as part of its practices. Agile practices have been used with the objective of simplifying project control through simple processes, easy to update documentation and higher team iteration over exhaustive documentation, focusing rather on team continuous improvement and aiming to add value to business processes. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the experience of a global multinational company on transitioning from distributed and traditional to distributed and agile. This company has development centers across North America, South America and Asia. This chapter covers challenges faced by the project teams of two pilot projects, including strengths of using agile practices in a globally distributed environment and practical recommendations for similar endeavors.

Motivating Company Personnel by Applying the Semi-self-organized Teams Principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumlander, Deniss

The only way nowadays to improve stability of software development process in the global rapidly evolving world is to be innovative and involve professionals into projects motivating them using both material and non material factors. In this paper self-organized teams are discussed. Unfortunately not all kind of organizations can benefit directly from agile method including applying self-organized teams. The paper proposes semi-self-organized teams presenting it as a new and promising motivating factor allowing deriving many positive sides of been self-organized and partly agile and been compliant to less strict conditions for following this innovating process. The semi-self organized teams are reliable at least in the short-term perspective and are simple to organize and support.

Architecting for Large Scale Agile Software Development: A Risk-Driven Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-01

addressed aspect of scale in agile software development. Practices such as Scrum of Scrums are meant to address orchestration of multiple development...owner, Scrum master) have differing responsibilities from the roles in the existing phase-based waterfall program structures. Such differences may... Scrum . Communication with both internal and external stakeholders must be open and documentation should not be used as a substitute for communication

Decision Science Challenges for C2 Agility

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

decision -making effectiveness , but also the adaptive capacities needed to assure the resilience of the decision -making process itself. New methods are... effectiveness , but also the adaptive capacities needed to assure the resilience of the decision -making process itself. New methods are needed to help...of the literature on human biases and limitations, and hence it has been formative of entire programs of resarch and development on

RT 6 - Software Intensive Systems Data Quality and Estimation Research in Support of Future Defense Cost Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-13

Brownfield Development 6.6.6 Agile and Kanban Development 6.6.7 Putting It All Together at the Large-Project or Enterprise Level 6.7 References 7...Ultrahigh software system assurance; Legacy maintenance and brownfield development; and Agile and kanban development. This chapter summarizes each...components or may need to be developed for special systems. Legacy Maintenance and Brownfield Development Fewer and fewer software-intensive systems have

Exploration of Potential Future Fleet Architectures

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-07-01

alternative architectures are those espoused by the OFT sponsoring office: flexibility, adaptability, agility, speed, and information dominance through...including naval forces, which we used. The OFT advocates flexibility, adaptability, agility, speed, and information dominance through networking...challenges and transnational threats. In future conflicts, the Navy has plans to expand strike power, realize information dominance , and transform methods

A Three Cohort Study of Role-Play Instruction for Agile Project Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitz, Kurt

2018-01-01

Agile Project Management methods and processes that emphasize action and feedback over planning continue to gain prominence for Information Systems projects. This topic is an ideal candidate to lead the evolution of project management instruction from teaching "about" to learning "how to." This paper describes a role-play…

Agile Machining and Inspection Non-Nuclear Report (NNR) Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lazarus, Lloyd

This report is a high level summary of the eight major projects funded by the Agile Machining and Inspection Non-Nuclear Readiness (NNR) project (FY06.0422.3.04.R1). The largest project of the group is the Rapid Response project in which the six major sub categories are summarized. This project focused on the operations of the machining departments that will comprise Special Applications Machining (SAM) in the Kansas City Responsive Infrastructure Manufacturing & Sourcing (KCRIMS) project. This project was aimed at upgrading older machine tools, developing new inspection tools, eliminating Classified Removable Electronic Media (CREM) in the handling of classified Numerical Control (NC) programsmore » by installing the CRONOS network, and developing methods to automatically load Coordinated-Measuring Machine (CMM) inspection data into bomb books and product score cards. Finally, the project personnel leaned perations of some of the machine tool cells, and now have the model to continue this activity.« less

2011 Agile (Scrum) Workshop Held in Baltimore, Maryland on November 14-15, 2011

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-11-15

have success- fully implemented Agile Development within DoD. SUSI MCKEE OC2IS Program Manager, U.S. Air Force Susana V. McKee has 25 years of DoD T...AGILE WILL WORK IN DOD: THREE EXAMPLES u Ms. Kelly Goshorn, Patriot Excalibur (PEX) Program Manager, U.S. Air Force u Ms. Susi McKee, Operational...OPS PEX Team: Internal •Devs/SMEs/Testers •Architecture Committee •Etc. none Future implementation, not Current release Big R/ Little r I n

Experiences with Extreme Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherrell, Linda; Krishna, Bhagavathy; Velaga, Natasha; Vejandla, Pavan; Satharla, Mahesh

2010-01-01

Agile methodologies have become increasingly popular among software developers as evidenced by industrial participation at related conferences. The popularity of agile practices over traditional techniques partly stems from the fact that these practices provide for more customer involvement and better accommodate rapidly changing requirements,…

Agile Data Management with the Global Change Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duggan, B.; Aulenbach, S.; Tilmes, C.; Goldstein, J.

2013-12-01

We describe experiences applying agile software development techniques to the realm of data management during the development of the Global Change Information System (GCIS), a web service and API for authoritative global change information under development by the US Global Change Research Program. Some of the challenges during system design and implementation have been : (1) balancing the need for a rigorous mechanism for ensuring information quality with the realities of large data sets whose contents are often in flux, (2) utilizing existing data to inform decisions about the scope and nature of new data, and (3) continuously incorporating new knowledge and concepts into a relational data model. The workflow for managing the content of the system has much in common with the development of the system itself. We examine various aspects of agile software development and discuss whether or how we have been able to use them for data curation as well as software development.

SU-E-T-627: Precision Modelling of the Leaf-Bank Rotation in Elekta’s Agility MLC: Is It Necessary?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vujicic, M; Belec, J; Heath, E

Purpose: To demonstrate the method used to determine the leaf bank rotation angle (LBROT) as a parameter for modeling the Elekta Agility multi-leaf collimator (MLC) for Monte Carlo simulations and to evaluate the clinical impact of LBROT. Methods: A detailed model of an Elekta Infinity linac including an Agility MLC was built using the EGSnrc/BEAMnrc Monte Carlo code. The Agility 160-leaf MLC is modelled using the MLCE component module which allows for leaf bank rotation using the parameter LBROT. A precise value of LBROT is obtained by comparing measured and simulated profiles of a specific field, which has leaves arrangedmore » in a repeated pattern such that one leaf is opened and the adjacent one is closed. Profile measurements from an Agility linac are taken with gafchromic film, and an ion chamber is used to set the absolute dose. The measurements are compared to Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and the LBROT is adjusted until a match is found. The clinical impact of LBROT is evaluated by observing how an MC dose calculation changes with LBROT. A clinical Stereotactic Body Radiation Treatment (SBRT) plan is calculated using BEAMnrc/DOSXYZnrc simulations with different input values for LBROT. Results: Using the method outlined above, the LBROT is determined to be 9±1 mrad. Differences as high as 4% are observed in a clinical SBRT plan between the extreme case (LBROT not modeled) and the nominal case. Conclusion: In small-field radiation therapy treatment planning, it is important to properly account for LBROT as an input parameter for MC dose calculations with the Agility MLC. More work is ongoing to elucidate the observed differences by determining the contributions from transmission dose, change in field size, and source occlusion, which are all dependent on LBROT. This work was supported by OCAIRO (Ontario Consortium of Adaptive Interventions in Radiation Oncology), funded by the Ontario Research Fund.« less

Rapid Development of Specialty Population Registries and Quality Measures from Electronic Health Record Data*. An Agile Framework.

PubMed

Kannan, Vaishnavi; Fish, Jason S; Mutz, Jacqueline M; Carrington, Angela R; Lai, Ki; Davis, Lisa S; Youngblood, Josh E; Rauschuber, Mark R; Flores, Kathryn A; Sara, Evan J; Bhat, Deepa G; Willett, DuWayne L

2017-06-14

Creation of a new electronic health record (EHR)-based registry often can be a "one-off" complex endeavor: first developing new EHR data collection and clinical decision support tools, followed by developing registry-specific data extractions from the EHR for analysis. Each development phase typically has its own long development and testing time, leading to a prolonged overall cycle time for delivering one functioning registry with companion reporting into production. The next registry request then starts from scratch. Such an approach will not scale to meet the emerging demand for specialty registries to support population health and value-based care. To determine if the creation of EHR-based specialty registries could be markedly accelerated by employing (a) a finite core set of EHR data collection principles and methods, (b) concurrent engineering of data extraction and data warehouse design using a common dimensional data model for all registries, and (c) agile development methods commonly employed in new product development. We adopted as guiding principles to (a) capture data as a byproduct of care of the patient, (b) reinforce optimal EHR use by clinicians, (c) employ a finite but robust set of EHR data capture tool types, and (d) leverage our existing technology toolkit. Registries were defined by a shared condition (recorded on the Problem List) or a shared exposure to a procedure (recorded on the Surgical History) or to a medication (recorded on the Medication List). Any EHR fields needed - either to determine registry membership or to calculate a registry-associated clinical quality measure (CQM) - were included in the enterprise data warehouse (EDW) shared dimensional data model. Extract-transform-load (ETL) code was written to pull data at defined "grains" from the EHR into the EDW model. All calculated CQM values were stored in a single Fact table in the EDW crossing all registries. Registry-specific dashboards were created in the EHR to display both (a) real-time patient lists of registry patients and (b) EDW-generated CQM data. Agile project management methods were employed, including co-development, lightweight requirements documentation with User Stories and acceptance criteria, and time-boxed iterative development of EHR features in 2-week "sprints" for rapid-cycle feedback and refinement. Using this approach, in calendar year 2015 we developed a total of 43 specialty chronic disease registries, with 111 new EHR data collection and clinical decision support tools, 163 new clinical quality measures, and 30 clinic-specific dashboards reporting on both real-time patient care gaps and summarized and vetted CQM measure performance trends. This study suggests concurrent design of EHR data collection tools and reporting can quickly yield useful EHR structured data for chronic disease registries, and bodes well for efforts to migrate away from manual abstraction. This work also supports the view that in new EHR-based registry development, as in new product development, adopting agile principles and practices can help deliver valued, high-quality features early and often.

One Size Does Not Fit All: A System Development Perspective

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

study seeks an understanding of the nature and characteristics of failed IT projects . These failures...are in the context of a plethora of resources made available to the Coast Guard to ensure the success of its IT projects . This study is important...features are as follows: 1. Collaboration : Agile methods are highly collaborative inside and outside the development group . 2. Code review:

Rapid Development of Specialty Population Registries and Quality Measures from Electronic Health Record Data: An Agile Framework

PubMed Central

Kannan, V; Fish, JS; Mutz, JM; Carrington, AR; Lai, K; Davis, LS; Youngblood, JE; Rauschuber, MR; Flores, KA; Sara, EJ; Bhat, DG; Willett, DL

2017-01-01

Summary Background Creation of a new electronic health record (EHR)-based registry often can be a "one-off" complex endeavor: first developing new EHR data collection and clinical decision support tools, followed by developing registry-specific data extractions from the EHR for analysis. Each development phase typically has its own long development and testing time, leading to a prolonged overall cycle time for delivering one functioning registry with companion reporting into production. The next registry request then starts from scratch. Such an approach will not scale to meet the emerging demand for specialty registries to support population health and value-based care. Objective To determine if the creation of EHR-based specialty registries could be markedly accelerated by employing (a) a finite core set of EHR data collection principles and methods, (b) concurrent engineering of data extraction and data warehouse design using a common dimensional data model for all registries, and (c) agile development methods commonly employed in new product development. Methods We adopted as guiding principles to (a) capture data as a by product of care of the patient, (b) reinforce optimal EHR use by clinicians, (c) employ a finite but robust set of EHR data capture tool types, and (d) leverage our existing technology toolkit. Registries were defined by a shared condition (recorded on the Problem List) or a shared exposure to a procedure (recorded on the Surgical History) or to a medication (recorded on the Medication List). Any EHR fields needed—either to determine registry membership or to calculate a registry-associated clinical quality measure (CQM)—were included in the enterprise data warehouse (EDW) shared dimensional data model. Extract-transform-load (ETL) code was written to pull data at defined “grains” from the EHR into the EDW model. All calculated CQM values were stored in a single Fact table in the EDW crossing all registries. Registry-specific dashboards were created in the EHR to display both (a) real-time patient lists of registry patients and (b) EDW-generated CQM data. Agile project management methods were employed, including co-development, lightweight requirements documentation with User Stories and acceptance criteria, and time-boxed iterative development of EHR features in 2-week “sprints” for rapid-cycle feedback and refinement. Results Using this approach, in calendar year 2015 we developed a total of 43 specialty chronic disease registries, with 111 new EHR data collection and clinical decision support tools, 163 new clinical quality measures, and 30 clinic-specific dashboards reporting on both real-time patient care gaps and summarized and vetted CQM measure performance trends. Conclusions This study suggests concurrent design of EHR data collection tools and reporting can quickly yield useful EHR structured data for chronic disease registries, and bodes well for efforts to migrate away from manual abstraction. This work also supports the view that in new EHR-based registry development, as in new product development, adopting agile principles and practices can help deliver valued, high-quality features early and often. PMID:28930362

Evaluating Effectiveness of Pair Programming as a Teaching Tool in Programming Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faja, Silvana

2014-01-01

This study investigates the effectiveness of pair programming on student learning and satisfaction in introductory programming courses. Pair programming, used in the industry as a practice of an agile development method, can be adopted in classroom settings to encourage peer learning, increase students' social skills, and enhance student…

Parallel Worlds: Agile and Waterfall Differences and Similarities

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-10-01

development model , and it is deliberately shorter than the Agile Overview as most readers are assumed to be from the Traditional World. For a more in...process of DODI 5000 does not forbid the iterative incremental software development model with frequent end-user interaction, it requires heroics on...added). Today, many of the DOD’s large IT programs therefore continue to adopt program structures and software development models closely

Reliability and Validity of a New Test of Agility and Skill for Female Amateur Soccer Players

PubMed Central

Kutlu, Mehmet; Yapici, Hakan; Yilmaz, Abdullah

2017-01-01

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the Agility and Skill Test, which had been recently developed to assess agility and skill in female athletes. Following a 10 min warm-up, two trials to test the reliability and validity of the test were conducted one week apart. Measurements were collected to compare soccer players’ physical performance in a 20 m sprint, a T-Drill test, the Illinois Agility Run Test, change-of-direction and acceleration, as well as agility and skill. All tests were completed following the same order. Thirty-four amateur female soccer players were recruited (age = 20.8 ± 1.9 years; body height = 166 ± 6.9 cm; body mass = 55.5 ± 5.8 kg). To determine the reliability and usefulness of these tests, paired sample t-tests, intra-class correlation coefficients, typical error, coefficient of variation, and differences between the typical error and smallest worthwhile change statistics were computed. Test results showed no significant differences between the two sessions (p > 0.01). There were higher intra-class correlations between the test and retest values (r = 0.94–0.99) for all tests. Typical error values were below the smallest worthwhile change, indicating ‘good’ usefulness for these tests. A near perfect Pearson correlation between the Agility and Skill Test (r = 0.98) was found, and there were moderate-to-large levels of correlation between the Agility and Skill Test and other measures (r = 0.37 to r = 0.56). The results of this study suggest that the Agility and Skill Test is a reliable and valid test for female soccer players and has significant value for assessing the integrative agility and skill capability of soccer players. PMID:28469760

Repurposing Existing Material for Performance Support.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, Francis A.; Nelson, Adam

1995-01-01

Presents an overview of performance support systems (PSS), describes their role in promoting productivity in agile organizations, and discusses issues related to developing effective performance support using existing orientation, training, or procedural manuals. Topics include strategic principles of agility, and adding value when incorporating…

Handbook for Implementing Agile in Department of Defense Information Technology Acquisition

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-15

Wire-frame Mockup of iTunes Cover Flow Feature (source: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups/examples#mytunez...programming. The JOPES customer was included early in the development process in order to understand requirements management (story cards ), observe...transition by teaching the new members Agile processes, such as story card development, refactoring, and pair programming. Additionally, the team worked to

Computerized Agility Training Improves Change-of-Direction and Balance Performance Independently of Footwear in Young Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paquette, Max R.; Schilling, Brian K.; Bravo, Joshua D.; Peel, Shelby A.; Li, Yuhua; Townsend, Robert J.

2017-01-01

Understanding the effects of training in different footwear on sporting performance would be useful to coaches and athletes. Purpose: This study compared the effects of computerized agility training using 3 types of footwear on change-of-direction and balance performance in young adults. Method: Thirty recreationally active young adults…

Insights into Global Health Practice from the Agile Software Development Movement

PubMed Central

Flood, David; Chary, Anita; Austad, Kirsten; Diaz, Anne Kraemer; García, Pablo; Martinez, Boris; Canú, Waleska López; Rohloff, Peter

2016-01-01

Global health practitioners may feel frustration that current models of global health research, delivery, and implementation are overly focused on specific interventions, slow to provide health services in the field, and relatively ill-equipped to adapt to local contexts. Adapting design principles from the agile software development movement, we propose an analogous approach to designing global health programs that emphasizes tight integration between research and implementation, early involvement of ground-level health workers and program beneficiaries, and rapid cycles of iterative program improvement. Using examples from our own fieldwork, we illustrate the potential of ‘agile global health’ and reflect on the limitations, trade-offs, and implications of this approach. PMID:27134081

Insights into Global Health Practice from the Agile Software Development Movement.

PubMed

Flood, David; Chary, Anita; Austad, Kirsten; Diaz, Anne Kraemer; García, Pablo; Martinez, Boris; Canú, Waleska López; Rohloff, Peter

2016-01-01

Global health practitioners may feel frustration that current models of global health research, delivery, and implementation are overly focused on specific interventions, slow to provide health services in the field, and relatively ill-equipped to adapt to local contexts. Adapting design principles from the agile software development movement, we propose an analogous approach to designing global health programs that emphasizes tight integration between research and implementation, early involvement of ground-level health workers and program beneficiaries, and rapid cycles of iterative program improvement. Using examples from our own fieldwork, we illustrate the potential of 'agile global health' and reflect on the limitations, trade-offs, and implications of this approach.

Agile based "Semi-"Automated Data ingest process : ORNL DAAC example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santhana Vannan, S. K.; Beaty, T.; Cook, R. B.; Devarakonda, R.; Hook, L.; Wei, Y.; Wright, D.

2015-12-01

The ORNL DAAC archives and publishes data and information relevant to biogeochemical, ecological, and environmental processes. The data archived at the ORNL DAAC must be well formatted, self-descriptive, and documented, as well as referenced in a peer-reviewed publication. The ORNL DAAC ingest team curates diverse data sets from multiple data providers simultaneously. To streamline the ingest process, the data set submission process at the ORNL DAAC has been recently updated to use an agile process and a semi-automated workflow system has been developed to provide a consistent data provider experience and to create a uniform data product. The goals of semi-automated agile ingest process are to: 1.Provide the ability to track a data set from acceptance to publication 2. Automate steps that can be automated to improve efficiencies and reduce redundancy 3.Update legacy ingest infrastructure 4.Provide a centralized system to manage the various aspects of ingest. This talk will cover the agile methodology, workflow, and tools developed through this system.

Mechanoluminescence assisting agile optimization of processing design on surgical epiphysis plates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terasaki, Nao; Toyomasu, Takashi; Sonohata, Motoki

2018-04-01

We propose a novel method for agile optimization of processing design by visualization of mechanoluminescence. To demonstrate the effect of the new method, epiphysis plates were processed to form dots (diameters: 1 and 1.5 mm) and the mechanical information was evaluated. As a result, the appearance of new strain concentration was successfully visualized on the basis of mechanoluminescence, and complex mechanical information was instinctively understood by surgeons as the designers. In addition, it was clarified by mechanoluminescence analysis that small dots do not have serious mechanical effects such as strength reduction. Such detail mechanical information evaluated on the basis of mechanoluminescence was successfully applied to the judgement of the validity of the processing design. This clearly proves the effectiveness of the new methodology using mechanoluminescence for assisting agile optimization of the processing design.

Agile manufacturing and constraints management: a strategic perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stratton, Roy; Yusuf, Yahaya Y.

2000-10-01

The definition of the agile paradigm has proved elusive and is often viewed as a panacea, in contention with more traditional approaches to operations strategy development and Larkin its own methodology and tools. The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is also poorly understood, as it is commonly solely associated with production planning and control systems and bottleneck management. This paper will demonstrate the synergy between these two approaches together with the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), and establish how the systematic elimination of trade-offs can support the agile paradigm. Whereas agility is often seen as a trade-off free destination, both TOC and TRIZ may be considered to be route finders, as they comprise methodologies that focus on the identification and elimination of the trade-offs that constrain the purposeful improvement of a system, be it organizational or mechanical. This paper will also show how the TOC thinking process may be combined with the TRIZ knowledge based approach and used in breaking contradictions within agile logistics.

Development of an Agile Knowledge Engineering Framework in Support of Multi-Disciplinary Translational Research

PubMed Central

Borlawsky, Tara B.; Dhaval, Rakesh; Hastings, Shannon L.; Payne, Philip R. O.

2009-01-01

In October 2006, the National Institutes of Health launched a new national consortium, funded through Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA), with the primary objective of improving the conduct and efficiency of the inherently multi-disciplinary field of translational research. To help meet this goal, the Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science has launched a knowledge management initiative that is focused on facilitating widespread semantic interoperability among administrative, basic science, clinical and research computing systems, both internally and among the translational research community at-large, through the integration of domain-specific standard terminologies and ontologies with local annotations. This manuscript describes an agile framework that builds upon prevailing knowledge engineering and semantic interoperability methods, and will be implemented as part this initiative. PMID:21347164

Development of an agile knowledge engineering framework in support of multi-disciplinary translational research.

PubMed

Borlawsky, Tara B; Dhaval, Rakesh; Hastings, Shannon L; Payne, Philip R O

2009-03-01

In October 2006, the National Institutes of Health launched a new national consortium, funded through Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA), with the primary objective of improving the conduct and efficiency of the inherently multi-disciplinary field of translational research. To help meet this goal, the Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science has launched a knowledge management initiative that is focused on facilitating widespread semantic interoperability among administrative, basic science, clinical and research computing systems, both internally and among the translational research community at-large, through the integration of domain-specific standard terminologies and ontologies with local annotations. This manuscript describes an agile framework that builds upon prevailing knowledge engineering and semantic interoperability methods, and will be implemented as part this initiative.

Agile, a guiding principle for health care improvement?

PubMed

Tolf, Sara; Nyström, Monica E; Tishelman, Carol; Brommels, Mats; Hansson, Johan

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to increased understanding of the concept agile and its potential for hospital managers to optimize design of organizational structures and processes to combine internal efficiency and external effectiveness. An integrative review was conducted using the reSEARCH database. Articles met the following criteria: first, a definition of agility; second, descriptions of enablers of becoming an agile organization; and finally, discussions of agile on multiple organizational levels. In total, 60 articles qualified for the final analysis. Organizational agility rests on the assumption that the environment is uncertain, ranging from frequently changing to highly unpredictable. Proactive, reactive or embracive coping strategies were described as possible ways to handle such uncertain environments. Five organizational capacities were derived as necessary for hospitals to use the strategies optimally: transparent and transient inter-organizational links; market sensitivity and customer focus; management by support for self-organizing employees; organic structures that are elastic and responsive; flexible human and resource capacity for timely delivery. Agile is portrayed as either the "new paradigm" following lean, the needed development on top of a lean base, or as complementary to lean in distinct hybrid strategies. Environmental uncertainty needs to be matched with coping strategies and organizational capacities to design processes responsive to real needs of health care. This implies that lean and agile can be combined to optimize the design of hospitals, to meet different variations in demand and create good patient management. While considerable value has been paid to strategies to improve the internal efficiency within hospitals, this review raise the attention to the value of strategies of external effectiveness.

Exploring the possibility of modeling a genetic counseling guideline using agile methodology.

PubMed

Choi, Jeeyae

2013-01-01

Increased demand of genetic counseling services heightened the necessity of a computerized genetic counseling decision support system. In order to develop an effective and efficient computerized system, modeling of genetic counseling guideline is an essential step. Throughout this pilot study, Agile methodology with United Modeling Language (UML) was utilized to model a guideline. 13 tasks and 14 associated elements were extracted. Successfully constructed conceptual class and activity diagrams revealed that Agile methodology with UML was a suitable tool to modeling a genetic counseling guideline.

75 FR 11920 - Agilent Technologies, Eesof Division, Including On-Site Leased Workers From Volt and Managed...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-12

... software and related services including quality assurance and learning products, marketing, product development, marketing and administration. The company reports that on-site leased workers from Managed..., Santa Clara, California, and the Everett, Washington locations of Agilent Technologies, EEsof Division...

An investigation of fighter aircraft agility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Valasek, John; Downing, David R.

1993-01-01

This report attempts to unify in a single document the results of a series of studies on fighter aircraft agility funded by the NASA Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Facility and conducted at the University of Kansas Flight Research Laboratory during the period January 1989 through December 1993. New metrics proposed by pilots and the research community to assess fighter aircraft agility are collected and analyzed. The report develops a framework for understanding the context into which the various proposed fighter agility metrics fit in terms of application and testing. Since new metrics continue to be proposed, this report does not claim to contain every proposed fighter agility metric. Flight test procedures, test constraints, and related criteria are developed. Instrumentation required to quantify agility via flight test is considered, as is the sensitivity of the candidate metrics to deviations from nominal pilot command inputs, which is studied in detail. Instead of supplying specific, detailed conclusions about the relevance or utility of one candidate metric versus another, the authors have attempted to provide sufficient data and analyses for readers to formulate their own conclusions. Readers are therefore ultimately responsible for judging exactly which metrics are 'best' for their particular needs. Additionally, it is not the intent of the authors to suggest combat tactics or other actual operational uses of the results and data in this report. This has been left up to the user community. Twenty of the candidate agility metrics were selected for evaluation with high fidelity, nonlinear, non real-time flight simulation computer programs of the F-5A Freedom Fighter, F-16A Fighting Falcon, F-18A Hornet, and X-29A. The information and data presented on the 20 candidate metrics which were evaluated will assist interested readers in conducting their own extensive investigations. The report provides a definition and analysis of each metric; details of how to test and measure the metric, including any special data reduction requirements; typical values for the metric obtained using one or more aircraft types; and a sensitivity analysis if applicable. The report is organized as follows. The first chapter in the report presents a historical review of air combat trends which demonstrate the need for agility metrics in assessing the combat performance of fighter aircraft in a modern, all-aspect missile environment. The second chapter presents a framework for classifying each candidate metric according to time scale (transient, functional, instantaneous), further subdivided by axis (pitch, lateral, axial). The report is then broadly divided into two parts, with the transient agility metrics (pitch lateral, axial) covered in chapters three, four, and five, and the functional agility metrics covered in chapter six. Conclusions, recommendations, and an extensive reference list and biography are also included. Five appendices contain a comprehensive list of the definitions of all the candidate metrics; a description of the aircraft models and flight simulation programs used for testing the metrics; several relations and concepts which are fundamental to the study of lateral agility; an in-depth analysis of the axial agility metrics; and a derivation of the relations for the instantaneous agility and their approximations.

A fuzzy MCDM framework based on fuzzy measure and fuzzy integral for agile supplier evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dursun, Mehtap

2017-06-01

Supply chains need to be agile in order to response quickly to the changes in today's competitive environment. The success of an agile supply chain depends on the firm's ability to select the most appropriate suppliers. This study proposes a multi-criteria decision making technique for conducting an analysis based on multi-level hierarchical structure and fuzzy logic for the evaluation of agile suppliers. The ideal and anti-ideal solutions are taken into consideration simultaneously in the developed approach. The proposed decision approach enables the decision-makers to use linguistic terms, and thus, reduce their cognitive burden in the evaluation process. Furthermore, a hierarchy of evaluation criteria and their related sub-criteria is employed in the presented approach in order to conduct a more effective analysis.

Agile Mcal, the Mini-Calorimeter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastia, Paolo; Poulsen, Jens Michael; Monzani, Franco; Radaelli, Paolo; Marchesi, Paolo; Labanti, Claudio; Marisaldi, Martino; Fuschino, Fabio; Bulgarelli, Andrea

2006-04-01

AGILE is a scientific mission dedicated to gamma-ray astrophysics in space, and the mini-calorimeter MCAL is one of four detector systems on the satellite. The MCAL instrument is sensitive in the energy range: 300 keV - 100 MeV. It has two main functions: one autonomous mode for detection of impulsive cosmic events and the other as “a slave” supporting the energy measurements of the pair-conversion tracker. The AGILE Small Mission is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and the INAF-IASF section at Bologna has the scientific responsibility for MCAL. LABEN develops the MCAL instrument with its detectors and electronics. This paper gives an overview of the detectors on AGILE, and then it gives details on the design of MCAL, and finally we report on the tests at instrument level.

Effects of High Intensity Interval Training on Increasing Explosive Power, Speed, and Agility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fajrin, F.; Kusnanik, N. W.; Wijono

2018-01-01

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a type of exercise that combines high-intensity exercise and low intensity exercise in a certain time interval. This type of training is very effective and efficient to improve the physical components. The process of improving athletes achievement related to how the process of improving the physical components, so the selection of a good practice method will be very helpful. This study aims to analyze how is the effects of HIIT on increasing explosive power, speed, and agility. This type of research is quantitative with quasi-experimental methods. The design of this study used the Matching-Only Design, with data analysis using the t-test (paired sample t-test). After being given the treatment for six weeks, the results showed there are significant increasing in explosive power, speed, and agility. HIIT in this study used a form of exercise plyometric as high-intensity exercise and jogging as mild or moderate intensity exercise. Increase was due to the improvement of neuromuscular characteristics that affect the increase in muscle strength and performance. From the data analysis, researchers concluded that, Exercises of High Intensity Interval Training significantly effect on the increase in Power Limbs, speed, and agility.

Agile Software Development in the Department of Defense Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-31

Research Methodology .............................................................................................. 17 Research Hypothesis...acquisition framework to enable greater adoption of Agile methodologies . Overview of the Research Methodology The strategy for this study was to...guidance. 17 Chapter 3 – Research Methodology This chapter defines the research methodology and processes used in the study, in an effort to

CT-assisted agile manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanley, James H.; Yancey, Robert N.

1996-11-01

The next century will witness at least two great revolutions in the way goods are produced. First, workers will use the medium of virtual reality in all aspects of marketing, research, development, prototyping, manufacturing, sales and service. Second, market forces will drive manufacturing towards small-lot production and just-in-time delivery. Already, we can discern the merging of these megatrends into what some are calling agile manufacturing. Under this new paradigm, parts and processes will be designed and engineered within the mind of a computer, tooled and manufactured by the offspring of today's rapid prototyping equipment, and evaluated for performance and reliability by advanced nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques and sophisticated computational models. Computed tomography (CT) is the premier example of an NDE method suitable for future agile manufacturing activities. It is the only modality that provides convenient access to the full suite of engineering data that users will need to avail themselves of computer- aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, and computer- aided engineering capabilities, as well as newly emerging reverse engineering, rapid prototyping and solid freeform fabrication technologies. As such, CT is assured a central, utilitarian role in future industrial operations. An overview of this exciting future for industrial CT is presented.

Optimization and validation of high-performance liquid chromatography method for analyzing 25-desacetyl rifampicin in human urine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lily; Laila, L.; Prasetyo, B. E.

2018-03-01

A selective, reproducibility, effective, sensitive, simple and fast High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was developed, optimized and validated to analyze 25-Desacetyl Rifampicin (25-DR) in human urine which is from tuberculosis patient. The separation was performed by HPLC Agilent Technologies with column Agilent Eclipse XDB- Ci8 and amobile phase of 65:35 v/v methanol: 0.01 M sodium phosphate buffer pH 5.2, at 254 nm and flow rate of 0.8ml/min. The mean retention time was 3.016minutes. The method was linear from 2–10μg/ml 25-DR with a correlation coefficient of 0.9978. Standard deviation, relative standard deviation and coefficient variation of 2, 6, 10μg/ml 25-DR were 0-0.0829, 03.1752, 0-0.0317%, respectively. The recovery of 5, 7, 9μg/ml25-DR was 80.8661, 91.3480 and 111.1457%, respectively. Limits of detection (LoD) and quantification (LoQ) were 0.51 and 1.7μg/ml, respectively. The method has fulfilled the validity guidelines of the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) bioanalytical method which includes parameters of specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, LoD, and LoQ. The developed method is suitable for pharmacokinetic analysis of various concentrations of 25-DR in human urine.

A low-complexity attitude control method for large-angle agile maneuvers of a spacecraft with control moment gyros

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawajiri, Shota; Matunaga, Saburo

2017-10-01

This study examines a low-complexity control method that satisfies mechanical constraints by using control moment gyros for an agile maneuver. The method is designed based on the fact that a simple rotation around an Euler's principal axis corresponds to a well-approximated solution of a time-optimal rest-to-rest maneuver. With respect to an agile large-angle maneuver using CMGs, it is suggested that there exists a coasting period in which all gimbal angles are constant, and a constant body angular velocity is almost along the Euler's principal axis. The gimbals are driven such that the coasting period is generated in the proposed method. This allows the problem to be converted into obtaining only a coasting time and gimbal angles such that their combination maximizes body angular velocity along the rotational axis of the maneuver. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by using numerical simulations. The results indicate that the proposed method shortens the settling time by 20-70% when compared to that of a traditional feedback method. Additionally, a comparison with an existing path planning method shows that the proposed method achieves a low computational complexity (that is approximately 150 times faster) and a certain level of shortness in the settling time.

A survey of risk factors for digit injuries among dogs training and competing in agility events.

PubMed

Sellon, Debra C; Martucci, Katherine; Wenz, John R; Marcellin-Little, Denis J; Powers, Michelle; Cullen, Kimberley L

2018-01-01

OBJECTIVE To identify potential risk factors for digit injuries in dogs training and competing in agility events. DESIGN Internet-based, retrospective, cross-sectional survey. ANIMALS 1,081 dogs training or competing in agility events. PROCEDURES Data were collected for eligible animals via retrospective surveys distributed electronically to handlers of dogs participating in agility-related activities. Variables evaluated included demographic (handlers) and signalment (dogs) information, physical characteristics of dogs, and injury characteristics. A separate survey of dogs competing in similar agility-related activities but without digit injuries was also administered. Multivariable logistic regression was used to develop a model for assessment of risk factors. RESULTS Data were collected from 207 agility dogs with digit injuries and 874 agility dogs without digit injuries. Factors associated with significantly increased odds of injury included Border Collie breed (OR, 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5 to 3.3), long nails (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.3 to 4.5), absence of front dewclaws (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.3 to 2.6), and greater weight-to-height ratio (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1 to 2.0). Odds of injury decreased with increasing age of the dog (OR, 0.8; 95% CI, 0.76 to 0.86). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results should be cautiously interpreted because of potential respondent and recall bias and lack of review of medical records. Nevertheless, results suggested that retaining healthy dewclaws, maintaining lean body mass, and trimming nails short for training and competition may decrease the likelihood of digit injuries. Research to investigate training practices, obstacle construction specifcations, and surface considerations for dogs competing in agility activities is indicated.

Precision slew/settle technologies for flexible spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manning, R. A.; Spector, Victor A.

1993-01-01

Many spacecraft missions in the next decade will require both a high degree of agility and precision pointing. Agility includes both rotational maneuvering for retargeting and translational motion for orbit adjustment and threat avoidance. The major challenge associated with such missions is the need for control over a wide range of amplitudes and frequencies, ranging from tens of degrees at less than 1 Hz to a few micron radians at hundreds of Hz. TRW's internally funded Precision Control of Agile Spacecraft (PCAS) project is concerned with developing and validating in hardware the tools necessary to successfully complete the combined agile maneuvering/precision pointing missions. Development has been undertaken on a number of fronts for quietly slewing flexible structures. Various methods for designing slew torque profiles have been investigated. Prime candidates for slew/settle scenarios include Inverse Dynamics and Parameterized Function Space. Joint work with Processor Bayo at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Professor Flashner at the University of Southern California has led to promising torque profile design methods. Active and passive vibration suppression techniques also play a key role for rapid slew/settle mission scenarios. Active members with local control loops and passive members with high loss factor viscoelastic material have been selected for hardware verification. Progress in each of these areas produces large gains in the quiet slewing of flexible spacecraft. The main thrust of the effort to date has been the development of a modular testbed for hardware validation of the precision control concepts. The testbed is a slewing eighteen foot long flexible truss. Active and passive members can be interchanged with the baseline aluminum members to augment the inherent damping in the system. For precision control the active members utilize control laws running on a high speed digital structural control processor. Tip and midspan motions of the truss are determined using optical sensors while accelerometers can be used to monitor the motions of other points of interest. Preliminary results indicate that a mix of technologies produces the greatest benefit. For example, shaping the torque profile produces large improvements in slew/settle performance, but without added damping settling times may still be excessive. With the introduction of moderate amounts of damping, slew/settle performance is vastly improved. On the other hand, introducing damping without shaping the torque profile may not yield the desired level of performance.

Reference Values for Anaerobic Performance and Agility in Ambulatory Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verschuren, Olaf; Bloemen, Manon; Kruitwagen, Cas; Takken, Tim

2010-01-01

Aim: The aim of this study was to provide reference values of anaerobic performance and agility in a group of children and adolescents with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). Method: A total of 300 children (184 males, 116 females) with spastic CP were recruited from 26 rehabilitation centres in six different countries. Of these, 215 were classified at…

Frequency-agile terahertz-wave parametric oscillator in a ring-cavity configuration.

PubMed

Minamide, Hiroaki; Ikari, Tomofumi; Ito, Hiromasa

2009-12-01

We demonstrate a frequency-agile terahertz wave parametric oscillator (TPO) in a ring-cavity configuration (ring-TPO). The TPO consists of three mirrors and a MgO:LiNbO(3) crystal under noncollinear phase-matching conditions. A novel, fast frequency-tuning method was realized by controlling a mirror of the three-mirror ring cavity. The wide tuning range between 0.93 and 2.7 THz was accomplished. For first demonstration using the ring-TPO, terahertz spectroscopy was performed as the verification of the frequency-agile performance, measuring the transmission spectrum of the monosaccharide glucose. The spectrum was obtained within about 8 s in good comparison to those of Fourier transform infrared spectrometer.

Beam focal spot position determination for an Elekta linac with the Agility® head; practical guide with a ready-to-go procedure.

PubMed

Chojnowski, Jacek M; Taylor, Lee M; Sykes, Jonathan R; Thwaites, David I

2018-05-14

A novel phantomless, EPID-based method of measuring the beam focal spot offset of a linear accelerator was proposed and validated for Varian machines. In this method, one set of jaws and the MLC were utilized to form a symmetric field and then a 180 o collimator rotation was utilized to determine the radiation isocenter defined by the jaws and the MLC, respectively. The difference between these two isocentres is directly correlated with the beam focal spot offset of the linear accelerator. In the current work, the method has been considered for Elekta linacs. An Elekta linac with the Agility ® head does not have two set of jaws, therefore, a modified method is presented making use of one set of diaphragms, the MLC and a full 360 o collimator rotation. The modified method has been tested on two Elekta Synergy ® linacs with Agility ® heads and independently validated. A practical guide with instructions and a MATLAB ® code is attached for easy implementation. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Applying Agile Methods to the Development of a Community-Based Sea Ice Observations Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pulsifer, P. L.; Collins, J. A.; Kaufman, M.; Eicken, H.; Parsons, M. A.; Gearheard, S.

2011-12-01

Local and traditional knowledge and community-based monitoring programs are increasingly being recognized as an important part of establishing an Arctic observing network, and understanding Arctic environmental change. The Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network (SIZONet, http://www.sizonet.org) project has implemented an integrated program for observing seasonal ice in Alaska. Observation and analysis by local sea ice experts helps track seasonal and inter-annual variability of the ice cover and its use by coastal communities. The ELOKA project (http://eloka-arctic.org) is collaborating with SIZONet on the development of a community accessible, Web-based application for collecting and distributing local observations. The SIZONet project is dealing with complicated qualitative and quantitative data collected from a growing number of observers in different communities while concurrently working to design a system that will serve a wide range of different end users including Arctic residents, scientists, educators, and other stakeholders with a need for sea ice information. The benefits of linking and integrating knowledge from communities and university-based researchers are clear, however, development of an information system in this multidisciplinary, multi-participant context is challenging. Participants are geographically distributed, have different levels of technical expertise, and have varying goals for how the system will be used. As previously reported (Pulsifer et al. 2010), new technologies have been used to deal with some of the challenges presented in this complex development context. In this paper, we report on the challenges and innovations related to working as a multi-disciplinary software development team. Specifically, we discuss how Agile software development methods have been used in defining and refining user needs, developing prototypes, and releasing a production level application. We provide an overview of the production application that includes discussion of a hybrid architecture that combines a traditional relational database, schema-less database, advanced free text search, and the preliminary framework for Semantic Web support. The current version of the SIZONet web application is discussed in relation to the high-value features defined as part of the Agile approach. Preliminary feedback indicates a system that meets the needs of multiple user groups.

Supply chain network design problem for a new market opportunity in an agile manufacturing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babazadeh, Reza; Razmi, Jafar; Ghodsi, Reza

2012-08-01

The characteristics of today's competitive environment, such as the speed with which products are designed, manufactured, and distributed, and the need for higher responsiveness and lower operational cost, are forcing companies to search for innovative ways to do business. The concept of agile manufacturing has been proposed in response to these challenges for companies. This paper copes with the strategic and tactical level decisions in agile supply chain network design. An efficient mixed-integer linear programming model that is able to consider the key characteristics of agile supply chain such as direct shipments, outsourcing, different transportation modes, discount, alliance (process and information integration) between opened facilities, and maximum waiting time of customers for deliveries is developed. In addition, in the proposed model, the capacity of facilities is determined as decision variables, which are often assumed to be fixed. Computational results illustrate that the proposed model can be applied as a power tool in agile supply chain network design as well as in the integration of strategic decisions with tactical decisions.

Analysis of Agility Performance of Supply Chain: A Case Study on Indian Automotive Manufacturer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Routroy, S.; Sharma, S.; Bhardwaj, A.

2018-04-01

Manufacturing companies should understand the changing customer needs and expectations, access and defend the competitive pressure, anticipate and manage the uncertain demand and supply chain risk, and implement the appropriate technology to survive and excel in today’s marketplace. Therefore, they are moving away from mass production (i.e. lean supply chain) to one based on fast-responsiveness and flexibility, capitalizing on the rapid advancement in internet technologies and factory-on-demand mode of production (i.e. agile supply chain). It is observed that manufacturing companies in India in general and automotive supply chain in specific are compelled to cultivate supply chain agility for enhancing its performance level on continuous basis and comparing its supply chain agility performance with competitors to survive and sustain in the competitive business environment. Therefore, a methodology is proposed to evaluate the supply chain agility of a manufacturing supply chain and compare its performance level with competitors using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and Taguchi Loss Function. A case study is developed and the proposed methodology is applied to Indian automotive supply chain for explaining the salient features of it.

Delaying Mobility Disability in People With Parkinson Disease Using a Sensorimotor Agility Exercise Program

PubMed Central

King, Laurie A; Horak, Fay B

2009-01-01

This article introduces a new framework for therapists to develop an exercise program to delay mobility disability in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Mobility, or the ability to efficiently navigate and function in a variety of environments, requires balance, agility, and flexibility, all of which are affected by PD. This article summarizes recent research identifying how constraints on mobility specific to PD, such as rigidity, bradykinesia, freezing, poor sensory integration, inflexible program selection, and impaired cognitive processing, limit mobility in people with PD. Based on these constraints, a conceptual framework for exercises to maintain and improve mobility is presented. An example of a constraint-focused agility exercise program, incorporating movement principles from tai chi, kayaking, boxing, lunges, agility training, and Pilates exercises, is presented. This new constraint-focused agility exercise program is based on a strong scientific framework and includes progressive levels of sensorimotor, resistance, and coordination challenges that can be customized for each patient while maintaining fidelity. Principles for improving mobility presented here can be incorporated into an ongoing or long-term exercise program for people with PD. PMID:19228832

Delaying mobility disability in people with Parkinson disease using a sensorimotor agility exercise program.

PubMed

King, Laurie A; Horak, Fay B

2009-04-01

This article introduces a new framework for therapists to develop an exercise program to delay mobility disability in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Mobility, or the ability to efficiently navigate and function in a variety of environments, requires balance, agility, and flexibility, all of which are affected by PD. This article summarizes recent research identifying how constraints on mobility specific to PD, such as rigidity, bradykinesia, freezing, poor sensory integration, inflexible program selection, and impaired cognitive processing, limit mobility in people with PD. Based on these constraints, a conceptual framework for exercises to maintain and improve mobility is presented. An example of a constraint-focused agility exercise program, incorporating movement principles from tai chi, kayaking, boxing, lunges, agility training, and Pilates exercises, is presented. This new constraint-focused agility exercise program is based on a strong scientific framework and includes progressive levels of sensorimotor, resistance, and coordination challenges that can be customized for each patient while maintaining fidelity. Principles for improving mobility presented here can be incorporated into an ongoing or long-term exercise program for people with PD.

Clinician user involvement in the real world: Designing an electronic tool to improve interprofessional communication and collaboration in a hospital setting.

PubMed

Tang, Terence; Lim, Morgan E; Mansfield, Elizabeth; McLachlan, Alexander; Quan, Sherman D

2018-02-01

User involvement is vital to the success of health information technology implementation. However, involving clinician users effectively and meaningfully in complex healthcare organizations remains challenging. The objective of this paper is to share our real-world experience of applying a variety of user involvement methods in the design and implementation of a clinical communication and collaboration platform aimed at facilitating care of complex hospitalized patients by an interprofessional team of clinicians. We designed and implemented an electronic clinical communication and collaboration platform in a large community teaching hospital. The design team consisted of both technical and healthcare professionals. Agile software development methodology was used to facilitate rapid iterative design and user input. We involved clinician users at all stages of the development lifecycle using a variety of user-centered, user co-design, and participatory design methods. Thirty-six software releases were delivered over 24 months. User involvement has resulted in improvement in user interface design, identification of software defects, creation of new modules that facilitated workflow, and identification of necessary changes to the scope of the project early on. A variety of user involvement methods were complementary and benefited the design and implementation of a complex health IT solution. Combining these methods with agile software development methodology can turn designs into functioning clinical system to support iterative improvement. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a fast, lean and agile direct pelletization process using experimental design techniques.

PubMed

Politis, Stavros N; Rekkas, Dimitrios M

2017-04-01

A novel hot melt direct pelletization method was developed, characterized and optimized, using statistical thinking and experimental design tools. Mixtures of carnauba wax (CW) and HPMC K100M were spheronized using melted gelucire 50-13 as a binding material (BM). Experimentation was performed sequentially; a fractional factorial design was set up initially to screen the factors affecting the process, namely spray rate, quantity of BM, rotor speed, type of rotor disk, lubricant-glidant presence, additional spheronization time, powder feeding rate and quantity. From the eight factors assessed, three were further studied during process optimization (spray rate, quantity of BM and powder feeding rate), at different ratios of the solid mixture of CW and HPMC K100M. The study demonstrated that the novel hot melt process is fast, efficient, reproducible and predictable. Therefore, it can be adopted in a lean and agile manufacturing setting for the production of flexible pellet dosage forms with various release rates easily customized between immediate and modified delivery.

Development of High-Fill-Factor Large-Aperture Micromirrors for Agile Optical Phased Arrays

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-02-28

Final Project Report Contract/Grant Title: Development of High-Fill-Factor Large-Aperture Micromirrors for Agile Optical Phased Arrays...factor (HFF) micromirror array (MMA) has been proposed, fabricated and tested. Optical-phased-array (OPA) beam steering based on the HFF MMA has also...electrically tuned to multiple 2. 1. Background High-fill-factor (HFF) micromirror arrays (MMAs) can form optical phased arrays (OPAs) for laser beam

Mechanical Analysis of the Acute Effects of a Heavy Resistance Exercise Warm-Up on Agility Performance in Court-Sport Athletes

PubMed Central

Sole, Christopher J.; Moir, Gavin L.; Davis, Shala E.; Witmer, Chad A.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the acute effects of heavy resistance exercise on agility performance in court-sport athletes. Five men (age: 20.6 ± 1.9 years; body mass: 79.36 ± 11.74 kg; body height: 1.93 ± 0.09 m) and five women (age 21.2 ± 2.7 years; body mass: 65.8 ± 10.18 kg; body height 1.77 ± 0.08 m) volunteered to participate in the present study. All subjects were NCAA Division II athletes who currently participated in tennis or basketball and all had previous resistance training experience of at least one year. In a counterbalanced design, agility performance during a 10 m shuttle test was assessed following either a dynamic warm-up (DW) or heavy resistance warm-up (HRW) protocol. The HRW protocol consisted of three sets of squats at 50, 60, and 90% of 1-RM. Agility performance was captured using an eight camera motion analysis system and the mechanical variables of stride length, stride frequency, stance time, flight time, average ground reaction force, as well as agility time were recorded. No significant differences were reported for the HRW and DW protocols for any of the mechanical variables (p>0.05), although there was a trend towards the HRW protocol producing faster agility times compared to the control protocol (p = 0.074). Based on the trend towards a significant effect, as well as individual results it is possible that HRW protocols could be used as an acute method to improve agility performance in some court-sport athletes. PMID:24511350

SU-E-T-149: Electron Beam Profile Differences Between Elekta MLCi2 and Elekta Agility Treatment Heads

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, C; Hatcher, C

2014-06-01

Purpose: To report and investigate observed differences in electron beam profiles at various energies/applicators between Elekta MLCi2 and Agility treatment head on Elekta Infinity LINAC Methods: When we upgraded from MLCi2 to Agility on one of our Elekta Infinity LINAC's, electron beam PDDs and profiles were acquired for comparison purpose. All clinical electron energies (6/9/12/15/12/18 MeV) and electron applicators (6/10/14/20/25 square) were included in measurement. PDDs were acquired at 100 SSD in water (PTW MP3 water tank) with a plane-parallel ion chamber (PTW Roos). X and Y Profiles were acquired using IC Profiler (Sun Nuclear Corp.) at 1cm and maximummore » PDD depths (water equivalent). Results: All PDD curves match very well between MLCi2 and Agility treatment head. However, some significant differences on electron profiles were found. On Agility, even after increasing the default auto-tracking offset values for backup diaphragms in Y and MLC in X by 2.8 cm (the maximum allowed change is 3.0 cm), electron profiles still have rounder shoulders comparing to corresponding MLCi2 profiles. This difference is significantly more pronounced at larger applicators (20 and 25 square), for all electron energies. Conclusion: The significant design change between MLCi2 and Agility beam limiting device seems to affect exit electron beam profiles. In IEC1217 X direction, the main change on Agility is the removal of the original MLCi2 X backup diaphragms and replacing it with MLC leaves; In Y direction, the main change is the radius and materials on Y backup diaphragms.« less

Fostering soft skills in project-oriented learning within an agile atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chassidim, Hadas; Almog, Dani; Mark, Shlomo

2018-07-01

The project-oriented and Agile approaches have motivated a new generation of software engineers. Within the academic curriculum, the issue of whether students are being sufficiently prepared for the future has been raised. The objective of this work is to present the project-oriented environment as an influential factor that software engineering profession requires, using the second year course 'Software Development and Management in Agile Approach' as a case-study. This course combines academic topics, self-learned and soft skills implementation, the call for creativity, and the recognition of updated technologies and dynamic circumstances. The results of a survey that evaluated the perceived value of the course showed that the highest contribution of our environment was in the effectiveness of the team-work and the overall development process of the project.

Do agility and skull architecture influence the geometry of the mammalian vestibulo-ocular reflex?

PubMed

Jeffery, Nathan; Cox, Philip G

2010-04-01

The spatial arrangement of the semicircular canals and extraocular muscles of the eye has been of considerable interest, particularly to researchers working on adaptations of the vestibulo-ocular reflex. Here we offer the first, extensive comparative analysis of the spatial relationships between each extraocular muscle and the canal providing its primary excitatory stimulus. The sample consisted of 113 specimens, representing 51 extant mammalian species. Hypotheses tested included that variations in the spatial alignments are linked with differences of skull morphology and with differences of agility during locomotion. Internal morphologies were visualized with magnetic resonance imaging and were measured with landmark-based vectors and planes. Values for body mass and agility were taken from the existing literature. Data were investigated for trends and associations with standard bivariate and multivariate statistical methods as well as with phylogenetically adjusted bivariate methods. The findings clearly show that species differences in the alignment of each extraocular muscle relative to the canal providing its primary excitatory stimulus are closely associated with changes of orbit morphology. The results also indicate that the actions of the oblique muscles interchange with those of the superior and inferior recti muscles when comparing lateral-eyed (rabbit) with frontal-eyed species (cat). There was only weak evidence to support the notion that canal-muscle alignments differ significantly among species according to how agile they are. The results suggest that semicircular canal morphology is arranged primarily for detecting head movements and then secondarily, if at all, for diminishing the burden of transforming vestibulo-ocular reflex signals in the most agile species.

Knowledge base and sensor bus messaging service architecture for critical tsunami warning and decision-support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabeur, Z. A.; Wächter, J.; Middleton, S. E.; Zlatev, Z.; Häner, R.; Hammitzsch, M.; Loewe, P.

2012-04-01

The intelligent management of large volumes of environmental monitoring data for early tsunami warning requires the deployment of robust and scalable service oriented infrastructure that is supported by an agile knowledge-base for critical decision-support In the TRIDEC project (TRIDEC 2010-2013), a sensor observation service bus of the TRIDEC system is being developed for the advancement of complex tsunami event processing and management. Further, a dedicated TRIDEC system knowledge-base is being implemented to enable on-demand access to semantically rich OGC SWE compliant hydrodynamic observations and operationally oriented meta-information to multiple subscribers. TRIDEC decision support requires a scalable and agile real-time processing architecture which enables fast response to evolving subscribers requirements as the tsunami crisis develops. This is also achieved with the support of intelligent processing services which specialise in multi-level fusion methods with relevance feedback and deep learning. The TRIDEC knowledge base development work coupled with that of the generic sensor bus platform shall be presented to demonstrate advanced decision-support with situation awareness in context of tsunami early warning and crisis management.

What Does an Agile Coach Do?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davies, Rachel; Pullicino, James

The surge in Agile adoption has created a demand for project managers rather than direct their teams. A sign of this trend is the ever-increasing number of people getting certified as scrum masters and agile leaders. Training courses that introduce agile practices are easy to find. But making the transition to coach is not as simple as understanding what agile practices are. Your challenge as an Agile Coach is to support your team in learning how to wield their new Agile tools in creating great software.

How Teachers Can Assess Kindergarten Children's Motor Performance in Hong Kong.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lam, Mei Yung; Ip, Man Hing; Lui, Ping Keung; Koong, May Kay

2003-01-01

This project developed a motor performance instrument for a motor performance award scheme for kindergartners to be used by the Hong Kong Childhealth Foundation. Findings indicated that boys outperformed girls on agility and throwing. Girls performed better than boys on static balance. A marked improvement in agility was noted at age 5.5 years,…

Joint Operations 2030 - Phase III Report: The JO 2030 Capability Set (Operations interarmees 2030 - Rapport Phase III: L’ensemble capacitaire JO 2030)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-01

a ‘strategy as process’ manner to develop capabilities that are flexible, adaptable and robust. 3.4 Future structures The need for agile...to develop models of the future security environment 3.4.10 Planning Under Deep Uncertainty Future structures The need for agile, flexible and... Organisation NEC Network Enabled Capability NGO Non Government Organisation NII Networking and Information Infrastructure PVO Private Voluntary

Agile Data Curation at a State Geological Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hills, D. J.

2015-12-01

State agencies, including geological surveys, are often the gatekeepers for myriad data products essential for scientific research and economic development. For example, the Geological Survey of Alabama (GSA) is mandated to explore for, characterize, and report Alabama's mineral, energy, water, and biological resources in support of economic development, conservation, management, and public policy for the betterment of Alabama's citizens, communities, and businesses. As part of that mandate, the GSA has increasingly been called upon to make our data more accessible to stakeholders. Even as demand for greater data accessibility grows, budgets for such efforts are often small, meaning that agencies must do more for less. Agile software development has yielded efficient, effective products, most often at lower cost and in shorter time. Taking guidance from the agile software development model, the GSA is working towards more agile data management and curation. To date, the GSA's work has been focused primarily on data rescue. By using workflows that maximize clear communication while encouraging simplicity (e.g., maximizing the amount of work not done or that can be automated), the GSA is bringing decades of dark data into the light. Regular checks by the data rescuer with the data provider (or their proxy) provides quality control without adding an overt burden on either party. Moving forward, these workflows will also allow for more efficient and effective data management.

DoD Information Assurance and Agile: Challenges and Recommendations Gathered Through Interviews with Agile Program Managers and DoD Accreditation Reviewers

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-01

Tradeoff Analysis Method; ATAM, Capability Maturity Model , Capability Maturity Modeling , Carnegie Mellon, CERT, CERT Coordination Center, CMM, CMMI...Hermansen, Product Design, Sphere of Influence (https://www.SphereOfInfluence.com) Joel McAteer, Information Assurance Manager, Modeling ...use of them does introduce some challenges related to delivering software features rapidly and/or in- crementally . • Challenges with respect to

A Roadmap for using Agile Development in a Traditional System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Streiffert, Barbara; Starbird, Thomas

2006-01-01

I. Ensemble Development Group: a) Produces activity planning software for in spacecraft; b) Built on Eclipse Rich Client Platform (open source development and runtime software); c) Funded by multiple sources including the Mars Technology Program; d) Incorporated the use of Agile Development. II. Next Generation Uplink Planning System: a) Researches the Activity Planning and Sequencing Subsystem for Mars Science Laboratory (APSS); b) APSS includes Ensemble, Activity Modeling, Constraint Checking, Command Editing and Sequencing tools plus other uplink generation utilities; c) Funded by the Mars Technology Program; d) Integrates all of the tools for APSS.

Computational study of engine external aerodynamics as a part of multidisciplinary optimization procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savelyev, Andrey; Anisimov, Kirill; Kazhan, Egor; Kursakov, Innocentiy; Lysenkov, Alexandr

2016-10-01

The paper is devoted to the development of methodology to optimize external aerodynamics of the engine. Optimization procedure is based on numerical solution of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. As a method of optimization the surrogate based method is used. As a test problem optimal shape design of turbofan nacelle is considered. The results of the first stage, which investigates classic airplane configuration with engine located under the wing, are presented. Described optimization procedure is considered in the context of multidisciplinary optimization of the 3rd generation, developed in the project AGILE.

I'll Txt U if I Have a Problem: How the Société Canadienne du Cancer in Quebec Applied Behavior-Change Theory, Data Mining and Agile Software Development to Help Young Adults Quit Smoking

PubMed Central

van Mierlo, Trevor; Fournier, Rachel; Jean-Charles, Anathalie; Hovington, Jacinthe; Ethier, Isabelle; Selby, Peter

2014-01-01

Introduction For many organizations, limited budgets and phased funding restrict the development of digital health tools. This problem is often exacerbated by the ever-increasing sophistication of technology and costs related to programming and maintenance. Traditional development methods tend to be costly and inflexible and not client centered. The purpose of this study is to analyze the use of Agile software development and outcomes of a three-phase mHealth program designed to help young adult Quebecers quit smoking. Methods In Phase I, literature reviews, focus groups, interviews, and behavior change theory were used in the adaption and re-launch of an existing evidence-based mHealth platform. Based on analysis of user comments and utilization data from Phase I, the second phase expanded the service to allow participants to live text-chat with counselors. Phase II evaluation led to the third and current phase, in which algorithms were introduced to target pregnant smokers, substance users, students, full-time workers, those affected by mood disorders and chronic disease. Results Data collected throughout the three phases indicate that the incremental evolution of the intervention has led to increasing numbers of smokers being enrolled while making functional enhancements. In Phase I (240 days) 182 smokers registered with the service. 51% (n = 94) were male and 61.5% (n = 112) were between the ages of 18–24. In Phase II (300 days), 994 smokers registered with the service. 51% (n = 508) were male and 41% (n = 403) were between the ages of 18–24. At 174 days to date 873 smokers have registered in the third phase. 44% (n = 388) were male and 24% (n = 212) were between the ages of 18–24. Conclusions Emerging technologies in behavioral science show potential, but do not have defined best practices for application development. In phased-based projects with limited funding, Agile appears to be a viable approach to building and expanding digital tools. PMID:24647098

Wavelength-Agile External-Cavity Diode Laser for DWDM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pilgrim, Jeffrey S.; Bomse, David S.

2006-01-01

A prototype external-cavity diode laser (ECDL) has been developed for communication systems utilizing dense wavelength- division multiplexing (DWDM). This ECDL is an updated version of the ECDL reported in Wavelength-Agile External- Cavity Diode Laser (LEW-17090), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 11 (November 2001), page 14a. To recapitulate: The wavelength-agile ECDL combines the stability of an external-cavity laser with the wavelength agility of a diode laser. Wavelength is modulated by modulating the injection current of the diode-laser gain element. The external cavity is a Littman-Metcalf resonator, in which the zeroth-order output from a diffraction grating is used as the laser output and the first-order-diffracted light is retro-reflected by a cavity feedback mirror, which establishes one end of the resonator. The other end of the resonator is the output surface of a Fabry-Perot resonator that constitutes the diode-laser gain element. Wavelength is selected by choosing the angle of the diffracted return beam, as determined by position of the feedback mirror. The present wavelength-agile ECDL is distinguished by design details that enable coverage of all 60 channels, separated by 100-GHz frequency intervals, that are specified in DWDM standards.

Network configuration management : paving the way to network agility.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maestas, Joseph H.

2007-08-01

Sandia networks consist of nearly nine hundred routers and switches and nearly one million lines of command code, and each line ideally contributes to the capabilities of the network to convey information from one location to another. Sandia's Cyber Infrastructure Development and Deployment organizations recognize that it is therefore essential to standardize network configurations and enforce conformance to industry best business practices and documented internal configuration standards to provide a network that is agile, adaptable, and highly available. This is especially important in times of constrained budgets as members of the workforce are called upon to improve efficiency, effectiveness, andmore » customer focus. Best business practices recommend using the standardized configurations in the enforcement process so that when root cause analysis results in recommended configuration changes, subsequent configuration auditing will improve compliance to the standard. Ultimately, this minimizes mean time to repair, maintains the network security posture, improves network availability, and enables efficient transition to new technologies. Network standardization brings improved network agility, which in turn enables enterprise agility, because the network touches all facets of corporate business. Improved network agility improves the business enterprise as a whole.« less

Design and Development of Wireless Power Transmission for Unmanned Air Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

ELECTRONIC WARFARE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING and MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL September 2012...Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS). Tuning elements were added and adjusted in order to optimize the efficiency. A maximum efficiency of 57% was...investigated by a series of simulations using Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS). Tuning elements were added and adjusted

An Agile Methodology for Implementing Service-Oriented Architecture in Small and Medium Sized Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laidlaw, Gregory

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of Lean/Agile principles, using action research to develop and deploy new technology for Small and Medium sized enterprises. The research case was conducted at the Lapeer County Sheriff's Department and involves the initial deployment of a Service Oriented Architecture to alleviate the data…

Operational Agility (La Maniabilite Operationnelle)

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-04-01

the use of attitude projection 171. The procedure described above is schematically shown in figure 2.10. i Maneuvers...with the performance margins expected of future projects . (9,15) The agility factor concept was developed from that described in Reference 12 and...and in support of , a land battle between enemy forces. The nature of the combined arms battlefield and the terrain and environmental

The Canonical Robot Command Language (CRCL).

PubMed

Proctor, Frederick M; Balakirsky, Stephen B; Kootbally, Zeid; Kramer, Thomas R; Schlenoff, Craig I; Shackleford, William P

2016-01-01

Industrial robots can perform motion with sub-millimeter repeatability when programmed using the teach-and-playback method. While effective, this method requires significant up-front time, tying up the robot and a person during the teaching phase. Off-line programming can be used to generate robot programs, but the accuracy of this method is poor unless supplemented with good calibration to remove systematic errors, feed-forward models to anticipate robot response to loads, and sensing to compensate for unmodeled errors. These increase the complexity and up-front cost of the system, but the payback in the reduction of recurring teach programming time can be worth the effort. This payback especially benefits small-batch, short-turnaround applications typical of small-to-medium enterprises, who need the agility afforded by off-line application development to be competitive against low-cost manual labor. To fully benefit from this agile application tasking model, a common representation of tasks should be used that is understood by all of the resources required for the job: robots, tooling, sensors, and people. This paper describes an information model, the Canonical Robot Command Language (CRCL), which provides a high-level description of robot tasks and associated control and status information.

The Canonical Robot Command Language (CRCL)

PubMed Central

Proctor, Frederick M.; Balakirsky, Stephen B.; Kootbally, Zeid; Kramer, Thomas R.; Schlenoff, Craig I.; Shackleford, William P.

2017-01-01

Industrial robots can perform motion with sub-millimeter repeatability when programmed using the teach-and-playback method. While effective, this method requires significant up-front time, tying up the robot and a person during the teaching phase. Off-line programming can be used to generate robot programs, but the accuracy of this method is poor unless supplemented with good calibration to remove systematic errors, feed-forward models to anticipate robot response to loads, and sensing to compensate for unmodeled errors. These increase the complexity and up-front cost of the system, but the payback in the reduction of recurring teach programming time can be worth the effort. This payback especially benefits small-batch, short-turnaround applications typical of small-to-medium enterprises, who need the agility afforded by off-line application development to be competitive against low-cost manual labor. To fully benefit from this agile application tasking model, a common representation of tasks should be used that is understood by all of the resources required for the job: robots, tooling, sensors, and people. This paper describes an information model, the Canonical Robot Command Language (CRCL), which provides a high-level description of robot tasks and associated control and status information. PMID:28529393

Agility assessment using fuzzy logic approach: a case of healthcare dispensary.

PubMed

Suresh, M; Patri, Rojalin

2017-06-09

Agile concepts are not only beneficial for manufacturing sector but also for service sector such as healthcare. However, assessment of agility has been predominantly done in manufacturing enterprises. This study demonstrates a means to measure agility of a healthcare organization by assessing agility of a university dispensary. Its contribution to the knowledge base is twofold. First, it proposes a means to measure the agility of a healthcare organization and second, it identifies the attributes that prevent agile performance and outlines the suggestive measure to enhance its agile capabilities. A case study approach has been adopted and fuzzy logic has been employed to measure the agility of the case dispensary. At first, the measures of assessment which include four enablers, fifteen criteria and forty-five attributes have been identified from the literature and rated by the experts indicating the importance of the measures in the assessment. Then, the case dispensary has been assessed on those measures by collecting observed performance rating from decision makers. At last, Fuzzy logic has been applied on the performance rating data to analyze and interpret the agile capability of the dispensary. The findings suggest that transparent information flow, adequate salary and bonuses for caregivers, reading error in medical descriptions, in house/nearby pathology laboratory services, technical up-gradation of dispensary equipments and facilities, minimization of patient throughput time and adequate training programme for safety practices are the attributes that weakens agile capability of the University dispensary. The current agility of the dispensary was found to be 'Agile' which is average in relation to the agility labels. Attributes such as transparent information flow, adequate salary and bonuses for caregivers, elimination of reading error in medical descriptions, in house/nearby pathology laboratory services, technical up-gradation of dispensary equipments and facilities, minimization of patient throughput time and adequate training programme for safety practices are extremely crucial for enhancing agile capability of a healthcare organization.

Novel Microstrip Patch Antennas with Frequency Agility, Polarization Reconfigurability, Dual Null Steering Capability and Phased Array Antenna with Beam Steering Performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babakhani, Behrouz

Nowadays the wireless communication technology is playing an important role in our daily life. People use wireless devices not only as a conventional communication device but also as tracking and navigation tool, web browsing tool, data storage and transfer tool and so for many other reasons. Based on the user demand, wireless communication engineers try to accommodate as many as possible wireless systems and applications in a single device and therefore, creates a multifunctional device. Antenna, as an integral part of any wireless communication systems, should also be evolved and adjusted with development of wireless transceiver systems. Therefore multifunctional antennas have been introduced to support and enhance the functionality on modern wireless systems. The main focus and contribution of this thesis is design of novel multifunctional microstrip antennas with frequency agility, polarization reconfigurablity, dual null steering capability and phased array antenna with beam steering performance. In this thesis, first, a wide bandwidth(1.10 GHz to 1.60 GHz) right-handed circularly polarized (RHCP) directional antenna for global positioning system (GPS) satellite receive application has been introduced which covers all the GPS bands starting from L1 to L5. This design consists of two crossed bow-tie dipole antennas fed with sequentially phase rotated feed network backed with an artificial high impedance surface (HIS) structure to generate high gain directional radiation patterns. This design shows good CP gain and axial ratio (AR) and wide beamwidth performance. Although this design has good radiation quality, the size and the weight can be reduced as future study. In the second design, a frequency agile antenna was developed which also covers the L-band (L1 to L5) satellite communication frequencies. This frequency agile antenna was designed and realized by new implementation of varactor diodes in the geometry of a circular patch antenna. Beside wide frequency agility (1.17 GHz to 1.58 GHz), full polarization reconfiguration was added to the design by controlling ports excitation of circular patch using RF switches (vertical linear, horizontal linear, right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) and left-handed circular polarization (LHCP)). This deign maintains good gain and radiation efficiency over the tunable range as well as acceptable co-polarization and cross-polarization separation for different polarizations. Since many communications applications require beam steering ability, in our third design, we designed and developed a linear phased array antenna using a modified version of our frequency agile polarization reconfigurable antenna for beam steering applications. This design offers wide frequency agility (1.50 GHz to 2.40 GHz), full polarization reconfiguration (vertical linear, horizontal linear, LHCP and RHCP) as well as beam steering of +/-52° and +/-28° at 1.5 GHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively. In this 1x4 array, the excitation magnitude and phase of each element was controlled by an analog beamforming feed network (BFN) for beam steering purposes. The required excitation for each element to steer the beam toward a desired location was calculated using projection matrix method (PMM) which uses measured active element pattern (AEP) as its input. This array antenna performance for frequency agility, radiation quality for each polarization and beam steering capability was obtained in the acceptable range. In the last design, the full spherical dual null steering capability of a triple mode circular microstrip patch antenna was investigated. By combining the radiation patterns of three individual modes of microstrip circular patch antenna, two nulls have been generated. These nulls can be repositioned in the upper hemisphere by controlling excitation ratio of each mode. The modes excitation ratio to steer the nulls toward the desired positions was calculated using a derivative free hybrid optimization method. This optimization method uses particle swarm optimization (PSO) combined with pattern search (PS) to find the optimum modes excitation ratio which minimizes the received power at the null positions. The calculated coefficients were applied to the multimode antenna using an analog BFN. This design shows an independent dual null steering with null depth of around 20 dB. Discussion about the proposed antennas included detailed theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and optimizations, beam forming and null steering algorithms, fabrication of the antennas and its control/beamforming feed networks along with the associated bias networks, microcontroller units, and finally its characterization (impedance matching, gain and 2D and 3D radiation patterns). The research work was performed at the Antenna and Microwave Lab (AML) which has the required resources including full wave analysis tools, PCB milling machine, surface mount component soldering station, vector network analyzers, and far-field/spherical near-field radiation pattern measurement system.

Research on Modeling of the Agile Satellite Using a Single Gimbal Magnetically Suspended CMG and the Disturbance Feedforward Compensation for Rotors

PubMed Central

Cui, Peiling; Yan, Ning

2012-01-01

The magnetically suspended Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) has the advantages of long-life, micro-vibration and being non-lubricating, and is the ideal actuator for agile maneuver satellite attitude control. However, the stability of the rotor in magnetic bearing and the precision of the output torque of a magnetically suspended CMG are affected by the rapid maneuvers of satellites. In this paper, a dynamic model of the agile satellite including a magnetically suspended single gimbal control moment gyroscope is built and the equivalent disturbance torque effected on the rotor is obtained. The feedforward compensation control method is used to depress the disturbance on the rotor. Simulation results are given to show that the rotor displacement is obviously reduced. PMID:23235442

Research on modeling of the agile satellite using a single gimbal magnetically suspended CMG and the disturbance feedforward compensation for rotors.

PubMed

Cui, Peiling; Yan, Ning

2012-12-12

The magnetically suspended Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) has the advantages of long-life, micro-vibration and being non-lubricating, and is the ideal actuator for agile maneuver satellite attitude control. However, the stability of the rotor in magnetic bearing and the precision of the output torque of a magnetically suspended CMG are affected by the rapid maneuvers of satellites. In this paper, a dynamic model of the agile satellite including a magnetically suspended single gimbal control moment gyroscope is built and the equivalent disturbance torque effected on the rotor is obtained. The feedforward compensation control method is used to depress the disturbance on the rotor. Simulation results are given to show that the rotor displacement is obviously reduced.

Elements of an Art - Agile Coaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lundh, Erik

This tutorial gives you a lead on becoming or redefining yourself as an Agile Coach. Introduction to elements and dimensions of state-of-the-art Agile Coaching. How to position the agile coach to be effective in a larger setting. Making the agile transition - from a single team to thousands of people. How to support multiple teams as a coach. How to build a coaches network in your company. Challenges when the agile coach is a consultant and the organization is large.

Agile: From Software to Mission Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trimble, Jay; Shirley, Mark; Hobart, Sarah

2017-01-01

To maximize efficiency and flexibility in Mission Operations System (MOS) design, we are evolving principles from agile and lean methods for software, to the complete mission system. This allows for reduced operational risk at reduced cost, and achieves a more effective design through early integration of operations into mission system engineering and flight system design. The core principles are assessment of capability through demonstration, risk reduction through targeted experiments, early test and deployment, and maturation of processes and tools through use.

Agile Software Teams: How They Engage with Systems Engineering on DoD Acquisition Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-01

under Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineer- ing Institute, a federally funded...issues that would preclude or limit the use of Agile methods within the DoD” [Broadus 2013]. As operational tempos increase and programs fight to...environment in which it operates . This makes software different from other disciplines that have toleranc- es, generally resulting in software engineering

The method to divide a sentence of requirement into individual requirements and the development of requirement specification editor which can describe individual requirements.

PubMed

Sato, Kuniya; Ooba, Masahiro; Takagi, Tomohiko; Furukawa, Zengo; Komiya, Seiichi; Yaegashi, Rihito

2013-12-01

Agile software development gains requirements from the direct discussion with customers and the development staff each time, and the customers evaluate the appropriateness of the requirement. If the customers divide the complicated requirement into individual requirements, the engineer who is in charge of software development can understand it easily. This is called division of requirement. However, the customers do not understand how much and how to divide the requirements. This paper proposes the method to divide a complicated requirement into individual requirements. Also, it shows the development of requirement specification editor which can describe individual requirements. The engineer who is in charge of software development can understand requirements easily.

The conservation value of degraded forests for agile gibbons Hylobates agilis.

PubMed

Lee, David C; Powell, Victoria J; Lindsell, Jeremy A

2015-01-01

All gibbon species are globally threatened with extinction yet conservation efforts are undermined by a lack of population and ecological data. Agile gibbons (Hylobates agilis) occur in Sumatra, Indonesia and adjacent mainland Southeast Asia. Population densities are known from four sites (three in Sumatra) while little is known about their ability to tolerate habitat degradation. We conducted a survey of agile gibbons in Harapan Rainforest, a lowland forest site in Sumatra. The area has been severely degraded by selective logging and encroachment but is now managed for ecosystem restoration. We used two survey methods: an established point count method for gibbons with some modifications, and straight line transects using auditory detections. Surveys were conducted in the three main forest types prevalent at the site: high, medium, and low canopy cover secondary forests. Mean group density estimates were higher from point counts than from line transects, and tended to be higher in less degraded forests within the study site. We consider points more time efficient and reliable than transects since detectability of gibbons was higher from points per unit effort. We recommend the additional use of Distance sampling methods to account for imperfect detection and provide other recommendations to improve surveys of gibbons. We estimate that the site holds at least 6,070 and as many as 11,360 gibbons. Our results demonstrate that degraded forests can be extremely important for the conservation of agile gibbons and that efforts to protect and restore such sites could contribute significantly to the conservation of the species. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Compact, Automated, Frequency-Agile Microspectrofluorimeter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fernandez, Salvador M.; Guignon, Ernest F.

1995-01-01

Compact, reliable, rugged, automated cell-culture and frequency-agile microspectrofluorimetric apparatus developed to perform experiments involving photometric imaging observations of single live cells. In original application, apparatus operates mostly unattended aboard spacecraft; potential terrestrial applications include automated or semiautomated diagnosis of pathological tissues in clinical laboratories, biomedical instrumentation, monitoring of biological process streams, and portable instrumentation for testing biological conditions in various environments. Offers obvious advantages over present laboratory instrumentation.

Cancellation Circuit for Transmit-Receive Isolation

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

non -ideal hardware, and the performance of the circuit is limited. One of the major problems is the leakage from the circulator. The leakage disrupts...cancellation circuit was investigated by a series of simulations using Agilent ADS (Agilent Advanced Design System), and hardware tests were conducted to...developed in the WDDPA application, allowing coherent processing of the data from all elements. There are limitations encountered due to non -ideal

Leadership Behaviors of Management for Complex Adaptive Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

arson • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick M. Lencioni Agile Development Practices • Agile Project Management with Scrum – Ken Schwaber...and down to the individual and team level – Relationships are not defined hierarchically, but rather through interactions across References: Mike...n – Consisting of parts intricately combined © Copyright 2009 Northrop GrummanCopyright 2010 Northrop Grumman 5 Predictable or Adaptive Software/IT

Development of EarthCube Governance: An Agile Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pearthree, G.; Allison, M. L.; Patten, K.

2013-12-01

Governance of geosciences cyberinfrastructure is a complex and essential undertaking, critical in enabling distributed knowledge communities to collaborate and communicate across disciplines, distances, and cultures. Advancing science with respect to 'grand challenges," such as global climate change, weather prediction, and core fundamental science, depends not just on technical cyber systems, but also on social systems for strategic planning, decision-making, project management, learning, teaching, and building a community of practice. Simply put, a robust, agile technical system depends on an equally robust and agile social system. Cyberinfrastructure development is wrapped in social, organizational and governance challenges, which may significantly impede progress. An agile development process is underway for governance of transformative investments in geosciences cyberinfrastructure through the NSF EarthCube initiative. Agile development is iterative and incremental, and promotes adaptive planning and rapid and flexible response. Such iterative deployment across a variety of EarthCube stakeholders encourages transparency, consensus, accountability, and inclusiveness. A project Secretariat acts as the coordinating body, carrying out duties for planning, organizing, communicating, and reporting. A broad coalition of stakeholder groups comprises an Assembly (Mainstream Scientists, Cyberinfrastructure Institutions, Information Technology/Computer Sciences, NSF EarthCube Investigators, Science Communities, EarthCube End-User Workshop Organizers, Professional Societies) to serve as a preliminary venue for identifying, evaluating, and testing potential governance models. To offer opportunity for broader end-user input, a crowd-source approach will engage stakeholders not involved otherwise. An Advisory Committee from the Earth, ocean, atmosphere, social, computer and library sciences is guiding the process from a high-level policy point of view. Developmental evaluators from the social sciences embedded in the project provide real-time review and adjustments. While a large number of agencies and organizations have agreed to participate, in order to ensure an open and inclusive process, community selected leaders yet to be identified will play key roles through an Assembly Advisory Council. Once consensus is reached on a governing framework, a community-selected demonstration governance pilot will help facilitate community convergence on system design.

Importance of Reactive Agility and Change of Direction Speed in Differentiating Performance Levels in Junior Soccer Players: Reliability and Validity of Newly Developed Soccer-Specific Tests

PubMed Central

Pojskic, Haris; Åslin, Erik; Krolo, Ante; Jukic, Ivan; Uljevic, Ognjen; Spasic, Miodrag; Sekulic, Damir

2018-01-01

Agility is a significant determinant of success in soccer; however, studies have rarely presented and evaluated soccer-specific tests of reactive agility (S_RAG) and non-reactive agility (change of direction speed – S_CODS) or their applicability in this sport. The aim of this study was to define the reliability and validity of newly developed tests of the S_RAG and S_CODS to discriminate between the performance levels of junior soccer players. The study consisted of 20 players who were involved at the highest national competitive rank (all males; age: 17.0 ± 0.9 years), divided into three playing positions (defenders, midfielders, and forwards) and two performance levels (U17 and U19). Variables included body mass (BM), body height, body fat percentage, 20-m sprint, squat jump, countermovement jump, reactive-strength-index, unilateral jump, 1RM-back-squat, S_CODS, and three protocols of S_RAG. The reliabilities of the S_RAG and S_CODS were appropriate to high (ICC: 0.70 to 0.92), with the strongest reliability evidenced for the S_CODS. The S_CODS and S_RAG shared 25–40% of the common variance. Playing positions significantly differed in BM (large effect-size differences [ES]; midfielders were lightest) and 1RM-back-squat (large ES; lowest results in midfielders). The performance levels significantly differed in age and experience in soccer; U19 achieved better results in the S_CODS (t-test: 3.61, p < 0.05, large ES) and two S_RAG protocols (t-test: 2.14 and 2.41, p < 0.05, moderate ES). Newly developed tests of soccer-specific agility are applicable to differentiate U17 and U19 players. Coaches who work with young soccer athletes should be informed that the development of soccer-specific CODS and RAG in this age is mostly dependent on training of the specific motor proficiency. PMID:29867552

Rolling and tumbling: status of the SuperAGILE experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Del Monte, E.; Costa, E.; di Persio, G.; Donnarumma, I.; Evangelista, Y.; Feroci, M.; Lapshov, I.; Lazzarotto, F.; Mastropietro, M.; Morelli, E.; Pacciani, L.; Rapisarda, M.; Rubini, A.; Soffitta, P.; Tavani, M.; Argan, A.; Trois, A.

2010-07-01

The SuperAGILE experiment is the hard X-ray monitor of the AGILE mission. It is a 2 x one-dimensional imager, with 6-arcmin angular resolution in the energy range 18 - 60 keV and a field of view in excess of 1 steradian. SuperAGILE is successfully operating in orbit since Summer 2007, providing long-term monitoring of bright sources and prompt detection and localization of gamma-ray bursts. Starting on October 2009 the AGILE mission lost its reaction wheel and the satellite attitude is no longer stabilized. The current mode of operation of the AGILE satellite is a Spinning Mode, around the Sun-pointing direction, with an angular velocity of about 0.8 degree/s (corresponding to 8 times the SuperAGILE point spread function every second). In these new conditions, SuperAGILE continuously scans a much larger fraction of the sky, with much smaller exposure to each region. In this paper we review some of the results of the first 2.5 years of "standard" operation of SuperAGILE, and show how new implementations in the data analysis software allows to continue the hard X-ray sky monitoring by SuperAGILE also in the new attitude conditions.

AGILE integration into APC for high mix logic fab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatefait, M.; Lam, A.; Le Gratiet, B.; Mikolajczak, M.; Morin, V.; Chojnowski, N.; Kocsis, Z.; Smith, I.; Decaunes, J.; Ostrovsky, A.; Monget, C.

2015-09-01

For C040 technology and below, photolithographic depth of focus control and dispersion improvement is essential to secure product functionality. Critical 193nm immersion layers present initial focus process windows close to machine control capability. For previous technologies, the standard scanner sensor (Level sensor - LS) was used to map wafer topology and expose the wafer at the right Focus. Such optical embedded metrology, based on light reflection, suffers from reading issues that cannot be neglected anymore. Metrology errors are correlated to inspected product area for which material types and densities change, and so optical properties are not constant. Various optical phenomena occur across the product field during wafer inspection and have an effect on the quality and position of the reflected light. This can result in incorrect heights being recorded and exposures possibly being done out of focus. Focus inaccuracy associated to aggressive process windows on critical layers will directly impact product realization and therefore functionality and yield. ASML has introduced an air gauge sensor to complement the optical level sensor and lead to optimal topology metrology. The use of this new sensor is managed by the AGILE (Air Gauge Improved process LEveling) application. This measurement with no optical dependency will correct for optical inaccuracy of level sensor, and so improve best focus dispersion across the product. Due to the fact that stack complexity is more and more important through process steps flow, optical perturbation of standard Level sensor metrology is increasing and is becoming maximum for metallization layers. For these reasons AGILE feature implementation was first considered for contact and all metal layers. Another key point is that standard metrology will be sensitive to layer and reticle/product density. The gain of Agile will be enhanced for multiple product contribution mask and for complex System on Chip. Into ST context (High mix logic Fab) in term of product and technology portfolio AGILE corrects for up to 120nm of product topography error on process layer with less than 50nm depth of focus Based on tool functionalities delivered by ASML and on high volume manufacturing requirement, AGILE integration is a real challenge. Regarding ST requirements "Automatic AGILE" functionality developed by ASML was not a turnkey solution and a dedicated functionality was needed. A "ST homemade AGILE integration" has been fully developed and implemented within ASML and ST constraints. This paper describes this integration in our Advanced Process Control platform (APC).

Survey-based analysis of risk factors for injury among dogs participating in agility training and competition events.

PubMed

Cullen, Kimberley L; Dickey, James P; Bent, Leah R; Thomason, Jeffrey J; Moëns, Noel M M

2013-10-01

To identify potential risk factors for agility-related injuries among dogs. Internet-based, retrospective, cross-sectional survey. 3,801 privately owned dogs participating in agility training or trials. A retrospective electronic survey was used to investigate potential risk factors for injury among dogs participating in agility-related activities. Respondents were handlers recruited through member lists of large canine agility associations in Canada and the United Kingdom and through promotion on an agility blog site. Variables evaluated included demographic information for handlers and dogs, exposure variables (eg, frequency of agility practice and competition in the past year), and use of preventive measures intended to keep dogs fit for agility (warmup, cooldown, or conditioning exercises; alternative therapeutic treatments [eg, acupuncture, massage, or chiropractic care]; or dietary supplement products). Data were collected from 1,669 handlers of 3,801 agility dogs internationally; 1,209 (32%) dogs incurred ≥ 1 injury. Previous injury (OR, 100.5), ≤ 4 years of agility experience for dogs (OR, 1.5), use of alternative therapeutic treatments (OR, 1.5), and Border Collie breed (OR, 1.7) were associated with increased odds of injury. Handlers having 5 to 10 or > 10 years of experience (OR, 0.8 and 0.6, respectively) and dogs having > 4 years of experience in the sport (OR, 0.6) were associated with decreased odds of injury. Specific factors were associated with agility-related injuries in dogs. Educational prevention strategies should target at-risk populations in an effort to reduce potential injuries. Future research should focus on the biomechanical factors associated with agility-related injuries.

A comparison of assisted, resisted, and common plyometric training modes to enhance sprint and agility performance.

PubMed

Khodaei, Kazem; Mohammadi, Abbas; Badri, Neda

2017-10-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of assisted, resisted and common plyometric training modes to enhance sprint and agility performance. Thirty active young males (age 20.67±1.12, height 174.83±4.69, weight 63.45±7.51) volunteered to participate in this study that 24 completed testing. The participants were randomly assigned into different groups: assisted, resisted and common plyometric exercises groups. Plyometric training involved three sessions per week for 4 weeks. The volume load of plyometric training modes was equated between the groups. The posttest was performed after 48 hours of the last training session. Between-group differences were analyzed with the ANCOVA and LSD post-hoc tests, and within-group differences were analyzed by a paired t-test. The findings of the present study indicated that 0-10-m, 20-30-m sprint time and the Illinois Agility Test time significantly decreased in the assisted and resisted plyometrics modes compared to the common plyometric training mode (P≤0.05). Also, the 0-10-m, 0-30-m sprint time and agility T-test time was significantly reduced with resisted plyometrics modes compared to the assisted and common plyometric modes (P≤0.05). There was no significant difference in the 10-20-m sprint time among the three plyometric training modes. The results of this study demonstrated that assisted and resisted plyometrics modes with elastic bands were effective methods to improve sprint and agility performance than common plyometric training in active males. Also, the resisted plyometrics mode was superior than the assisted plyometrics mode to improving sprint and agility tasks.

Proposal of Evolutionary Simplex Method for Global Optimization Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, Yoshiaki

To make an agile decision in a rational manner, role of optimization engineering has been notified increasingly under diversified customer demand. With this point of view, in this paper, we have proposed a new evolutionary method serving as an optimization technique in the paradigm of optimization engineering. The developed method has prospects to solve globally various complicated problem appearing in real world applications. It is evolved from the conventional method known as Nelder and Mead’s Simplex method by virtue of idea borrowed from recent meta-heuristic method such as PSO. Mentioning an algorithm to handle linear inequality constraints effectively, we have validated effectiveness of the proposed method through comparison with other methods using several benchmark problems.

SABER: A Theater Level Wargame

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-01

theater level conputerized wargame for the Air Force Wargaming Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama to replace the Theater War Exercise (TWX), also known as... to replace the Theater War Exercise (TWX), also known as Agile. Given a recently developed land battle, this thesis’ effort links US Air Force...compu.eiized wargame for the Air Force Wargaming Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama to replace the Theater War Exercise (TWX), also known as Agile. Saber is a

Preparing for the Future: Developing an Adaptive Army in a Time of Peace, 1918-1941

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-23

with the advances in equipment, the branch chiefs also served to 67 Christopher R. Gabel, The...Flanagan, E. M. The Angels: A History of the 11th Airborne Division. Novato: Presidio Press, 1989. Gabel, Christopher R. The U.S. Army GHQ Maneuvers...Papers, Command and General Staff School, 1930. Gehler, Christopher P. “Agile Leaders, Agile Institutions: Educating Adaptive and Innovative

Agile Metrics: Progress Monitoring of Agile Contractors

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

epic. The short timeframe is usually called an itera- tion or, in Scrum -based teams, a sprint; multiple iterations make up a release [Lapham 2011...9769 [Rawsthorne 2012] Rawsthorne, Dan. Monitoring Scrum Projects with AgileEVM and Earned Business Value Metrics (EBV). 2012. http...AgileEVM – Earned Value Manage- ment in Scrum Projects.” Presented at Agile2006, 23-28 July 2006. [USAF 2008] United States Air Force. United

The influence of physical and cognitive factors on reactive agility performance in men basketball players.

PubMed

Scanlan, Aaron; Humphries, Brendan; Tucker, Patrick S; Dalbo, Vincent

2014-01-01

This study explored the influence of physical and cognitive measures on reactive agility performance in basketball players. Twelve men basketball players performed multiple sprint, Change of Direction Speed Test, and Reactive Agility Test trials. Pearson's correlation analyses were used to determine relationships between the predictor variables (stature, mass, body composition, 5-m, 10-m and 20-m sprint times, peak speed, closed-skill agility time, response time and decision-making time) and reactive agility time (response variable). Simple and stepwise regression analyses determined the individual influence of each predictor variable and the best predictor model for reactive agility time. Morphological (r = -0.45 to 0.19), sprint (r = -0.40 to 0.41) and change-of-direction speed measures (r = 0.43) had small to moderate correlations with reactive agility time. Response time (r = 0.76, P = 0.004) and decision-making time (r = 0.58, P = 0.049) had large to very large relationships with reactive agility time. Response time was identified as the sole predictor variable for reactive agility time in the stepwise model (R(2) = 0.58, P = 0.004). In conclusion, cognitive measures had the greatest influence on reactive agility performance in men basketball players. These findings suggest reaction and decision-making drills should be incorporated in basketball training programmes.

The Development of Delta: Using Agile to Develop a Decision Aid for Pediatric Oncology Clinical Trial Enrollment.

PubMed

Robertson, Eden G; Wakefield, Claire E; Cohn, Richard J; O'Brien, Tracey; Ziegler, David S; Fardell, Joanna E

2018-05-04

The internet is increasingly being used to disseminate health information. Given the complexity of pediatric oncology clinical trials, we developed Delta, a Web-based decision aid to support families deciding whether or not to enroll their child with cancer in a clinical trial. This paper details the Agile development process of Delta and user testing results of Delta. Development was iterative and involved 5 main stages: a requirements analysis, planning, design, development, and user testing. For user testing, we conducted 13 eye-tracking analyses and think-aloud interviews with health care professionals (n=6) and parents (n=7). Results suggested that there was minimal rereading of content and a high level of engagement in content. However, there were some navigational problems. Participants reported high acceptability (12/13) and high usability of the website (8/13). Delta demonstrates the utility for the use of Agile in the development of a Web-based decision aid for health purposes. Our study provides a clear step-by-step guide to develop a Web-based psychosocial tool within the health setting. ©Eden G Robertson, Claire E Wakefield, Richard J Cohn, Tracey O'Brien, David S Ziegler, Joanna E Fardell. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 04.05.2018.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pierson, L.G.; Witzke, E.L.

This effort studied the integration of innovative methods of key management crypto synchronization, and key agility while scaling encryption speed. Viability of these methods for encryption of ATM cell payloads at the SONET OC- 192 data rate (10 Gb/s), and for operation at OC-48 rates (2.5 Gb/s) was shown. An SNL-Developed pipelined DES design was adapted for the encryption of ATM cells. A proof-of-principle prototype circuit board containing 11 Electronically Programmable Logic Devices (each holding the equivalent of 100,000 gates) was designed, built, and used to prototype a high speed encryptor.

Agile Data Curation: A conceptual framework and approach for practitioner data management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, J. W.; Benedict, K. K.; Lenhardt, W. C.

2015-12-01

Data management occurs across a range of science and related activities such as decision-support. Exemplars within the science community operate data management systems that are extensively planned before implementation, staffed with robust data management expertise, equipped with appropriate services and technologies, and often highly structured. However, this is not the only approach to data management and almost certainly not the typical experience. The other end of the spectrum is often an ad hoc practitioner team, with changing requirements, limited training in data management, and resource constrained for both equipment and human resources. Much of the existing data management literature serves the exemplar community and ignores the ad hoc practitioners. Somewhere in the middle are examples where data are repurposed for new uses thereby generating new data management challenges. This submission presents a conceptualization of an Agile Data Curation approach that provides foundational principles for data management efforts operating across the spectrum of data generation and use from large science systems to efforts with constrained resources, limited expertise, and evolving requirements. The underlying principles to Agile Data Curation are a reapplication of agile software development principles to data management. The historical reality for many data management efforts is operating in a practioner environment so Agile Data Curation utilizes historical and current case studies to validate the foundational principles and through comparison learn lessons for future application. This submission will provide an overview of the Agile Data Curation, cover the foundational principles to the approach, and introduce a framework for gathering, classifying, and applying lessons from case studies of practitioner data management.

Explaining the Obvious - How Do You Teach Agile?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lundh, Erik

Agile is now a hot topic and many organizations decide on adopting “agile” without really knowing how and why. This workshop will explore how fresh and seasoned agile coaches teach traditional and novel agile concepts, by example, with discussions. All participants are invited to show and tell about agile with an audience of peers. It might be the fresh first time with an audience, or golden hits that served you well for years.

Examination of the perceived agility and balance during a reactive agility task.

PubMed

Stirling, Leia; Eke, Chika; Cain, Stephen M

2018-01-01

In vehicle dynamics, it is commonly understood that there is an inverse relationship between stability and maneuverability. However, animal studies have found that stability and maneuverability can coincide. In this study, we examine humans running a reactive agility obstacle and consider the relationship between observational perceived agility and balance, as well as the relationship between quantified surrogates of agility and balance. Recreational athletes (n = 18) completed the agility task while wearing inertial measurement units (IMUs) on their body. The task was also video-recorded. An observational study was completed by a separate group of adults (n = 33) that were asked to view the videos and score each athlete on a Likert scale for balance and for agility. The data from the body-worn IMUs were used to estimate quantified surrogate measures for agility and balance, and to assess if the relationship between the quantified agility and balance was in the same direction as the perceived relationship from the Likert scale responses. Results indicate that athletes that were given a higher Likert agility score were also given a higher balance score (rs = 0.75,p < 0.001). Quantitative surrogates of agility and balance also showed this same relationship. Additional insights on technique for this reactive agility task were informed by the quantitative surrogates. We observed the importance of stepping technique in achieving the faster completion times. The fast performing athletes spent a greater proportion of the task in double support and lower overall time in single support indicating increased periods of static stability. The fast performing athletes did not have a higher body speed, but performed the task with a more efficient technique, using foot placement to enable heading changes, and thus may have had a more efficient path. Similar to animal studies, people use technique to enable agile strategies while also enabling increased balance across the task.

Software Sustainment -- Now and Future

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

today the commercial environment is using something referred to as DevOps . What is DevOps ? What it is. A way of working that encourages the Develop...section. However, there are some major differences. DevOps seems to be the Agile community’s term for doing sustainment and opera- tions in parallel...methods in sustainment within the federal government. This research is how I came upon the term DevOps . In addition, Gene Kim provided a keynote

Team Software Development for Aerothermodynamic and Aerodynamic Analysis and Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexandrov, N.; Atkins, H. L.; Bibb, K. L.; Biedron, R. T.; Carpenter, M. H.; Gnoffo, P. A.; Hammond, D. P.; Jones, W. T.; Kleb, W. L.; Lee-Rausch, E. M.

2003-01-01

A collaborative approach to software development is described. The approach employs the agile development techniques: project retrospectives, Scrum status meetings, and elements of Extreme Programming to efficiently develop a cohesive and extensible software suite. The software product under development is a fluid dynamics simulator for performing aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic analysis and design. The functionality of the software product is achieved both through the merging, with substantial rewrite, of separate legacy codes and the authorship of new routines. Examples of rapid implementation of new functionality demonstrate the benefits obtained with this agile software development process. The appendix contains a discussion of coding issues encountered while porting legacy Fortran 77 code to Fortran 95, software design principles, and a Fortran 95 coding standard.

A Literature Review on the Progression of Agile Manufacturing Paradigm and Its Scope of Application in Pump Industry

PubMed Central

Devadasan, S. R.; Sivaram, N. M.

2015-01-01

During the recent years, the manufacturing world has been witnessing the application of agile manufacturing paradigm. The literature review reported in this paper was carried out to study this progression. This literature review was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the literature was reviewed to trace the origin of agile manufacturing paradigm and identify its enablers. Further, during this phase, the applications of agile manufacturing reported in literature arena were reviewed. It was also discernable that certain research works have been initiated to apply agile manufacturing paradigm in pump industry. During the second phase, the researches reported on applying agile manufacturing in pump industry were reviewed. At the end of this review, it was found that so far the implementation of agile manufacturing in pump industry has been examined by the researchers by considering only certain components of pumps. In fact, the holistic implementation of agile manufacturing in the pump industry is yet to be examined by the researchers. In the context of drawing this inference, this paper has been concluded by stating that high scope exists in examining the infusing of agility characteristics in designing and manufacturing of pumps. PMID:26065016

A Literature Review on the Progression of Agile Manufacturing Paradigm and Its Scope of Application in Pump Industry.

PubMed

Thilak, V M M; Devadasan, S R; Sivaram, N M

2015-01-01

During the recent years, the manufacturing world has been witnessing the application of agile manufacturing paradigm. The literature review reported in this paper was carried out to study this progression. This literature review was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the literature was reviewed to trace the origin of agile manufacturing paradigm and identify its enablers. Further, during this phase, the applications of agile manufacturing reported in literature arena were reviewed. It was also discernable that certain research works have been initiated to apply agile manufacturing paradigm in pump industry. During the second phase, the researches reported on applying agile manufacturing in pump industry were reviewed. At the end of this review, it was found that so far the implementation of agile manufacturing in pump industry has been examined by the researchers by considering only certain components of pumps. In fact, the holistic implementation of agile manufacturing in the pump industry is yet to be examined by the researchers. In the context of drawing this inference, this paper has been concluded by stating that high scope exists in examining the infusing of agility characteristics in designing and manufacturing of pumps.

Gender-specific influences of balance, speed, and power on agility performance.

PubMed

Sekulic, Damir; Spasic, Miodrag; Mirkov, Dragan; Cavar, Mile; Sattler, Tine

2013-03-01

The quick change of direction (i.e., agility) is an important athletic ability in numerous sports. Because of the diverse and therefore hardly predictable manifestations of agility in sports, studies noted that the improvement in speed, power, and balance should result in an improvement of agility. However, there is evident lack of data regarding the influence of potential predictors on different agility manifestations. The aim of this study was to determine the gender-specific influence of speed, power, and balance on different agility tests. A total of 32 college-aged male athletes and 31 college-aged female athletes (age 20.02 ± 1.89 years) participated in this study. The subjects were mostly involved in team sports (soccer, team handball, basketball, and volleyball; 80% of men, and 75% of women), martial arts, gymnastics, and dance. Anthropometric variables consisted of body height, body weight, and the body mass index. Five agility tests were used: a t-test (T-TEST), zig-zag test, 20-yard shuttle test, agility test with a 180-degree turn, and forward-backward running agility test (FWDBWD). Other tests included 1 jumping ability power test (squat jump, SQJ), 2 balance tests to determine the overall stability index and an overall limit of stability score (both measured by Biodex Balance System), and 2 running speed tests using a straight sprint for 10 and 20 m (S10 and S20, respectively). A reliability analysis showed that all the agility tests were reliable. Multiple regression and correlation analysis found speed and power (among women), and balance (among men), as most significant predictors of agility. The highest Pearson's correlation in both genders is found between the results of the FWDBWD and S10M tests (0.77 and 0.81 for men and women, respectively; p < 0.05). Power, measured using the SQJ, is significantly (p < 0.05) related to FWDBWD and T-TEST results but only for women (-0.44; -0.41). The balance measures were significantly related to the agility performance for men but not for women. In addition to demonstrating a known relationship between speed and agility in both genders, and a small but statistically significant relationship between power and agility in women, these results indicate that balance should be considered as a potential predictor of agility in trained adult men.

Pervasive Agility and Agile Fires in Support of Decisive Action

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-29

Pervasive Agility and Agile Fires in Support of Decisive Action FORMAT: Civilian Research Project DATE: 29 March 2012 WORD COUNT : 12,599 PAGES: 54...will face, this pollenization may require creative measures, perhaps virtual or constructive scenarios. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin

Strategic agility for nursing leadership.

PubMed

Shirey, Maria R

2015-06-01

This department highlights change management strategies that may be successful in strategically planning and executing organizational change. In this article, the author discusses strategic agility as an important leadership competency and offers approaches for incorporating strategic agility in healthcare systems. A strategic agility checklist and infrastructure-building approach are presented.

Agile SE Enablers and Quantification Project: Identification, Characterization, and Evaluation Criteria for Systems Engineering Agile Enablers

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-16

Enablers Draft Technical Report SERC -2015-049-1 January 16, 2015 Principal Investigator: Dr. Richard Turner, Stevens Institute of...Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030 1 Copyright © 2015 Stevens Institute of Technology The Systems Engineering Research Center ( SERC ) is a federally...inappropriate enablers are not pursued. The identification criteria developed for RT-124 are based on earlier SERC work. [4, 5, 6]: 1 Operated by DAU

Planned and reactive agility performance in semiprofessional and amateur basketball players.

PubMed

Lockie, Robert G; Jeffriess, Matthew D; McGann, Tye S; Callaghan, Samuel J; Schultz, Adrian B

2014-09-01

Research indicates that planned and reactive agility are different athletic skills. These skills have not been adequately assessed in male basketball players. To define whether 10-m-sprint performance and planned and reactive agility measured by the Y-shaped agility test can discriminate between semiprofessional and amateur basketball players. Ten semiprofessional and 10 amateur basketball players completed 10-m sprints and planned- and reactive-agility tests. The Y-shaped agility test involved subjects sprinting 5 m through a trigger timing gate, followed by a 45° cut and 5-m sprint to the left or right through a target gate. In the planned condition, subjects knew the cut direction. For reactive trials, subjects visually scanned to find the illuminated gate. A 1-way analysis of variance (P < .05) determined between-groups differences. Data were pooled (N = 20) for a correlation analysis (P < .05). The reactive tests differentiated between the groups; semiprofessional players were 6% faster for the reactive left (P = .036) and right (P = .029) cuts. The strongest correlations were between the 10-m sprints and planned-agility tests (r = .590-.860). The reactive left cut did not correlate with the planned tests. The reactive right cut moderately correlated with the 10-m sprint and planned right cut (r = .487-.485). The results reemphasized that planned and reactive agility are separate physical qualities. Reactive agility discriminated between the semiprofessional and amateur basketball players; planned agility did not. To distinguish between male basketball players of different ability levels, agility tests should include a perceptual and decision-making component.

Agile Methodology - Past and Future

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-01

Takeuchi & Nonaka HBR 1986, p139 RUGBY Waterfall Red vs Agile Black Team- . - Manifesto 2001 SCRUM GRAPHIC* * Adapted from Schwaber (2007) Agile...learning will help Agile manage its vision • Rugby : All Blacks 36 v England 12 Auckland, NZ (6/19/04) Glossary • AFB – Air Force Base • MCS - Maneuver

78 FR 64019 - Manufacturer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Registration; Agilent Technologies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-25

...; Notice of Registration; Agilent Technologies By Notice dated May 24, 2013, and published in the Federal Register on June 4, 2013, 78 FR 33441, Agilent Technologies, 25200 Commercentre Drive, Lake Forest... of Agilent Technologies to manufacture the listed basic classes of controlled substances is...

Visual preference in a human-reared agile gibbon (Hylobates agilis).

PubMed

Tanaka, Masayuki; Uchikoshi, Makiko

2010-01-01

Visual preference was evaluated in a male agile gibbon. The subject was raised by humans immediately after birth, but lived with his biological family from one year of age. Visual preference was assessed using a free-choice task in which five or six photographs of different primate species, including humans, were presented on a touch-sensitive screen. The subject touched one of them. Food rewards were delivered irrespective of the subject's responses. We prepared two types of stimulus sets. With set 1, the subject touched photographs of humans more frequently than those of other species, recalling previous findings in human-reared chimpanzees. With set 2, photographs of nine species of gibbons were presented. Chimpanzees touched photographs of white-handed gibbons more than those of other gibbon species. The gibbon subject initially touched photographs of agile gibbons more than white-handed gibbons, but after one and two years his choice patterns resembled the chimpanzees'. The results suggest that, as in chimpanzees, visual preferences of agile gibbons are not genetically programmed but develop through social experience during infancy.

Using a Functional Simulation of Crisis Management to Test the C2 Agility Model Parameters on Key Performance Variables

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

1 18th ICCRTS Using a Functional Simulation of Crisis Management to Test the C2 Agility Model Parameters on Key Performance Variables...AND SUBTITLE Using a Functional Simulation of Crisis Management to Test the C2 Agility Model Parameters on Key Performance Variables 5a. CONTRACT...command in crisis management. C2 Agility Model Agility can be conceptualized at a number of different levels; for instance at the team

Concepts and application of dynamic separation for agility and super-maneuverability of aircraft: An assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freymuth, Peter

1992-01-01

Aims for improvement of fighter aircraft pursued by the unsteady flow community are high agility (the ability of the aircraft to make close turns in a low-speed regime) and super maneuverability (the ability of the aircraft to operate at high angles of attack in a post stall regime during quick maneuvers in a more extended speed range). High agility requires high lift coefficients at low speeds in a dynamic situation and this requirement can be met by dynamically forced separation or by quasistatic stall control. The competing methods will be assessed based on the known physics. Maneuvering into the post stall regime also involves dynamic separation but because even fast maneuvers involving the entire aircraft are 'aerodynamically slow' the resulting dynamic vortex structures should be considered 'elicited' rather than 'forced.' More work seems to be needed in this area of elicited dynamic separation.

Plasmonic Gold Nanorod Dispersions with Electrical and Optical Tunability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grabowski, Christopher; Mahoney, Clare; Park, Kyoungweon; Jawaid, Ali; White, Timothy; Vaia, Richard

The transmissive, absorptive, electrical, and thermal properties of plasmonic gold nanorods (NRs) have led to their employment in a broad range of applications. These electro-optical properties - governed by their size, shape, and composition - are widely and precisely tunable during synthesis. Gold NRs show promise for large scale optical elements as they have been demonstrated to align faster than liquid crystal films (μs) at low fields (1 V/ μm). Successfully dispersing a high volume fraction of gold NRs requires a strategy to control particle-particle separation and thus avoid aggregation. Herein, we discuss the role of theta temperature and the ability to swell or collapse the chains of polymer-grafted gold NRs to alter the interaction potential between particles. UV-Vis spectroscopy, scattering, and electrical susceptibility characterization methods were employed to determine nanoparticle dispersion along with the degree of gold NR alignment. The development of new agile photonic materials, controllable with both light and electric fields, will help address emerging needs in laser hardening (agile filters) and variable transmission visors.

Patency© and agile© capsules

PubMed Central

Caunedo-Álvarez, Ángel; Romero-Vazquez, Javier; Herrerias-Gutierrez, Juan M

2008-01-01

Small bowel strictures can be missed by current diagnostic methods. The Patency capsule is a new non-endoscopic dissolvable capsule which has as an objective of checking the patency of digestive tract, in a non-invasive manner. The available clinical trials have demonstrated that the Patency© capsule is a good tool for assessment of the functional patency of the small bowel, and it allows identification of those patients who can safely undergo a capsule endoscopy, despite clinical and radiographic evidence of small-bowel obstruction. Some cases of intestinal occlusion have been reported with the Patency© capsule, four of them needed surgery. So, a new capsule with two timer plugs (Agile© capsule) has been recently developed in order to minimize the risk of occlusion. This new device stars its dissolution process earlier (30 h after ingestion) and its two timer plugs have been designed to begin the disintegration even when the device is blocked in a tight stricture. PMID:18785278

Archetype Model-Driven Development Framework for EHR Web System

PubMed Central

Kimura, Eizen; Ishihara, Ken

2013-01-01

Objectives This article describes the Web application framework for Electronic Health Records (EHRs) we have developed to reduce construction costs for EHR sytems. Methods The openEHR project has developed clinical model driven architecture for future-proof interoperable EHR systems. This project provides the specifications to standardize clinical domain model implementations, upon which the ISO/CEN 13606 standards are based. The reference implementation has been formally described in Eiffel. Moreover C# and Java implementations have been developed as reference. While scripting languages had been more popular because of their higher efficiency and faster development in recent years, they had not been involved in the openEHR implementations. From 2007, we have used the Ruby language and Ruby on Rails (RoR) as an agile development platform to implement EHR systems, which is in conformity with the openEHR specifications. Results We implemented almost all of the specifications, the Archetype Definition Language parser, and RoR scaffold generator from archetype. Although some problems have emerged, most of them have been resolved. Conclusions We have provided an agile EHR Web framework, which can build up Web systems from archetype models using RoR. The feasibility of the archetype model to provide semantic interoperability of EHRs has been demonstrated and we have verified that that it is suitable for the construction of EHR systems. PMID:24523991

PDS4 - Some Principles for Agile Data Curation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, J. S.; Crichton, D. J.; Hardman, S. H.; Joyner, R.; Algermissen, S.; Padams, J.

2015-12-01

PDS4, a research data management and curation system for NASA's Planetary Science Archive, was developed using principles that promote the characteristics of agile development. The result is an efficient system that produces better research data products while using less resources (time, effort, and money) and maximizes their usefulness for current and future scientists. The key principle is architectural. The PDS4 information architecture is developed and maintained independent of the infrastructure's process, application and technology architectures. The information architecture is based on an ontology-based information model developed to leverage best practices from standard reference models for digital archives, digital object registries, and metadata registries and capture domain knowledge from a panel of planetary science domain experts. The information model provides a sharable, stable, and formal set of information requirements for the system and is the primary source for information to configure most system components, including the product registry, search engine, validation and display tools, and production pipelines. Multi-level governance is also allowed for the effective management of the informational elements at the common, discipline, and project level. This presentation will describe the development principles, components, and uses of the information model and how an information model-driven architecture exhibits characteristics of agile curation including early delivery, evolutionary development, adaptive planning, continuous improvement, and rapid and flexible response to change.

Physical Fitness Percentiles of German Children Aged 9–12 Years: Findings from a Longitudinal Study

PubMed Central

Golle, Kathleen; Muehlbauer, Thomas; Wick, Ditmar; Granacher, Urs

2015-01-01

Background Generating percentile values is helpful for the identification of children with specific fitness characteristics (i.e., low or high fitness level) to set appropriate fitness goals (i.e., fitness/health promotion and/or long-term youth athlete development). Thus, the aim of this longitudinal study was to assess physical fitness development in healthy children aged 9–12 years and to compute sex- and age-specific percentile values. Methods Two-hundred and forty children (88 girls, 152 boys) participated in this study and were tested for their physical fitness. Physical fitness was assessed using the 50-m sprint test (i.e., speed), the 1-kg ball push test, the triple hop test (i.e., upper- and lower- extremity muscular power), the stand-and-reach test (i.e., flexibility), the star run test (i.e., agility), and the 9-min run test (i.e., endurance). Age- and sex-specific percentile values (i.e., P10 to P90) were generated using the Lambda, Mu, and Sigma method. Adjusted (for change in body weight, height, and baseline performance) age- and sex-differences as well as the interactions thereof were expressed by calculating effect sizes (Cohen’s d). Results Significant main effects of Age were detected for all physical fitness tests (d = 0.40–1.34), whereas significant main effects of Sex were found for upper-extremity muscular power (d = 0.55), flexibility (d = 0.81), agility (d = 0.44), and endurance (d = 0.32) only. Further, significant Sex by Age interactions were observed for upper-extremity muscular power (d = 0.36), flexibility (d = 0.61), and agility (d = 0.27) in favor of girls. Both, linear and curvilinear shaped curves were found for percentile values across the fitness tests. Accelerated (curvilinear) improvements were observed for upper-extremity muscular power (boys: 10–11 yrs; girls: 9–11 yrs), agility (boys: 9–10 yrs; girls: 9–11 yrs), and endurance (boys: 9–10 yrs; girls: 9–10 yrs). Tabulated percentiles for the 9-min run test indicated that running distances between 1,407–1,507 m, 1,479–1,597 m, 1,423–1,654 m, and 1,433–1,666 m in 9- to 12-year-old boys and 1,262–1,362 m, 1,329–1,434 m, 1,392–1,501 m, and 1,415–1,526 m in 9- to 12-year-old girls correspond to a “medium” fitness level (i.e., P40 to P60) in this population. Conclusions The observed differences in physical fitness development between boys and girls illustrate that age- and sex-specific maturational processes might have an impact on the fitness status of healthy children. Our statistical analyses revealed linear (e.g., lower-extremity muscular power) and curvilinear (e.g., agility) models of fitness improvement with age which is indicative of timed and capacity-specific fitness development pattern during childhood. Lastly, the provided age- and sex-specific percentile values can be used by coaches for talent identification and by teachers for rating/grading of children’s motor performance. PMID:26544848

Characterization of constituents in Stellera chamaejasme L. by rapid-resolution liquid chromatography-diode array detection and electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Zhao, Liang; Lou, Zi-Yang; Zhu, Zhen-Yu; Zhang, Guo-Qing; Chai, Yi-Feng

2008-01-01

A reliable and rapid method based on rapid-resolution liquid chromatography-diode array detection (RRLC-DAD) and electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF/MS) has been developed for the isolation and characterization of multiple constituents in the root of Stellera chamaejasme L., which was extracted by sonication with methanol in an optimized procedure. Separation of the multiple constituents was achieved on an Agilent Zorbax XDB-C18 (50x3.0 mm i.d.; 1.8 microm) column using a gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. The detection wavelength was 210 nm. Mass spectra were acquired in both positive and negative modes. A formula database of the known chemical constituents in the root of Stellera chamaejasme L. was established by an Agilent software. Twenty-two obvious peaks appeared in the total ion chromatogram and nine of them were characterized by TOF/MS. The RRLC-DAD and ESI-TOF/MS method with ultrasonic extraction would be useful for rapid and effective characterization of chemical constituents in the root of Stellera chamaejasme L. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Agile Multi-Scale Decompositions for Automatic Image Registration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, James M.; Leija, Omar Navarro; Le Moigne, Jacqueline

2016-01-01

In recent works, the first and third authors developed an automatic image registration algorithm based on a multiscale hybrid image decomposition with anisotropic shearlets and isotropic wavelets. This prototype showed strong performance, improving robustness over registration with wavelets alone. However, this method imposed a strict hierarchy on the order in which shearlet and wavelet features were used in the registration process, and also involved an unintegrated mixture of MATLAB and C code. In this paper, we introduce a more agile model for generating features, in which a flexible and user-guided mix of shearlet and wavelet features are computed. Compared to the previous prototype, this method introduces a flexibility to the order in which shearlet and wavelet features are used in the registration process. Moreover, the present algorithm is now fully coded in C, making it more efficient and portable than the MATLAB and C prototype. We demonstrate the versatility and computational efficiency of this approach by performing registration experiments with the fully-integrated C algorithm. In particular, meaningful timing studies can now be performed, to give a concrete analysis of the computational costs of the flexible feature extraction. Examples of synthetically warped and real multi-modal images are analyzed.

Applying Agile Principles in Teaching Undergraduate Information Technology Project Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Budu, Joseph

2018-01-01

This article describes how the traditional teaching and learning activities over the years have been challenged to be agile--easily adaptable to changing classroom conditions. Despite this new phenomenon, there is a perceived paucity of agile-in-teaching research. Available studies neither focus on the use of agile principles beyond delivering…

The Effect of Acceleration Sprint and Zig-zag Drill Combination to Increase Students’ Speed and Agility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bana, O.; Mintarto, E.; Kusnanik, N. W.

2018-01-01

The purpose of this research is to analyze the following factors: (1) how far the effect of exercise acceleration sprint on the speed and agility (2) how much influence the zig-zag drill combination to the speed and agility (3) and is there any difference between the effects of exercise acceleration sprint and practice zig-zag drill combination of the speed and agility. This research is quantitative with quasi-experimental approach. The design of this study is matching only design.This study was conducted on 33 male students who take part in extracurricular and divided into 3 groups with 11 students in each group. Group 1 was given training of acceleration sprint, group 2 was given zig-zag training combination drills of conventional and exercises for group 3, for 8 weeks. The data collection was using sprint 30 meter to test the speed and agility t-test to test agility. Data were analyzed using t-test and analysis of variance. The conclusion of the research is (1) there is a significant effect of exercise acceleration sprint for the speed and agility, (2) there is a significant influence combination zig-zag drills, on speed and agility (3) and exercise acceleration sprint have more effect on the speed and agility.

The Effects of a 6-Week Plyometric Training Program on Agility

PubMed Central

Miller, Michael G.; Herniman, Jeremy J.; Ricard, Mark D.; Cheatham, Christopher C.; Michael, Timothy J.

2006-01-01

The purpose of the study was to determine if six weeks of plyometric training can improve an athlete's agility. Subjects were divided into two groups, a plyometric training and a control group. The plyometric training group performed in a six week plyometric training program and the control group did not perform any plyometric training techniques. All subjects participated in two agility tests: T-test and Illinois Agility Test, and a force plate test for ground reaction times both pre and post testing. Univariate ANCOVAs were conducted to analyze the change scores (post - pre) in the independent variables by group (training or control) with pre scores as covariates. The Univariate ANCOVA revealed a significant group effect F2,26 = 25.42, p=0.0000 for the T-test agility measure. For the Illinois Agility test, a significant group effect F2,26 = 27.24, p = 0.000 was also found. The plyometric training group had quicker posttest times compared to the control group for the agility tests. A significant group effect F2,26 = 7.81, p = 0.002 was found for the Force Plate test. The plyometric training group reduced time on the ground on the posttest compared to the control group. The results of this study show that plyometric training can be an effective training technique to improve an athlete's agility. Key Points Plyometric training can enhance agility of athletes. 6 weeks of plyometric training is sufficient to see agility results. Ground reaction times are decreased with plyometric training PMID:24353464

Quantifying performance on an outdoor agility drill using foot-mounted inertial measurement units.

PubMed

Zaferiou, Antonia M; Ojeda, Lauro; Cain, Stephen M; Vitali, Rachel V; Davidson, Steven P; Stirling, Leia; Perkins, Noel C

2017-01-01

Running agility is required for many sports and other physical tasks that demand rapid changes in body direction. Quantifying agility skill remains a challenge because measuring rapid changes of direction and quantifying agility skill from those measurements are difficult to do in ways that replicate real task/game play situations. The objectives of this study were to define and to measure agility performance for a (five-cone) agility drill used within a military obstacle course using data harvested from two foot-mounted inertial measurement units (IMUs). Thirty-two recreational athletes ran an agility drill while wearing two IMUs secured to the tops of their athletic shoes. The recorded acceleration and angular rates yield estimates of the trajectories, velocities and accelerations of both feet as well as an estimate of the horizontal velocity of the body mass center. Four agility performance metrics were proposed and studied including: 1) agility drill time, 2) horizontal body speed, 3) foot trajectory turning radius, and 4) tangential body acceleration. Additionally, the average horizontal ground reaction during each footfall was estimated. We hypothesized that shorter agility drill performance time would be observed with small turning radii and large tangential acceleration ranges and body speeds. Kruskal-Wallis and mean rank post-hoc statistical analyses revealed that shorter agility drill performance times were observed with smaller turning radii and larger tangential acceleration ranges and body speeds, as hypothesized. Moreover, measurements revealed the strategies that distinguish high versus low performers. Relative to low performers, high performers used sharper turns, larger changes in body speed (larger tangential acceleration ranges), and shorter duration footfalls that generated larger horizontal ground reactions during the turn phases. Overall, this study advances the use of foot-mounted IMUs to quantify agility performance in contextually-relevant settings (e.g., field of play, training facilities, obstacle courses, etc.).

Speed and agility of 12- and 14-year-old elite male basketball players.

PubMed

Jakovljevic, Sasa T; Karalejic, Milivoje S; Pajic, Zoran B; Macura, Marija M; Erculj, Frane F

2012-09-01

The aims of this study were (a) to identify and compare the speed and agility of 12- and 14-year-old elite male basketball players and (b) to investigate relations between speed and agility for both age groups of basketball players, to help coaches to improve their work. Sixty-four players aged 12 (M = 11.98 years, SD = 0.311) and 54 players aged 14 (M = 14.092 years, SD = 0.275) were tested. Three agility tests: agility t-test, zigzag agility drill, and agility run 4 × 15 m and 3 speed tests: 20-m run, 30-m run, and 50-m run were applied. Fourteen-year-old players achieved significantly better results in all speed and agility tests compared with 12-year-old players. The correlation coefficient (r = 0.81, p = 0.001) showed that 12-year-old players have the same ability in the 30- and 50-m runs. The other correlation coefficient (r = 0.59, p = 0.001) indicated that 20- and 30-m runs had inherently different qualities. The correlation coefficients between agility tests were <0.71, and therefore, each test in this group represents a specific task. In 14-year-old players, the correlation coefficients between the speed test results were <0.71. In contrast, the correlation coefficients between the agility tests were >0.71, which means that all the 3 tests represent the same quality. During the speed training of 12-year-old players, it is advisable to focus on shorter running distances, up to 30 m. During the agility training of the same players, it is useful to apply exercises with various complexities. In speed training of the 14-year-old players, the 30- and 50-m runs should be applied, and agility training should include more specific basketball movements and activities.

Sensory enhancing insoles improve athletic performance during a hexagonal agility task.

PubMed

Miranda, Daniel L; Hsu, Wen-Hao; Gravelle, Denise C; Petersen, Kelsey; Ryzman, Rachael; Niemi, James; Lesniewski-Laas, Nicholas

2016-05-03

Athletes incorporate afferent signals from the mechanoreceptors of their plantar feet to provide information about posture, stability, and joint position. Sub-threshold stochastic resonance (SR) sensory enhancing insoles have been shown to improve balance and proprioception in young and elderly participant populations. Balance and proprioception are correlated with improved athletic performance, such as agility. Agility is defined as the ability to quickly change direction. An athlete's agility is commonly evaluated during athletic performance testing to assess their ability to participate in a competitive sporting event. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of SR insoles during a hexagonal agility task routinely used by coaches and sports scientists. Twenty recreational athletes were recruited to participate in this study. Each athlete was asked to perform a set of hexagonal agility trials while SR stimulation was either on or off. Vicon motion capture was used to measure feet position during six successful trials for each stimulation condition. Stimulation condition was randomized in a pairwise fashion. The study outcome measures were the task completion time and the positional accuracy of footfalls. Pairwise comparisons revealed a 0.12s decrease in task completion time (p=0.02) with no change in hopping accuracy (p=0.99) when SR stimulation was on. This is the first study to show athletic performance benefits while wearing proprioception and balance improving equipment on healthy participants. With further development, a self-contained sensory enhancing insole device could be used by recreational and professional athletes to improve movements that require rapid changes in direction. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Development and Reliability Testing of the Comprehensive High-Level Activity Mobility Predictor (CHAMP) in Male Servicemembers with Traumatic Lower-Limb Loss

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

Levin GT, Ben Abdelkrim N, Laurencelle L, Castagna C. Lower limb maxi- mal dynamic strength and agility determinants in elite basket - ball players . J...IRB = Institutional Review Board, LLL = lower-limb loss, MBP = Medicine Ball Put, MDC = minimal detectable change, NMCSD = Naval Medical Center...consid- ered for the CHAMP. Coordination, power, speed, and agility are important physical components necessary for successful perfor- mance in sports

Agile Preparation within a Traditional Project Management Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landry, Jeffrey P.; McDaniel, Rachel

2016-01-01

Agile software approaches have seen a steady rise over a decade and a half, but agile's place in the information systems (IS) undergraduate curriculum is far from settled. While agile concepts may arguably be taught in multiple places in the IS curriculum, this paper argues for its inclusion in a project management course. This paper builds on…

Advancing cancer drug discovery towards more agile development of targeted combination therapies.

PubMed

Carragher, Neil O; Unciti-Broceta, Asier; Cameron, David A

2012-01-01

Current drug-discovery strategies are typically 'target-centric' and are based upon high-throughput screening of large chemical libraries against nominated targets and a selection of lead compounds with optimized 'on-target' potency and selectivity profiles. However, high attrition of targeted agents in clinical development suggest that combinations of targeted agents will be most effective in treating solid tumors if the biological networks that permit cancer cells to subvert monotherapies are identified and retargeted. Conventional drug-discovery and development strategies are suboptimal for the rational design and development of novel drug combinations. In this article, we highlight a series of emerging technologies supporting a less reductionist, more agile, drug-discovery and development approach for the rational design, validation, prioritization and clinical development of novel drug combinations.

Steering Law Controlling the Constant Speeds of Control Moment Gyros

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

KOYASAKO, Y.; TAKAHASHI, M.

2016-09-01

To enable the agile control of satellites, using control moment gyros (CMGs) has become increasingly necessary because of their ability to generate large amounts of torque. However, CMGs have a singularity problem whereby the torque by the CMGs degenerates from three dimensions to two dimensions, affecting spacecraft attitude control performance. This study proposes a new steering control law for CMGs by controlling the constant speed of a CMG. The proposed method enables agile attitude changes, according to the required task, by managing the total angular momentum of the CMGs by considering the distance to external singularities. In the proposed method, the total angular momentum is biased in a specific direction and the angular momentum envelope is extended. The design method can increase the net angular momentum of CMGs which can be exchanged with the satellite. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by numerical simulations.

Agile software development in an earned value world: a survival guide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kantor, Jeffrey; Long, Kevin; Becla, Jacek; Economou, Frossie; Gelman, Margaret; Juric, Mario; Lambert, Ron; Krughoff, Simon; Swinbank, John D.; Wu, Xiuqin

2016-08-01

Agile methodologies are current best practice in software development. They are favored for, among other reasons, preventing premature optimization by taking a somewhat short-term focus, and allowing frequent replans/reprioritizations of upcoming development work based on recent results and current backlog. At the same time, funding agencies prescribe earned value management accounting for large projects which, these days, inevitably include substantial software components. Earned Value approaches emphasize a more comprehensive and typically longer-range plan, and tend to characterize frequent replans and reprioritizations as indicative of problems. Here we describe the planning, execution and reporting framework used by the LSST Data Management team, that navigates these opposite tensions.

Management of Service Projects in Support of Space Flight Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Love, J.

2009-01-01

Goal:To provide human health and performance countermeasures, knowledge, technologies, and tools to enable safe, reliable, and productive human space exploration . [HRP-47051] Specific Objectives: 1) Develop capabilities, necessary countermeasures, and technologies in support of human space exploration, focusing on mitigating the highest risks to human health and performance. 2) Define and improve human spaceflight medical, environmental, and human factors standards. 3) Develop technologies that serve to reduce medical and environmental risks, to reduce human systems resource requirements (mass, volume, power, data, etc.) and to ensure effective human-system integration across exploration systems. 4) Ensure maintenance of Agency core competencies necessary to enable risk reduction in the following areas: A. Space medicine B. Physiological and behavioral effects of long duration spaceflight on the human body C. Space environmental effects, including radiation, on human health and performance D. Space "human factors" [HRP-47051]. Service projects can form integral parts of research-based project-focused programs to provide specialized functions. Traditional/classic project management methodologies and agile approaches are not mutually exclusive paradigms. Agile strategies can be combined with traditional methods and applied in the management of service projects functioning in changing environments. Creative collaborations afford a mechanism for mitigation of constrained resource limitations.

Power of lower extremities is most important determinant of agility among physically inactive or active adult people.

PubMed

Manderoos, Sirpa; Vaara, Mariitta; Karppi, Sirkka-Liisa; Aunola, Sirkka; Puukka, Pauli; Surakka, Jukka; Mälkiä, Esko

2018-04-26

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the relationships between agility, running speed, jumping height and length, body mass index, self-report pain in back and in lower extremities, personal factors as self-report health and fitness, and leisure time physical activity in physically inactive or active adult people. Altogether, 233 healthy subjects, 149 women (43.0 ± 7.3 years) and 84 men (44.0 ± 7.7 years), participated into study. Outcome measures were described in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health domains. Multiple regression analysis showed that jumping length explained 24.6% and 15.3% of the variance associated with agility in women and men (adjusted R 2  = .246, p < .001; adjusted R 2  = .153, p = .001, respectively). Jumping length was the main determinant of agility among physically inactive or active women and men. The findings of this study strengthen opinion that the Agility Test for Adults demands also other physical and cognitive characteristics as measured now and their part explaining agility results may be relatively great. We suggest that perception and decision making explain for a great part in agility. It seems that body mass index does not play important role in agility, but physical inactivity can explain or increase the decline of agility. Also, various biological mechanisms in aging process can be linked to the deterioration of capacity of agility. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The geometry of high angle of attack maneuvers and the implications for Gy-induced neck injuries.

PubMed

Newman, David G; Ostler, David

2011-08-01

Modern super agile fighter aircraft have significantly expanded maneuverability envelopes, often involving very high angles of attack (AOA) in the post-stall region. One such maneuver is the high AOA velocity vector roll. The geometry of this flight maneuver is such that during the roll there is a significant lateral C load imposed on the unrestrained head-neck complex of the pilot. A mathematical analysis of the geometric relationship determining the magnitude of +/- Gy acceleration during high AOA maneuvering was conducted. This preliminary mathematical model is able to predict the Gy load imposed on the head-neck complex of the pilot for a given set of flight maneuver parameters. The analysis predicts that at an AOA of 700 and with a roll rate of 100 degrees x s(-1), the lateral G developed will be approximately 3.5 Gy. Increasing the roll rate increases the lateral G component: at 200 degrees x s(-1) the Gy, load is more than 6 Gy. There are serious potential implications of super agile maneuvers on the neck of the pilot. The G environment experienced by the pilot of super agile aircraft is increasingly multiaxial, involving +/- Gx, +/- Gy, and +/- Gz. The level of lateral G developed during these dynamic flight maneuvers should not be underestimated, as such G loads can potentially lead to neck injuries. While aircraft become ever more capable, a full understanding of the biodynamic effects on the pilot while exploiting the agility of the aircraft still needs to be developed.

SuperAGILE Services at ASDC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preger, B.; Verrecchia, F.; Pittori, C.; Antonelli, L. A.; Giommi, P.; Lazzarotto, F.; Evangelista, Y.

2008-05-01

The Italian Space Agency Science Data Center (ASDC) is a facility with several responsibilities including support to all the ASI scientific missions as for management and archival of the data, acting as the interface between ASI and the scientific community and providing on-line access to the data hosted. In this poster we describe the services that ASDC provides for SuperAGILE, in particular the ASDC public web pages devoted to the dissemination of SuperAGILE scientific results. SuperAGILE is the X-Ray imager onboard the AGILE mission, and provides the scientific community with orbit-by-orbit information on the observed sources. Crucial source information including position and flux in chosen energy bands will be reported in the SuperAGILE public web page at ASDC. Given their particular interest, another web page will be dedicated entirely to GRBs and other transients, where new event alerts will be notified and where users will find all the available informations on the GRBs detected by SuperAGILE.

Development of advanced Czochralski growth process to produce low cost 150 kg silicon ingots from a single crucible for technology readiness. [crystal growth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lane, R. L.

1981-01-01

Six growth runs used the Kayex-Hameo Automatic Games Logic (AGILE) computer based system for growth from larger melts in the Mod CG2000. The implementation of the melt pyrometer sensor allowed for dip temperature monitoring and usage by the operator/AGILE system. Use of AGILE during recharge operations was successfully evaluated. The tendency of crystals to lose cylindrical shape (spiraling) continued to be a problem. The hygrometer was added to the Furnace Gas Analysis System and used on several growth runs. The gas chromatograph, including the integrator, was also used for more accurate carbon monoxide concentration measurements. Efforts continued for completing the automation of the total Gas Analysis System. An economic analysis, based on revised achievable straight growth rate, is presented.

Impact of emerging technologies on future combat aircraft agility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Luat T.; Gilert, William P.

1990-01-01

The foreseeable character of future within-visual-range air combat entails a degree of agility which calls for the integration of high-alpha aerodynamics, thrust vectoring, intimate pilot/vehicle interfaces, and advanced weapons/avionics suites, in prospective configurations. The primary technology-development programs currently contributing to these goals are presently discussed; they encompass the F-15 Short Takeoff and Landing/Maneuver Technology Demonstrator Program, the Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability Program, the High Angle-of-Attack Technology Program, and the X-29 Technology Demonstrator Program.

Flight dynamics research for highly agile aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Luat T.

1989-01-01

This paper highlights recent results of research conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center as part of a broad flight dynamics program aimed at developing technology that will enable future combat aircraft to achieve greatly enhanced agility capability at subsonic combat conditions. Studies of advanced control concepts encompassing both propulsive and aerodynamic approaches are reviewed. Dynamic stall phenomena and their potential impact on maneuvering performance and stability are summarized. Finally, issues of mathematical modeling of complex aerodynamics occurring during rapid, large amplitude maneuvers are discussed.

Quality assessment of Herba Leonuri based on the analysis of multiple components using normal- and reversed-phase chromatographic methods.

PubMed

Dong, Shuya; He, Jiao; Hou, Huiping; Shuai, Yaping; Wang, Qi; Yang, Wenling; Sun, Zheng; Li, Qing; Bi, Kaishun; Liu, Ran

2017-12-01

A novel, improved, and comprehensive method for quality evaluation and discrimination of Herba Leonuri has been developed and validated based on normal- and reversed-phase chromatographic methods. To identify Herba Leonuri, normal- and reversed-phase high-performance thin-layer chromatography fingerprints were obtained by comparing the colors and R f values of the bands, and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography fingerprints were obtained by using an Agilent Poroshell 120 SB-C18 within 28 min. By similarity analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis, we show that there are similar chromatographic patterns in Herba Leonuri samples, but significant differences in counterfeits and variants. To quantify the bio-active components of Herba Leonuri, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography was performed to analyze syringate, leonurine, quercetin-3-O-robiniaglycoside, hyperoside, rutin, isoquercitrin, wogonin, and genkwanin simultaneously by single standard to determine multi-components method with rutin as internal standard. Meanwhile, normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography was performed by using an Agilent ZORBAX HILIC Plus within 6 min to determine trigonelline and stachydrine using trigonelline as internal standard. Innovatively, among these compounds, bio-active components of quercetin-3-O-robiniaglycoside and trigonelline were first determined in Herba Leonuri. In general, the method integrating multi-chromatographic analyses offered an efficient way for the standardization and identification of Herba Leonuri. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Rapid Development of Specialty Population Registries and Quality Measures from Electronic Health Record Data.

PubMed

Kannan, Vaishnavi; Fish, Jason S; Mutz, Jacqueline M; Carrington, Angela R; Lai, Ki; Davis, Lisa S; Youngblood, Josh E; Rauschuber, Mark R; Flores, Kathryn A; Sara, Evan J; Bhat, Deepa G; Willett, DuWayne L

2017-01-01

Creation of a new electronic health record (EHR)-based registry often can be a "one-off" complex endeavor: first developing new EHR data collection and clinical decision support tools, followed by developing registry-specific data extractions from the EHR for analysis. Each development phase typically has its own long development and testing time, leading to a prolonged overall cycle time for delivering one functioning registry with companion reporting into production. The next registry request then starts from scratch. Such an approach will not scale to meet the emerging demand for specialty registries to support population health and value-based care. To determine if the creation of EHR-based specialty registries could be markedly accelerated by employing (a) a finite core set of EHR data collection principles and methods, (b) concurrent engineering of data extraction and data warehouse design using a common dimensional data model for all registries, and (c) agile development methods commonly employed in new product development. We adopted as guiding principles to (a) capture data as a byproduct of care of the patient, (b) reinforce optimal EHR use by clinicians, (c) employ a finite but robust set of EHR data capture tool types, and (d) leverage our existing technology toolkit. Registries were defined by a shared condition (recorded on the Problem List) or a shared exposure to a procedure (recorded on the Surgical History) or to a medication (recorded on the Medication List). Any EHR fields needed - either to determine registry membership or to calculate a registry-associated clinical quality measure (CQM) - were included in the enterprise data warehouse (EDW) shared dimensional data model. Extract-transform-load (ETL) code was written to pull data at defined "grains" from the EHR into the EDW model. All calculated CQM values were stored in a single Fact table in the EDW crossing all registries. Registry-specific dashboards were created in the EHR to display both (a) real-time patient lists of registry patients and (b) EDW-gener-ated CQM data. Agile project management methods were employed, including co-development, lightweight requirements documentation with User Stories and acceptance criteria, and time-boxed iterative development of EHR features in 2-week "sprints" for rapid-cycle feedback and refinement. Using this approach, in calendar year 2015 we developed a total of 43 specialty chronic disease registries, with 111 new EHR data collection and clinical decision support tools, 163 new clinical quality measures, and 30 clinic-specific dashboards reporting on both real-time patient care gaps and summarized and vetted CQM measure performance trends. This study suggests concurrent design of EHR data collection tools and reporting can quickly yield useful EHR structured data for chronic disease registries, and bodes well for efforts to migrate away from manual abstraction. This work also supports the view that in new EHR-based registry development, as in new product development, adopting agile principles and practices can help deliver valued, high-quality features early and often. Schattauer GmbH.

High-intensity stepwise conditioning programme for improved exercise responses and agility performance of a badminton player with knee pain.

PubMed

Chen, Bob; Mok, Damon; Lee, Winson C C; Lam, Wing Kai

2015-02-01

To examine the effect of a high-intensity stepwise conditioning programme combined with multiple recovery measures on physical fitness, agility, and knee pain symptoms of an injured player. A single case study. University-based conditioning training laboratory. One 26-year-old male world-class badminton player (height, 190.0 cm; weight, 79.3 kg; left dominant hand; playing experience, 16 years; former world champion) with patellar tendinosis and calcification of his left knee. The player received seven conditioning sessions over three weeks. During the programme, there was a gradual increase in training duration and load across sessions while cold therapy, manual stretches and massage were administered after each session to minimise inflammation. The training outcome was evaluated with three different testing methods: standard step test, badminton-specific agility test, and tension-pain rating. The conditioning programme reduced knee pain symptoms and improved actual performance and cardiopulmonary fitness during the agility task. The player was able to return to sport and compete within a month. A high-intensity stepwise conditioning programme improved the physical fitness while sufficient recovery measures minimised any possible undesirable effects and promoted faster return to elite level competition. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An intelligent CNC machine control system architecture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, D.J.; Loucks, C.S.

1996-10-01

Intelligent, agile manufacturing relies on automated programming of digitally controlled processes. Currently, processes such as Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machining are difficult to automate because of highly restrictive controllers and poor software environments. It is also difficult to utilize sensors and process models for adaptive control, or to integrate machining processes with other tasks within a factory floor setting. As part of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, a CNC machine control system architecture based on object-oriented design and graphical programming has been developed to address some of these problems and to demonstrate automated agile machining applications usingmore » platform-independent software.« less

Physical performance and positional differences among young female volleyball players.

PubMed

Paz, Gabriel A; Gabbett, Tim J; Maia, Marianna F; Santana, Haroldo; Miranda, Humberto; Lima, Vicente

2017-10-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association among anthropometric, physical performance parameters, and dynamic postural control attributes of young female volleyball athletes, and to determine if differences exist in these attributes according to playing position. Forty-three young female volleyball players participated in this study. Players were divided by position into hitters (N.=17), middle blockers (N.=8), setters (N.=10), and liberos (N.=8). Stature, body mass, vertical jump (VJ), peak power, horizontal jump (HJ), sit-and-reach (SRT), star excursion balance (SEBT), and agility (e.g. shuttle run and Illinois agility test) tests were assessed on non-consecutive days in randomized order. No difference was found between groups for SRT, peak power, VJ, and HJ (P≤0.05). Middle blockers and hitters were taller than setters (P≤0.05). Middle blockers were also taller than liberos (P=0.017). Significant differences were observed among groups for agility tests, with hitters significantly faster than setters (P=0.023) and middle blockers (P=0.037). In addition, liberos were significantly faster than setters (P=0.032) and middle blockers (P=0.046), during the Illinois agility test. No difference was observed between groups for reach distance scores in the SEBT. These results demonstrate important positional differences in agility measures of young female volleyball players. Coaches can use this information to determine the type of physical profile that is needed for specific positions and to design training programs to maximize strength, power, and neuromuscular development of young female volleyball athletes.

Exercise-Based Fall Prevention in the Elderly: What About Agility?

PubMed

Donath, Lars; van Dieën, Jaap; Faude, Oliver

2016-02-01

Annually, one in three seniors aged over 65 years fall. Balance and strength training can reduce neuromuscular fall risk factors and fall rates. Besides conventional balance and strength training, explosive or high-velocity strength training, eccentric exercises, perturbation-based balance training, trunk strength, and trunk control have also been emphasized. In contrast, aerobic exercise has to date not been included in fall-prevention studies. However, well-developed endurance capacity might attenuate fatigue-induced declines in postural control in sports-related or general activities of daily living. Physical performance indices, such as balance, strength, and endurance, are generally addressed independently in exercise guidelines. This approach seems time consuming and may impede integrative training of sensorimotor, neuromuscular, and cardiocirculatory functions required to deal with balance-threatening situations in the elderly. An agility-based conceptual training framework comprising perception and decision making (e.g., visual scanning, pattern recognition, anticipation) and changes of direction (e.g., sudden starts, stops and turns; reactive control; concentric and eccentric contractions) might enable an integrative neuromuscular, cardiocirculatory, and cognitive training. The present paper aims to provide a scientific sketch of how to build such an integrated modular training approach, allowing adaptation of intensity, complexity, and cognitive challenge of the agility tasks to the participant's capacity. Subsequent research should address the (1) link between agility and fall risk factors as well as fall rates, (2) benefit-risk ratios of the proposed approach, (3) psychosocial aspects of agility training (e.g., motivation), and (4) logistical requirements (e.g., equipment needed).

Wavelength-Agile Optical Sensor for Exhaust Plume and Cryogenic Fluid Interrogation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanders, Scott T.; Chiaverini, Martin J.; Gramer, Daniel J.

2004-01-01

Two optical sensors developed in UW-Madison labs were evaluated for their potential to characterize rocket engine exhaust plumes and liquid oxygen (LOX) fluid properties. The plume sensor is based on wavelength-agile absorption spectroscopy A device called a chirped white pulse emitter (CWPE) is used to generate the wavelength agile light, scanning, for example, 1340 - 1560 nm every microsecond. Properties of the gases in the rocket plume (for example temperature and water mole fraction) can be monitored using these wavelength scans. We have performed preliminary tests in static gas cells, a laboratory GOX/GH2 thrust chamber, and a solid-fuel hybrid thrust chamber, and these initial tests demonstrate the potential of the CWPE for monitoring rocket plumes. The LOX sensor uses an alternative to wavelength agile sensing: two independent, fixed-wavelength lasers are combined into a single fiber. One laser is absorbed by LOX and the other not: by monitoring the differential transmission the LOX concentration in cryogenic feed lines can be inferred. The sensor was successful in interrogating static LOX pools in laboratory tests. Even in ice- and bubble-laden cryogenic fluids, LOX concentrations were measured to better than 1% with a 3 microsec time constant.

Full-length genome sequence of a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infecting a captive agile mangabey (Cercocebus agilis) is closely related to SIVrcm infecting wild red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus) in Cameroon

PubMed Central

Ahuka-Mundeke, Steve; Liegeois, Florian; Ayouba, Ahidjo; Foupouapouognini, Yacouba; Nerrienet, Eric; Delaporte, Eric; Peeters, Martine

2010-01-01

Simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) are lentiviruses that infect an extensive number of wild African primate species. Here we describe for the first time SIV infection in a captive agile mangabey (Cercocebus agilis) from Cameroon. Phylogenetic analysis of the full-length genome sequence of SIVagi-00CM312 showed that this novel virus fell into the SIVrcm lineage and was most closely related to a newly characterized SIVrcm strain (SIVrcm-02CM8081) from a wild-caught red-capped mangabey (Cercocebus torquatus) from Cameroon. In contrast to red-capped mangabeys, no 24 bp deletion in CCR5 has been observed in the agile mangabey. Further studies on wild agile mangabeys are needed to determine whether agile and red-capped mangabeys are naturally infected with the same SIV lineage, or whether this agile mangabey became infected with an SIVrcm strain in captivity. However, our study shows that agile mangabeys are susceptible to SIV infection. PMID:20797968

Full-length genome sequence of a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infecting a captive agile mangabey (Cercocebus agilis) is closely related to SIVrcm infecting wild red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus) in Cameroon.

PubMed

Ahuka-Mundeke, Steve; Liegeois, Florian; Ayouba, Ahidjo; Foupouapouognini, Yacouba; Nerrienet, Eric; Delaporte, Eric; Peeters, Martine

2010-12-01

Simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) are lentiviruses that infect an extensive number of wild African primate species. Here we describe for the first time SIV infection in a captive agile mangabey (Cercocebus agilis) from Cameroon. Phylogenetic analysis of the full-length genome sequence of SIVagi-00CM312 showed that this novel virus fell into the SIVrcm lineage and was most closely related to a newly characterized SIVrcm strain (SIVrcm-02CM8081) from a wild-caught red-capped mangabey (Cercocebus torquatus) from Cameroon. In contrast to red-capped mangabeys, no 24 bp deletion in CCR5 has been observed in the agile mangabey. Further studies on wild agile mangabeys are needed to determine whether agile and red-capped mangabeys are naturally infected with the same SIV lineage, or whether this agile mangabey became infected with an SIVrcm strain in captivity. However, our study shows that agile mangabeys are susceptible to SIV infection.

The Effects of the Swede-O, New Cross, and McDavid Ankle Braces and Adhesive Ankle Taping on Speed, Balance, Agility, and Vertical Jump

PubMed Central

Paris, David L.

1992-01-01

Scores from motor performance tests were compared using subjects with taped and untaped ankles. Previous studies have shown that taped ankle support may be detrimental in vertical and standing broad jumping performance. Conflicting data have been published on the effects of commercial ankle braces on various motor tasks. The performances of 18 elite soccer players in selected tests of speed, balance, agility, and vertical jumping were compared under conditions of untaped, nonelastic adhesive taped, Swede-O-braced, New Cross-braced, and McDavid-braced ankles. Vertical jump performance was significantly reduced when subjects wore New Cross braces. There were no significant differences in tests of speed, balance, and agility among any of the support conditions. Until now, nonelastic adhesive tape has been the preferred method of prophylactic ankle support. I conclude that certain commercial ankle braces may be used as a support alternative during selected activities. ImagesFig 1. PMID:16558170

I'll txt U if I have a problem: how the Société Canadienne du cancer in Quebec applied behavior-change theory, data mining and agile software development to help young adults quit smoking.

PubMed

van Mierlo, Trevor; Fournier, Rachel; Jean-Charles, Anathalie; Hovington, Jacinthe; Ethier, Isabelle; Selby, Peter

2014-01-01

For many organizations, limited budgets and phased funding restrict the development of digital health tools. This problem is often exacerbated by the ever-increasing sophistication of technology and costs related to programming and maintenance. Traditional development methods tend to be costly and inflexible and not client centered. The purpose of this study is to analyze the use of Agile software development and outcomes of a three-phase mHealth program designed to help young adult Quebecers quit smoking. In Phase I, literature reviews, focus groups, interviews, and behavior change theory were used in the adaption and re-launch of an existing evidence-based mHealth platform. Based on analysis of user comments and utilization data from Phase I, the second phase expanded the service to allow participants to live text-chat with counselors. Phase II evaluation led to the third and current phase, in which algorithms were introduced to target pregnant smokers, substance users, students, full-time workers, those affected by mood disorders and chronic disease. Data collected throughout the three phases indicate that the incremental evolution of the intervention has led to increasing numbers of smokers being enrolled while making functional enhancements. In Phase I (240 days) 182 smokers registered with the service. 51% (n = 94) were male and 61.5% (n = 112) were between the ages of 18-24. In Phase II (300 days), 994 smokers registered with the service. 51% (n = 508) were male and 41% (n = 403) were between the ages of 18-24. At 174 days to date 873 smokers have registered in the third phase. 44% (n = 388) were male and 24% (n = 212) were between the ages of 18-24. Emerging technologies in behavioral science show potential, but do not have defined best practices for application development. In phased-based projects with limited funding, Agile appears to be a viable approach to building and expanding digital tools.

Dynamic Data Driven Applications Systems (DDDAS)

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-06

INS •  Chip-scale atomic clocks •  Ad hoc networks •  Polymorphic networks •  Agile networks •  Laser communications •  Frequency-agile RF...atomi clocks •  Ad hoc networks •  Polymorphic networks •  Agile networks •  Laser co munications •  Frequency-agile RF systems...Real-Time Doppler Wind Wind field Sensor observations Energy Estimation Atmospheric Models for On-line Planning Planning and Control

Wired Widgets: Agile Visualization for Space Situational Awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerschefske, K.; Witmer, J.

2012-09-01

Continued advancement in sensors and analysis techniques have resulted in a wealth of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) data, made available via tools and Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) such as those in the Joint Space Operations Center Mission Systems (JMS) environment. Current visualization software cannot quickly adapt to rapidly changing missions and data, preventing operators and analysts from performing their jobs effectively. The value of this wealth of SSA data is not fully realized, as the operators' existing software is not built with the flexibility to consume new or changing sources of data or to rapidly customize their visualization as the mission evolves. While tools like the JMS user-defined operational picture (UDOP) have begun to fill this gap, this paper presents a further evolution, leveraging Web 2.0 technologies for maximum agility. We demonstrate a flexible Web widget framework with inter-widget data sharing, publish-subscribe eventing, and an API providing the basis for consumption of new data sources and adaptable visualization. Wired Widgets offers cross-portal widgets along with a widget communication framework and development toolkit for rapid new widget development, giving operators the ability to answer relevant questions as the mission evolves. Wired Widgets has been applied in a number of dynamic mission domains including disaster response, combat operations, and noncombatant evacuation scenarios. The variety of applications demonstrate that Wired Widgets provides a flexible, data driven solution for visualization in changing environments. In this paper, we show how, deployed in the Ozone Widget Framework portal environment, Wired Widgets can provide an agile, web-based visualization to support the SSA mission. Furthermore, we discuss how the tenets of agile visualization can generally be applied to the SSA problem space to provide operators flexibility, potentially informing future acquisition and system development.

Prevention of Hamstring Injuries in Collegiate Sprinters

PubMed Central

Sugiura, Yusaku; Sakuma, Kazuhiko; Sakuraba, Keishoku; Sato, Yamato

2017-01-01

Background: No studies have been reported on how strength, agility, and flexibility training reduce the occurrence of hamstring injuries in sprinters. Therefore, a program for preventing hamstring injury in these athletes has not been established. Purpose: To document the incidence of hamstring injuries during times when different prevention strategies were employed to see whether a particular prevention program reduced their occurrence. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: The study subjects were a total of 613 collegiate male sprinters trained by the same coach over 24 seasons. Tow training was used throughout the research period as a normal sprint training method. The hamstring injury prevention program evolved over time. From 1988 to 1991 (period 1), prevention focused on strength training alone; from 1992 to 1999 (period 2), a combination of strength and agility training was used; and from 2000 to 2011 (period 3), the program incorporated strength, agility, and flexibility training. The incidence of hamstring injuries was compared for each of the 3 prevention strategies. Results: The incidence of hamstring injuries per athlete-seasons was 137.9 for period 1, 60.6 for period 2, and 6.7 for period 3. A significant difference was observed in the incidence of hamstring injury according to the different prevention programs (χ2(2) = 31.78, P < .001, effect size: Cramer V = 0.23, 1 − β = 0.999). Residual analysis showed that the number of hamstring injuries for period 1 was significantly greater than the expected value (P < .01), whereas that for period 3 was significantly lower than the expected value (P < .01). Conclusion: The incidence of hamstring injuries in sprinters decreased as agility and flexibility were added to strength training. PMID:28210652

Lab on a chip genotyping for Brucella spp. based on 15-loci multi locus VNTR analysis.

PubMed

De Santis, Riccardo; Ciammaruconi, Andrea; Faggioni, Giovanni; D'Amelio, Raffaele; Marianelli, Cinzia; Lista, Florigio

2009-04-07

Brucellosis is an important zoonosis caused by the genus Brucella. In addition Brucella represents potential biological warfare agents due to the high contagious rates for humans and animals. Therefore, the strain typing epidemiological tool may be crucial for tracing back source of infection in outbreaks and discriminating naturally occurring outbreaks versus bioterroristic event. A Multiple Locus Variable-number tandem repeats (VNTR) Analysis (MLVA) assay based on 15 polymorphic markers was previously described. The obtained MLVA band profiles may be resolved by techniques ranging from low cost manual agarose gels to the more expensive capillary electrophoresis sequencing. In this paper a rapid, accurate and reproducible system, based on the Lab on a chip technology was set up for Brucella spp. genotyping. Seventeen DNA samples of Brucella strains isolated in Sicily, previously genotyped, and twelve DNA samples, provided by MLVA Brucella VNTR ring trial, were analyzed by MLVA-15 on Agilent 2100. The DNA fragment sizes produced by Agilent, compared with those expected, showed discrepancies; therefore, in order to assign the correct alleles to the Agilent DNA fragment sizes, a conversion table was produced. In order to validate the system twelve unknown DNA samples were analyzed by this method obtaining a full concordance with the VNTR ring trial results. In this paper we described a rapid and specific detection method for the characterization of Brucella isolates. The comparison of the MLVA typing data produced by Agilent system with the data obtained by standard sequencing or ethidium bromide slab gel electrophoresis showed a general concordance of the results. Therefore this platform represents a fair compromise among costs, speed and specificity compared to any conventional molecular typing technique.

Team-based work and work system balance in the context of agile manufacturing.

PubMed

Yauch, Charlene A

2007-01-01

Manufacturing agility is the ability to prosper in an environment characterized by constant and unpredictable change. The purpose of this paper is to analyze team attributes necessary to facilitate agile manufacturing, and using Balance Theory as a framework, it evaluates the potential positive and negative impacts related to these team attributes that could alter the balance of work system elements and resulting "stress load" experienced by persons working on agile teams. Teams operating within the context of agile manufacturing are characterized as multifunctional, dynamic, cooperative, and virtual. A review of the literature relevant to each of these attributes is provided, as well as suggestions for future research.

Reflections on Three Corporate Research Labs: Bell Labs, HP Labs, Agilent Labs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollenhorst, James

2008-03-01

This will be a personal reflection on corporate life and physics-based research in three industrial research labs over three decades, Bell Labs during the 1980's, HP Labs during the 1990's, and Agilent Labs during the 2000's. These were times of great change in all three companies. I'll point out some of the similarities and differences in corporate cultures and how this impacted the research and development activities. Along the way I'll mention some of the great products that resulted from physics-based R&D.

High alpha feedback control for agile half-loop maneuvers of the F-18 airplane

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stalford, Harold

1988-01-01

A nonlinear feedback control law for the F/A-18 airplane that provides time-optimal or agile maneuvering of the half-loop maneuver at high angles of attack is given. The feedback control law was developed using the mathematical approach of singular perturbations, in which the control devices considered were conventional aerodynamic control surfaces and thrusting. The derived nonlinear control law was used to simulate F/A-18 half-loop maneuvers. The simulated results at Mach 0.6 and 0.9 compared well with pilot simulations conducted at NASA.

Agility performance in high-level junior basketball players: the predictive value of anthropometrics and power qualities.

PubMed

Sisic, Nedim; Jelicic, Mario; Pehar, Miran; Spasic, Miodrag; Sekulic, Damir

2016-01-01

In basketball, anthropometric status is an important factor when identifying and selecting talents, while agility is one of the most vital motor performances. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the influence of anthropometric variables and power capacities on different preplanned agility performances. The participants were 92 high-level, junior-age basketball players (16-17 years of age; 187.6±8.72 cm in body height, 78.40±12.26 kg in body mass), randomly divided into a validation and cross-validation subsample. The predictors set consisted of 16 anthropometric variables, three tests of power-capacities (Sargent-jump, broad-jump and medicine-ball-throw) as predictors. The criteria were three tests of agility: a T-Shape-Test; a Zig-Zag-Test, and a test of running with a 180-degree turn (T180). Forward stepwise multiple regressions were calculated for validation subsamples and then cross-validated. Cross validation included correlations between observed and predicted scores, dependent samples t-test between predicted and observed scores; and Bland Altman graphics. Analysis of the variance identified centres being advanced in most of the anthropometric indices, and medicine-ball-throw (all at P<0.05); with no significant between-position-differences for other studied motor performances. Multiple regression models originally calculated for the validation subsample were then cross-validated, and confirmed for Zig-zag-Test (R of 0.71 and 0.72 for the validation and cross-validation subsample, respectively). Anthropometrics were not strongly related to agility performance, but leg length is found to be negatively associated with performance in basketball-specific agility. Power capacities are confirmed to be an important factor in agility. The results highlighted the importance of sport-specific tests when studying pre-planned agility performance in basketball. The improvement in power capacities will probably result in an improvement in agility in basketball athletes, while anthropometric indices should be used in order to identify those athletes who can achieve superior agility performance.

The impact of flying qualities on helicopter operational agility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Padfield, Gareth D.; Lappos, Nick; Hodgkinson, John

1993-01-01

Flying qualities standards are formally set to ensure safe flight and therefore reflect minimum, rather than optimum, requirements. Agility is a flying quality but relates to operations at high, if not maximum, performance. While the quality metrics and test procedures for flying, as covered for example in ADS33C, may provide an adequate structure to encompass agility, they do not currently address flight at high performance. This is also true in the fixed-wing world and a current concern in both communities is the absence of substantiated agility criteria and possible conflicts between flying qualities and high performance. AGARD is sponsoring a working group (WG19) title 'Operational Agility' that deals with these and a range of related issues. This paper is condensed from contributions by the three authors to WG19, relating to flying qualities. Novel perspectives on the subject are presented including the agility factor, that quantifies performance margins in flying qualities terms; a new parameter, based on maneuver acceleration is introduced as a potential candidate for defining upper limits to flying qualities. Finally, a probabilistic analysis of pilot handling qualities ratings is presented that suggests a powerful relationship between inherent airframe flying qualities and operational agility.

Development and validation of a simple high-performance liquid chromatography analytical method for simultaneous determination of phytosterols, cholesterol and squalene in parenteral lipid emulsions.

PubMed

Novak, Ana; Gutiérrez-Zamora, Mercè; Domenech, Lluís; Suñé-Negre, Josep M; Miñarro, Montserrat; García-Montoya, Encarna; Llop, Josep M; Ticó, Josep R; Pérez-Lozano, Pilar

2018-02-01

A simple analytical method for simultaneous determination of phytosterols, cholesterol and squalene in lipid emulsions was developed owing to increased interest in their clinical effects. Method development was based on commonly used stationary (C 18 , C 8 and phenyl) and mobile phases (mixtures of acetonitrile, methanol and water) under isocratic conditions. Differences in stationary phases resulted in peak overlapping or coelution of different peaks. The best separation of all analyzed compounds was achieved on Zorbax Eclipse XDB C 8 (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm; Agilent) and ACN-H 2 O-MeOH, 80:19.5:0.5 (v/v/v). In order to achieve a shorter time of analysis, the method was further optimized and gradient separation was established. The optimized analytical method was validated and tested for routine use in lipid emulsion analyses. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Agile Task Tracking Tool

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Duke, Roger T.; Crump, Thomas Vu

The work was created to provide a tool for the purpose of improving the management of tasks associated with Agile projects. Agile projects are typically completed in an iterative manner with many short duration tasks being performed as part of iterations. These iterations are generally referred to as sprints. The objective of this work is to create a single tool that enables sprint teams to manage all of their tasks in multiple sprints and automatically produce all standard sprint performance charts with minimum effort. The format of the printed work is designed to mimic a standard Kanban board. The workmore » is developed as a single Excel file with worksheets capable of managing up to five concurrent sprints and up to one hundred tasks. It also includes a summary worksheet providing performance information from all active sprints. There are many commercial project management systems typically designed with features desired by larger organizations with many resources managing multiple programs and projects. The audience for this work is the small organizations and Agile project teams desiring an inexpensive, simple, user-friendly, task management tool. This work uses standard readily available software, Excel, requiring minimum data entry and automatically creating summary charts and performance data. It is formatted to print out and resemble standard flip charts and provide the visuals associated with this type of work.« less

Agile development approach for the observatory control software of the DAG 4m telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Güçsav, B. Bülent; ćoker, Deniz; Yeşilyaprak, Cahit; Keskin, Onur; Zago, Lorenzo; Yerli, Sinan K.

2016-08-01

Observatory Control Software for the upcoming 4m infrared telescope of DAG (Eastern Anatolian Observatory in Turkish) is in the beginning of its lifecycle. After the process of elicitation-validation of the initial requirements, we have been focused on preparation of a rapid conceptual design not only to see the big picture of the system but also to clarify the further development methodology. The existing preliminary designs for both software (including TCS and active optics control system) and hardware shall be presented here in brief to exploit the challenges the DAG software team has been facing with. The potential benefits of an agile approach for the development will be discussed depending on the published experience of the community and on the resources available to us.

Focused Logistics: Putting Agility in Agile Logistics

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-19

list, ahead of companies like American Express, DuPont and Coca Cola ; Supports nearly 1,900 weapon systems; DLA manages eight supply chains and...35 7) Force Health Protection...Distribution, Information Fusion, Joint Theater Logistics Command and Control, Multinational Logistics, Joint Health Services Support, and Agile

Physical demand of seven closed agility drills.

PubMed

Atkinson, Mark; Rosalie, Simon; Netto, Kevin

2016-11-01

The present study aimed to quantify the demand of seven generic, closed agility drills. Twenty males with experience in invasion sports volunteered to participate in this study. They performed seven, closed agility drills over a standardised 30-m distance. Physical demand measures of peak velocity, total foot contacts, peak impacts, completion time, and maximum heart rate were obtained via the use of wearable sensor technologies. A subjective rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was also obtained. All measures, with the exception of maximum heart rates and RPE were able to delineate drills in terms of physical and physiological demand. The findings of this study exemplify the differences in demand of agility-type movements. Drill demand was dictated by the type of agility movement initiated with the increase in repetitiveness of a given movement type also contributing to increased demand. Findings from this study suggest agility drills can be manipulated to vary physical and physiological demand. This allows for the optimal application of training principles such as overload, progression, and periodisation.

Gamma-ray Astrophysics with AGILE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Longo, Francesco; Tavani, M.; Barbiellini, G.

2007-07-12

AGILE will explore the gamma-ray Universe with a very innovative instrument combining for the first time a gamma-ray imager and a hard X-ray imager. AGILE will be operational in spring 2007 and it will provide crucial data for the study of Active Galactic Nuclei, Gamma-Ray Bursts, unidentified gamma-ray sources. Galactic compact objects, supernova remnants, TeV sources, and fundamental physics by microsecond timing. The AGILE instrument is designed to simultaneously detect and image photons in the 30 MeV - 50 GeV and 15 - 45 keV energy bands with excellent imaging and timing capabilities, and a large field of view coveringmore » {approx} 1/5 of the entire sky at energies above 30 MeV. A CsI calorimeter is capable of GRB triggering in the energy band 0.3-50 MeV AGILE is now (March 2007) undergoing launcher integration and testing. The PLSV launch is planned in spring 2007. AGILE is then foreseen to be fully operational during the summer of 2007.« less

Laboratory- and field-based testing as predictors of skating performance in competitive-level female ice hockey

PubMed Central

Henriksson, Tommy; Vescovi, Jason D; Fjellman-Wiklund, Anncristine; Gilenstam, Kajsa

2016-01-01

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine whether field-based and/or laboratory-based assessments are valid tools for predicting key performance characteristics of skating in competitive-level female hockey players. Design Cross-sectional study. Methods Twenty-three female ice hockey players aged 15–25 years (body mass: 66.1±6.3 kg; height: 169.5±5.5 cm), with 10.6±3.2 years playing experience volunteered to participate in the study. The field-based assessments included 20 m sprint, squat jump, countermovement jump, 30-second repeated jump test, standing long jump, single-leg standing long jump, 20 m shuttle run test, isometric leg pull, one-repetition maximum bench press, and one-repetition maximum squats. The laboratory-based assessments included body composition (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry), maximal aerobic power, and isokinetic strength (Biodex). The on-ice tests included agility cornering s-turn, cone agility skate, transition agility skate, and modified repeat skate sprint. Data were analyzed using stepwise multivariate linear regression analysis. Linear regression analysis was used to establish the relationship between key performance characteristics of skating and the predictor variables. Results Regression models (adj R2) for the on-ice variables ranged from 0.244 to 0.663 for the field-based assessments and from 0.136 to 0.420 for the laboratory-based assessments. Single-leg tests were the strongest predictors for key performance characteristics of skating. Single leg standing long jump alone explained 57.1%, 38.1%, and 29.1% of the variance in skating time during transition agility skate, agility cornering s-turn, and modified repeat skate sprint, respectively. Isokinetic peak torque in the quadriceps at 90° explained 42.0% and 32.2% of the variance in skating time during agility cornering s-turn and modified repeat skate sprint, respectively. Conclusion Field-based assessments, particularly single-leg tests, are an adequate substitute to more expensive and time-consuming laboratory assessments if the purpose is to gain knowledge about key performance characteristics of skating. PMID:27574474

Tough Hydrogel Robots: High-Speed, High-Force and Opto-sonically Invisible in Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Xuanhe

Sea animals such as leptocephali develop tissues and organs composed of active transparent hydrogels to achieve agile motions and natural camouflage in water. Hydrogel-based actuators that can imitate the capabilities of leptocephali will enable new applications in diverse fields. However, existing hydrogel actuators, mostly osmotic-driven, are intrinsically low-speed and/or low-force; and their camouflage capabilities have not been explored. Here we show that hydraulic actuations of tough hydrogels with designed structures and properties can give soft actuators and robots that are high-speed, high-force, and optically and sonically camouflaged in water. We invent a simple method capable of assembling physically-crosslinked hydrogel parts followed by covalent crosslinking to fabricate large-scale hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots with robust bodies and interfaces. The hydrogel actuators and robots can maintain their robustness and functionality over multiple cycles of actuations, owning to the anti-fatigue property of the hydrogel under moderate stresses. A multiscale theoretical framework has been developed to guide the design and optimization of the hydrogel robots. We further demonstrate that the agile and transparent hydrogel actuators and robots perform extraordinary functions including swimming, kicking rubber-balls and catching a live fish in water. The work was supported by NSF(No. CMMI- 1253495) and ONR (No. N00014-14-1-0528).

A Hybrid Vortex Sheet / Point Vortex Model for Unsteady Separated Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darakananda, Darwin; Eldredge, Jeff D.; Colonius, Tim; Williams, David R.

2015-11-01

The control of separated flow over an airfoil is essential for obtaining lift enhancement, drag reduction, and the overall ability to perform high agility maneuvers. In order to develop reliable flight control systems capable of realizing agile maneuvers, we need a low-order aerodynamics model that can accurately predict the force response of an airfoil to arbitrary disturbances and/or actuation. In the present work, we integrate vortex sheets and variable strength point vortices into a method that is able to capture the formation of coherent vortex structures while remaining computationally tractable for control purposes. The role of the vortex sheet is limited to tracking the dynamics of the shear layer immediately behind the airfoil. When parts of the sheet develop into large scale structures, those sections are replaced by variable strength point vortices. We prevent the vortex sheets from growing indefinitely by truncating the tips of the sheets and transfering their circulation into nearby point vortices whenever the length of sheet exceeds a threshold. We demonstrate the model on a variety of canonical problems, including pitch-up and impulse translation of an airfoil at various angles of attack. Support by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-14-1-0328) with program manager Dr. Douglas Smith is gratefully acknowledged.

A Simulated Learning Environment for Teaching Medicine Dispensing Skills

PubMed Central

Styles, Kim; Sewell, Keith; Trinder, Peta; Marriott, Jennifer; Maher, Sheryl; Naidu, Som

2016-01-01

Objective. To develop an authentic simulation of the professional practice dispensary context for students to develop their dispensing skills in a risk-free environment. Design. A development team used an Agile software development method to create MyDispense, a web-based simulation. Modeled on virtual learning environments elements, the software employed widely available standards-based technologies to create a virtual community pharmacy environment. Assessment. First-year pharmacy students who used the software in their tutorials, were, at the end of the second semester, surveyed on their prior dispensing experience and their perceptions of MyDispense as a tool to learn dispensing skills. Conclusion. The dispensary simulation is an effective tool for helping students develop dispensing competency and knowledge in a safe environment. PMID:26941437

Semiconductor Reference Oscillator Development for Coherent Detection Optical Remote Sensing Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tratt, David M.; Mansour, Kamjou; Menzies, Robert T.; Qiu, Yueming; Forouhar, Siamak; Maker, Paul D.; Muller, Richard E.

2001-01-01

The NASA Earth Science Enterprise Advanced Technology Initiatives Program is supporting a program for the development of semiconductor laser reference oscillators for application to coherent optical remote sensing from Earth orbit. Local oscillators provide the frequency reference required for active spaceborne optical remote sensing concepts that involve heterodyne (coherent) detection. Two recent examples of such schemes are Doppler wind lidar and tropospheric carbon dioxide measurement by laser absorption spectrometry, both of which are being proposed at a wavelength of 2.05 microns. Frequency-agile local oscillator technology is important to such applications because of the need to compensate for large platform-induced Doppler components that would otherwise interfere with data interpretation. Development of frequency-agile local oscillator approaches has heretofore utilized the same laser material as the transmitter laser (Tm,Ho:YLF in the case of the 2.05-micron wavelength mentioned above). However, a semiconductor laser-based frequency-agile local oscillator offers considerable scope for reduced mechanical complexity and improved frequency agility over equivalent crystal laser devices, while their potentially faster tuning capability suggest the potential for greater scanning versatility. The program we report on here is specifically tasked with the development of prototype novel architecture semiconductor lasers with the power, tunability, and spectral characteristics required for coherent Doppler lidar. The baseline approach for this work is the distributed feedback (DFB) laser, in which gratings are etched into the semiconductor waveguide structures along the entire length of the laser cavity. However, typical DFB lasers at the wavelength of interest have linewidths that exhibit unacceptable growth when driven at the high currents and powers that are required for the Doppler lidar application. Suppression of this behavior by means of corrugation pitch-modulation (using a detuned central section to prevent intensity peaking in the center of the cavity) is currently under investigation to achieve the required performance goals.

The Introduction of Agility into Albania.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith-Stevens, Eileen J.; Shkurti, Drita

1998-01-01

Describes a plan to introduce and achieve a national awareness of agility (and easy entry into the world market) for Albania through the relatively stable higher-education order. Agility's four strategic principles are enriching the customer, cooperating to enhance competitiveness, organizing to master change and uncertainty, and leveraging the…

Modeling of frequency agile devices: development of PKI neuromodeling library based on hierarchical network structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanchez, P.; Hinojosa, J.; Ruiz, R.

2005-06-01

Recently, neuromodeling methods of microwave devices have been developed. These methods are suitable for the model generation of novel devices. They allow fast and accurate simulations and optimizations. However, the development of libraries makes these methods to be a formidable task, since they require massive input-output data provided by an electromagnetic simulator or measurements and repeated artificial neural network (ANN) training. This paper presents a strategy reducing the cost of library development with the advantages of the neuromodeling methods: high accuracy, large range of geometrical and material parameters and reduced CPU time. The library models are developed from a set of base prior knowledge input (PKI) models, which take into account the characteristics common to all the models in the library, and high-level ANNs which give the library model outputs from base PKI models. This technique is illustrated for a microwave multiconductor tunable phase shifter using anisotropic substrates. Closed-form relationships have been developed and are presented in this paper. The results show good agreement with the expected ones.

Application of Piloted Simulation to High-Angle-of-Attack Flight-Dynamics Research for Fighter Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ogburn, Marilyn E.; Foster, John V.; Hoffler, Keith D.

2005-01-01

This paper reviews the use of piloted simulation at Langley Research Center as part of the NASA High-Angle-of-Attack Technology Program (HATP), which was created to provide concepts and methods for the design of advanced fighter aircraft. A major research activity within this program is the development of the design processes required to take advantage of the benefits of advanced control concepts for high-angle-of-attack agility. Fundamental methodologies associated with the effective use of piloted simulation for this research are described, particularly those relating to the test techniques, validation of the test results, and design guideline/criteria development.

The Holy Grail of Agile Acquisition

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

Motivation • What is Agility? • Approach C t t Th A i iti S t (Th Bi “A” A i iti P )• on ex : e cqu s on ys em e g cqu s on rocess • Agile Software...Bestsellers…” [Erwin 2009] Motivation • Despite of Erwin’s recommendation… – Agility seems to be a simple concept and it is commonly perceived as a virtue...tension between the numerous stakeholders due to different motivation /behavior • The process elements themselves are complex and ambiguous Slide 16Peter

Social Protocols for Agile Virtual Teams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Picard, Willy

Despite many works on collaborative networked organizations (CNOs), CSCW, groupware, workflow systems and social networks, computer support for virtual teams is still insufficient, especially support for agility, i.e. the capability of virtual team members to rapidly and cost efficiently adapt the way they interact to changes. In this paper, requirements for computer support for agile virtual teams are presented. Next, an extension of the concept of social protocol is proposed as a novel model supporting agile interactions within virtual teams. The extended concept of social protocol consists of an extended social network and a workflow model.

Agile patency system eliminates risk of capsule retention in patients with known intestinal strictures who undergo capsule endoscopy.

PubMed

Herrerias, Juan M; Leighton, Jonathan A; Costamagna, Guido; Infantolino, Anthony; Eliakim, Rami; Fischer, Doron; Rubin, David T; Manten, Howard D; Scapa, Eitan; Morgan, Douglas R; Bergwerk, Ari J; Koslowsky, Binyamin; Adler, Samuel N

2008-05-01

Capsule endoscopy (CE) of the small bowel has become a standard diagnostic tool, but there have been concerns regarding the risk of capsule retention in certain high-risk groups. The Agile patency system, an ingestible and dissolvable capsule with an external scanner, was developed to allow physicians to perform CE with greater confidence that the capsule will be safely excreted in patients at risk for capsule retention. Our purpose was to assess the ability of the device to help physicians identify which patients with known strictures may safely undergo CE. Patients with known strictures ingested the new patency capsule and underwent periodic scanning until it was excreted. The intestinal tract was considered to be sufficiently patent if the capsule was excreted intact or if the capsule was not detected by the scanner at 30 hours after ingestion. If patency was established, then standard CE was performed. International multicenter study. A total of 106 patients with known strictures. Agile patency system. Performance and safety of Agile patency system. A total of 106 patients ingested the patency capsule. Fifty-nine (56%) excreted it intact and subsequently underwent CE. There were no cases of capsule retention. Significant findings on CE were found in 24 (41%). There were 3 severe adverse events. These results suggest that the Agile patency system is a useful tool for physicians to use before CE in patients with strictures to avoid retention. This group of patients may have a high yield of clinically significant findings at CE. This capsule may determine whether patients who have a contraindication to CE may safely undergo CE and obtain useful diagnostic information.

Dynamic tumor tracking using the Elekta Agility MLC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fast, Martin F., E-mail: martin.fast@icr.ac.uk; Nill, Simeon, E-mail: simeon.nill@icr.ac.uk; Bedford, James L.

2014-11-01

Purpose: To evaluate the performance of the Elekta Agility multileaf collimator (MLC) for dynamic real-time tumor tracking. Methods: The authors have developed a new control software which interfaces to the Agility MLC to dynamically program the movement of individual leaves, the dynamic leaf guides (DLGs), and the Y collimators (“jaws”) based on the actual target trajectory. A motion platform was used to perform dynamic tracking experiments with sinusoidal trajectories. The actual target positions reported by the motion platform at 20, 30, or 40 Hz were used as shift vectors for the MLC in beams-eye-view. The system latency of the MLCmore » (i.e., the average latency comprising target device reporting latencies and MLC adjustment latency) and the geometric tracking accuracy were extracted from a sequence of MV portal images acquired during irradiation for the following treatment scenarios: leaf-only motion, jaw + leaf motion, and DLG + leaf motion. Results: The portal imager measurements indicated a clear dependence of the system latency on the target position reporting frequency. Deducting the effect of the target frequency, the leaf adjustment latency was measured to be 38 ± 3 ms for a maximum target speed v of 13 mm/s. The jaw + leaf adjustment latency was 53 ± 3 at a similar speed. The system latency at a target position frequency of 30 Hz was in the range of 56–61 ms for the leaves (v ≤ 31 mm/s), 71–78 ms for the jaw + leaf motion (v ≤ 25 mm/s), and 58–72 ms for the DLG + leaf motion (v ≤ 59 mm/s). The tracking accuracy showed a similar dependency on the target position frequency and the maximum target speed. For the leaves, the root-mean-squared error (RMSE) was between 0.6–1.5 mm depending on the maximum target speed. For the jaw + leaf (DLG + leaf) motion, the RMSE was between 0.7–1.5 mm (1.9–3.4 mm). Conclusions: The authors have measured the latency and geometric accuracy of the Agility MLC, facilitating its future use for clinical tracking applications.« less

A PBOM configuration and management method based on templates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Kai; Qiao, Lihong; Qie, Yifan

2018-03-01

The design of Process Bill of Materials (PBOM) holds a hinge position in the process of product development. The requirements of PBOM configuration design and management for complex products are analysed in this paper, which include the reuse technique of configuration procedure and urgent management need of huge quantity of product family PBOM data. Based on the analysis, the function framework of PBOM configuration and management has been established. Configuration templates and modules are defined in the framework to support the customization and the reuse of configuration process. The configuration process of a detection sensor PBOM is shown as an illustration case in the end. The rapid and agile PBOM configuration and management can be achieved utilizing template-based method, which has a vital significance to improve the development efficiency for complex products.

Effects of Ankle Braces Upon Agility Course Performance in High School Athletes

PubMed Central

Beriau, Mark R.; Cox, William B.; Manning, James

1994-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of wearing the AircastTM Sports Stirrup, AircastTM Training brace, Swede-OTM brace, and DonJoyTM Ankle Ligament Protector while running an agility course. Eighty-five high school athletes with no history of ankle injury and no experience in wearing any ankle support served as subjects. Each subject participated in four separate testing sessions. During sessions 1 and 4, subjects ran the agility course under the control (unbraced) conditions. Sessions 2 and 3 consisted of randomly wearing the ankle braces while running the agility course. A questionnaire concerning support, comfort, and restriction was completed by each subject after wearing each of the braces. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures revealed that a significant difference existed between the agility times. Tukey's post hoc test indicated that a significant difference existed between each ankle brace and the control 2 agility times as well as a control 1 and control 2 time difference. The control time difference was attributed to a learning effect. An ANOVA with repeated measures of only the four braces revealed that a significant difference existed between the agility times. Tukey's post hoc test showed the only difference was between the DonJoy Ankle Ligament Protector and the Aircast Training brace. We concluded: 1) there is limited practical performance effect upon agility while wearing an ankle brace; and 2) an athlete's perceived comfort, support, and performance restriction are contributing factors that may directly influence the effectiveness of ankle bracing. PMID:16558284

System upgrades and performance evaluation of the spectrally agile, frequency incrementing reconfigurable (SAFIRE) radar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phelan, Brian R.; Ranney, Kenneth I.; Ressler, Marc A.; Clark, John T.; Sherbondy, Kelly D.; Kirose, Getachew A.; Harrison, Arthur C.; Galanos, Daniel T.; Saponaro, Philip J.; Treible, Wayne R.; Narayanan, Ram M.

2017-05-01

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory has developed the Spectrally Agile Frequency-Incrementing Reconfigurable (SAFIRE) radar, which is capable of imaging concealed/buried targets using forward- and side-looking configurations. The SAFIRE radar is vehicle-mounted and operates from 300 MHz-2 GHz; the step size can be adjusted in multiples of 1 MHz. It is also spectrally agile and capable of excising frequency bands, which makes it ideal for operation in congested and/or contested radio frequency (RF) environments. Furthermore, the SAFIRE radar receiver has a super-heterodyne architecture, which was designed so that intermodulation products caused by interfering signals could be easily filtered from the desired received signal. The SAFIRE system also includes electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) cameras, which can be fused with radar data and displayed in a stereoscopic augmented reality user interface. In this paper, recent upgrades to the SAFIRE system are discussed and results from the SAFIRE's initial field tests are presented.

Agile science: creating useful products for behavior change in the real world.

PubMed

Hekler, Eric B; Klasnja, Predrag; Riley, William T; Buman, Matthew P; Huberty, Jennifer; Rivera, Daniel E; Martin, Cesar A

2016-06-01

Evidence-based practice is important for behavioral interventions but there is debate on how best to support real-world behavior change. The purpose of this paper is to define products and a preliminary process for efficiently and adaptively creating and curating a knowledge base for behavior change for real-world implementation. We look to evidence-based practice suggestions and draw parallels to software development. We argue to target three products: (1) the smallest, meaningful, self-contained, and repurposable behavior change modules of an intervention; (2) "computational models" that define the interaction between modules, individuals, and context; and (3) "personalization" algorithms, which are decision rules for intervention adaptation. The "agile science" process includes a generation phase whereby contender operational definitions and constructs of the three products are created and assessed for feasibility and an evaluation phase, whereby effect size estimates/casual inferences are created. The process emphasizes early-and-often sharing. If correct, agile science could enable a more robust knowledge base for behavior change.

Free-standing leaping experiments with a power-autonomous elastic-spined quadruped

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pusey, Jason L.; Duperret, Jeffrey M.; Haynes, G. Clark; Knopf, Ryan; Koditschek, Daniel E.

2013-05-01

We document initial experiments with Canid, a freestanding, power-autonomous quadrupedal robot equipped with a parallel actuated elastic spine. Research into robotic bounding and galloping platforms holds scientific and engineering interest because it can both probe biological hypotheses regarding bounding and galloping mammals and also provide the engineering community with a new class of agile, efficient and rapidly-locomoting legged robots. We detail the design features of Canid that promote our goals of agile operation in a relatively cheap, conventionally prototyped, commercial off-the-shelf actuated platform. We introduce new measurement methodology aimed at capturing our robot's "body energy" during real time operation as a means of quantifying its potential for agile behavior. Finally, we present joint motor, inertial and motion capture data taken from Canid's initial leaps into highly energetic regimes exhibiting large accelerations that illustrate the use of this measure and suggest its future potential as a platform for developing efficient, stable, hence useful bounding gaits.

An Examination of the Relationships between Agile Leadership Factors and Curriculum Reform in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Angela

2017-01-01

Leaders must be agile decision makers, engage in critical self-reflection, integrate reflection with action, and collaborate with those who are diverse in considerable ways to be successful in a multifaceted global environment. This quantitative study examines relationships between agile leadership factors and curriculum reform in higher education…

Agile Systems Engineering-Kanban Scheduling Subsection

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-10

including both online and standalone versions. RESEARCH GOALS The overall Agile SE Management Project research goals are to: 1. Identify agile...March 10, 2017 5 Establish a better technical project management and... Project Management ,” Master of Science Project , Stevens Institute, to be completed in May, 2017. • Smith, Jeffrey, “System of Systems Task

Frequency agile optical parametric oscillator

DOEpatents

Velsko, Stephan P.

1998-01-01

The frequency agile OPO device converts a fixed wavelength pump laser beam to arbitrary wavelengths within a specified range with pulse to pulse agility, at a rate limited only by the repetition rate of the pump laser. Uses of this invention include Laser radar, LIDAR, active remote sensing of effluents/pollutants, environmental monitoring, antisensor lasers, and spectroscopy.

An Orbital Meteoroid Stream Survey Using the Southern Argentina Agile Meteor Radar (SAAMER) Based on a Wavelet Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pokorny, P.; Janches, D.; Brown, P. G.; Hormaechea, J. L.

2017-01-01

Over a million individually measured meteoroid orbits were collected with the Southern Argentina Agile MEteor Radar (SAAMER) between 2012-2015. This provides a robust statistical database to perform an initial orbital survey of meteor showers in the Southern Hemisphere via the application of a 3D wavelet transform. The method results in a composite year from all 4 years of data, enabling us to obtain an undisturbed year of meteor activity with more than one thousand meteors per day. Our automated meteor shower search methodology identified 58 showers. Of these showers, 24 were associated with previously reported showers from the IAU catalogue while 34 showers are new and not listed in the catalogue. Our searching method combined with our large data sample provides unprecedented accuracy in measuring meteor shower activity and description of shower characteristics in the Southern Hemisphere. Using simple modeling and clustering methods we also propose potential parent bodies for the newly discovered showers.

An orbital meteoroid stream survey using the Southern Argentina Agile MEteor Radar (SAAMER) based on a wavelet approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pokorný, P.; Janches, D.; Brown, P. G.; Hormaechea, J. L.

2017-07-01

Over a million individually measured meteoroid orbits were collected with the Southern Argentina Agile MEteor Radar (SAAMER) between 2012-2015. This provides a robust statistical database to perform an initial orbital survey of meteor showers in the Southern Hemisphere via the application of a 3D wavelet transform. The method results in a composite year from all 4 years of data, enabling us to obtain an undisturbed year of meteor activity with more than one thousand meteors per day. Our automated meteor shower search methodology identified 58 showers. Of these showers, 24 were associated with previously reported showers from the IAU catalogue while 34 showers are new and not listed in the catalogue. Our searching method combined with our large data sample provides unprecedented accuracy in measuring meteor shower activity and description of shower characteristics in the Southern Hemisphere. Using simple modeling and clustering methods we also propose potential parent bodies for the newly discovered showers.

Information Models, Data Requirements, and Agile Data Curation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, John S.; Crichton, Dan; Ritschel, Bernd; Hardman, Sean; Joyner, Ron

2015-04-01

The Planetary Data System's next generation system, PDS4, is an example of the successful use of an ontology-based Information Model (IM) to drive the development and operations of a data system. In traditional systems engineering, requirements or statements about what is necessary for the system are collected and analyzed for input into the design stage of systems development. With the advent of big data the requirements associated with data have begun to dominate and an ontology-based information model can be used to provide a formalized and rigorous set of data requirements. These requirements address not only the usual issues of data quantity, quality, and disposition but also data representation, integrity, provenance, context, and semantics. In addition the use of these data requirements during system's development has many characteristics of Agile Curation as proposed by Young et al. [Taking Another Look at the Data Management Life Cycle: Deconstruction, Agile, and Community, AGU 2014], namely adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, continuous improvement, and rapid and flexible response to change. For example customers can be satisfied through early and continuous delivery of system software and services that are configured directly from the information model. This presentation will describe the PDS4 architecture and its three principle parts: the ontology-based Information Model (IM), the federated registries and repositories, and the REST-based service layer for search, retrieval, and distribution. The development of the IM will be highlighted with special emphasis on knowledge acquisition, the impact of the IM on development and operations, and the use of shared ontologies at multiple governance levels to promote system interoperability and data correlation.

Short-Term High Intensity Plyometric Training Program Improves Strength, Power and Agility in Male Soccer Players

PubMed Central

Váczi, Márk; Tollár, József; Meszler, Balázs; Juhász, Ivett; Karsai, István

2013-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a short-term in-season plyometric training program on power, agility and knee extensor strength. Male soccer players from a third league team were assigned into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group, beside its regular soccer training sessions, performed a periodized plyometric training program for six weeks. The program included two training sessions per week, and maximal intensity unilateral and bilateral plyometric exercises (total of 40 – 100 foot contacts/session) were executed. Controls participated only in the same soccer training routine, and did not perform plyometrics. Depth vertical jump height, agility (Illinois Agility Test, T Agility Test) and maximal voluntary isometric torque in knee extensors using Multicont II dynamometer were evaluated before and after the experiment. In the experimental group small but significant improvements were found in both agility tests, while depth jump height and isometric torque increments were greater. The control group did not improve in any of the measures. Results of the study indicate that plyometric training consisting of high impact unilateral and bilateral exercises induced remarkable improvements in lower extremity power and maximal knee extensor strength, and smaller improvements in soccer-specific agility. Therefore, it is concluded that short-term plyometric training should be incorporated in the in-season preparation of lower level players to improve specific performance in soccer. PMID:23717351

Short-term high intensity plyometric training program improves strength, power and agility in male soccer players.

PubMed

Váczi, Márk; Tollár, József; Meszler, Balázs; Juhász, Ivett; Karsai, István

2013-03-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a short-term in-season plyometric training program on power, agility and knee extensor strength. Male soccer players from a third league team were assigned into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group, beside its regular soccer training sessions, performed a periodized plyometric training program for six weeks. The program included two training sessions per week, and maximal intensity unilateral and bilateral plyometric exercises (total of 40 - 100 foot contacts/session) were executed. Controls participated only in the same soccer training routine, and did not perform plyometrics. Depth vertical jump height, agility (Illinois Agility Test, T Agility Test) and maximal voluntary isometric torque in knee extensors using Multicont II dynamometer were evaluated before and after the experiment. In the experimental group small but significant improvements were found in both agility tests, while depth jump height and isometric torque increments were greater. The control group did not improve in any of the measures. Results of the study indicate that plyometric training consisting of high impact unilateral and bilateral exercises induced remarkable improvements in lower extremity power and maximal knee extensor strength, and smaller improvements in soccer-specific agility. Therefore, it is concluded that short-term plyometric training should be incorporated in the in-season preparation of lower level players to improve specific performance in soccer.

Automated phase mapping with AgileFD and its application to light absorber discovery in the V–Mn–Nb oxide system

DOE PAGES

Suram, Santosh K.; Xue, Yexiang; Bai, Junwen; ...

2016-11-21

Rapid construction of phase diagrams is a central tenet of combinatorial materials science with accelerated materials discovery efforts often hampered by challenges in interpreting combinatorial X-ray diffraction data sets, which we address by developing AgileFD, an artificial intelligence algorithm that enables rapid phase mapping from a combinatorial library of X-ray diffraction patterns. AgileFD models alloying-based peak shifting through a novel expansion of convolutional nonnegative matrix factorization, which not only improves the identification of constituent phases but also maps their concentration and lattice parameter as a function of composition. By incorporating Gibbs’ phase rule into the algorithm, physically meaningful phase mapsmore » are obtained with unsupervised operation, and more refined solutions are attained by injecting expert knowledge of the system. The algorithm is demonstrated through investigation of the V–Mn–Nb oxide system where decomposition of eight oxide phases, including two with substantial alloying, provides the first phase map for this pseudoternary system. This phase map enables interpretation of high-throughput band gap data, leading to the discovery of new solar light absorbers and the alloying-based tuning of the direct-allowed band gap energy of MnV 2O 6. Lastly, the open-source family of AgileFD algorithms can be implemented into a broad range of high throughput workflows to accelerate materials discovery.« less

Automated phase mapping with AgileFD and its application to light absorber discovery in the V–Mn–Nb oxide system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Suram, Santosh K.; Xue, Yexiang; Bai, Junwen

Rapid construction of phase diagrams is a central tenet of combinatorial materials science with accelerated materials discovery efforts often hampered by challenges in interpreting combinatorial X-ray diffraction data sets, which we address by developing AgileFD, an artificial intelligence algorithm that enables rapid phase mapping from a combinatorial library of X-ray diffraction patterns. AgileFD models alloying-based peak shifting through a novel expansion of convolutional nonnegative matrix factorization, which not only improves the identification of constituent phases but also maps their concentration and lattice parameter as a function of composition. By incorporating Gibbs’ phase rule into the algorithm, physically meaningful phase mapsmore » are obtained with unsupervised operation, and more refined solutions are attained by injecting expert knowledge of the system. The algorithm is demonstrated through investigation of the V–Mn–Nb oxide system where decomposition of eight oxide phases, including two with substantial alloying, provides the first phase map for this pseudoternary system. This phase map enables interpretation of high-throughput band gap data, leading to the discovery of new solar light absorbers and the alloying-based tuning of the direct-allowed band gap energy of MnV 2O 6. Lastly, the open-source family of AgileFD algorithms can be implemented into a broad range of high throughput workflows to accelerate materials discovery.« less

Impact of Business Intelligence and IT Infrastructure Flexibility on Competitive Advantage: An Organizational Agility Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Xiaofeng

2012-01-01

There is growing use of business intelligence (BI) for better management decisions in industry. However, empirical studies on BI are still scarce in academic research. This research investigates BI from an organizational agility perspective. Organizational agility is the ability to sense and respond to market opportunities and threats with speed,…

The Preparation of Cognitively Agile Principals for Turnaround Schools: A Leadership Preparation Programme Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reyes-Guerra, Daniel; Pisapia, John; Mick, Annie

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of two educational leadership university programmes to improve the cognitive agility of their graduates. The research looked to discover whether the aspiring principals exited the programmes with an increased ability to employ cognitive agility--the ability to use the multiple thinking skills of…

Frequency agile optical parametric oscillator

DOEpatents

Velsko, S.P.

1998-11-24

The frequency agile OPO device converts a fixed wavelength pump laser beam to arbitrary wavelengths within a specified range with pulse to pulse agility, at a rate limited only by the repetition rate of the pump laser. Uses of this invention include Laser radar, LIDAR, active remote sensing of effluents/pollutants, environmental monitoring, antisensor lasers, and spectroscopy. 14 figs.

Early AGILE gamma-ray observations of the recent Glitch in the Crab Pulsar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verrecchia, F.; Piano, G.; Tavani, M.; Pilia, M.; Pittori, C.; Lucarelli, F.; Bulgarelli, A.; Cardillo, M.; Fioretti, V.; Parmiggiani, N.; Striani, E.; Vercellone, S.; Donnarumma, I.; Gianotti, F.; Trifoglio, M.; Giuliani, A.; Mereghetti, S.; Caraveo, P.; Perotti, F.; Chen, A.; Argan, A.; Costa, E.; Del Monte, E.; Evangelista, Y.; Feroci, M.; Lazzarotto, F.; Lapshov, I.; Pacciani, L.; Soffitta, P.; Sabatini, S.; Vittorini, V.; Pucella, G.; Rapisarda, M.; Di Cocco, G.; Fuschino, F.; Galli, M.; Labanti, C.; Marisaldi, M.; Pellizzoni, A.; Trois, A.; Barbiellini, G.; Vallazza, E.; Longo, F.; Morselli, A.; Picozza, P.; Prest, M.; Lipari, P.; Zanello, D.; Cattaneo, P. W.; Rappoldi, A.; Colafrancesco, S.; Ferrari, A.; Paoletti, F.; Antonelli, A.; Giommi, P.; Salotti, L.; Valentini, G.; D'Amico, F.

2017-11-01

AGILE observed the Crab region in its spinning mode after the large glitch recently reported in the radio band (ATel #10939). At the glitch event time (T_0) the AGILE satellite was occulted by the Earth, and no observation of any relevant gamma-ray signal could be obtained by the GRID detector.

Impact of a community-based exercise programme on physical fitness in middle-aged and older patients with type 2 diabetes.

PubMed

Mendes, Romeu; Sousa, Nelson; Themudo-Barata, José; Reis, Victor

2016-01-01

Physical fitness is related to all-cause mortality, quality of life and risk of falls in patients with type 2 diabetes. This study aimed to analyse the impact of a long-term community-based combined exercise program (aerobic+resistance+agility/balance+flexibility) developed with minimum and low-cost material resources on physical fitness in middle-aged and older patients with type 2 diabetes. This was a non-experimental pre-post evaluation study. Participants (N=43; 62.92±5.92 years old) were engaged in a community-based supervised exercise programme (consisting of combined aerobic, resistance, agility/balance and flexibility exercises; three sessions per week; 70min per session) of 9 months' duration. Aerobic fitness (6-Minute Walk Test), muscle strength (30-Second Chair Stand Test), agility/balance (Timed Up and Go Test) and flexibility (Chair Sit and Reach Test) were assessed before (baseline) and after the exercise intervention. Significant improvements in the performance of the 6-Minute Walk Test (Δ=8.20%, p<0.001), 30-Second Chair Stand Test (Δ=28.84%, p<0.001), Timed Up and Go Test (Δ=14.31%, p<0.001), and Chair Sit and Reach Test (Δ=102.90%, p<0.001) were identified between baseline and end-exercise intervention time points. A long-term community-based combined exercise programme, developed with low-cost exercise strategies, produced significant benefits in physical fitness in middle-aged and older patients with type 2 diabetes. This supervised group exercise programme significantly improved aerobic fitness, muscle strength, agility/balance and flexibility, assessed with field tests in community settings. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Preservation of Fine-Needle Aspiration Specimens for Future Use in RNA-Based Molecular Testing

PubMed Central

Ladd, Amy C.; O'Sullivan-Mejia, Emerald; Lea, Tasha; Perry, Jessica; Dumur, Catherine I.; Dragoescu, Ema; Garrett, Carleton T.; Powers, Celeste N.

2015-01-01

Background The application of ancillary molecular testing is becoming more important for the diagnosis and classification of disease. The use of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy as the means of sampling tumors in conjunction with molecular testing could be a powerful combination. FNA is minimally invasive, cost effective, and usually demonstrates accuracy comparable to diagnoses based on excisional biopsies. Quality control (QC) and test validation requirements for development of molecular tests impose a need for access to pre-existing clinical samples. Tissue banking of excisional biopsy specimens is frequently performed at large research institutions, but few have developed protocols for preservation of cytologic specimens. This study aimed to evaluate cryopreservation of FNA specimens as a method of maintaining cellular morphology and ribonucleic acid (RNA) integrity in banked tissues. Methods FNA specimens were obtained from fresh tumor resections, processed by using a cryopreservation protocol, and stored for up to 27 weeks. Upon retrieval, samples were made into slides for morphological evaluation, and RNA was extracted and assessed for integrity by using the Agilent Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, Calif). Results Cryopreserved specimens showed good cell morphology and, in many cases, yielded intact RNA. Cases showing moderate or severe RNA degradation could generally be associated with prolonged specimen handling or sampling of necrotic areas. Conclusions FNA specimens can be stored in a manner that maintains cellular morphology and RNA integrity necessary for studies of gene expression. In addition to addressing quality control (QC) and test validation needs, cytology banks will be an invaluable resource for future molecular morphologic and diagnostic research studies. PMID:21287691

Study on Web-Based Tool for Regional Agriculture Industry Structure Optimization Using Ajax

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Xiaodong; Zhu, Yeping

According to the research status of regional agriculture industry structure adjustment information system and the current development of information technology, this paper takes web-based regional agriculture industry structure optimization tool as research target. This paper introduces Ajax technology and related application frameworks to build an auxiliary toolkit of decision support system for agricultural policy maker and economy researcher. The toolkit includes a “one page” style component of regional agriculture industry structure optimization which provides agile arguments setting method that enables applying sensitivity analysis and usage of data and comparative advantage analysis result, and a component that can solve the linear programming model and its dual problem by simplex method.

Improvisation for Leadership Development.

PubMed

Trepanier, Sylvain; Nordgren, Mollie

2017-04-01

Leaders are required to demonstrate agility, creativity, and innovation. Professional development educators can help leaders to develop the skills to listen carefully, be present in the moment, and contribute to any conversation by using improvisation. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2017;48(4):151-153. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Thigh Muscle Activity, Knee Motion, and Impact Force During Side-Step Pivoting in Agility-Trained Female Basketball Players

PubMed Central

Wilderman, Danielle R; Ross, Scott E; Padua, Darin A

2009-01-01

Context: Improving neuromuscular control of hamstrings muscles might have implications for decreasing anterior cruciate ligament injuries in females. Objective: To examine the effects of a 6-week agility training program on quadriceps and hamstrings muscle activation, knee flexion angles, and peak vertical ground reaction force. Design: Prospective, randomized clinical research trial. Setting: Sports medicine research laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Thirty female intramural basketball players with no history of knee injury (age  =  21.07 ± 2.82 years, height  =  171.27 ± 4.66 cm, mass  =  66.36 ± 7.41 kg). Intervention(s): Participants were assigned to an agility training group or a control group that did not participate in agility training. Participants in the agility training group trained 4 times per week for 6 weeks. Main Outcome Measure(s): We used surface electromyography to assess muscle activation for the rectus femoris, vastus medialis oblique, medial hamstrings, and lateral hamstrings for 50 milliseconds before initial ground contact and while the foot was in contact with the ground during a side-step pivot maneuver. Knee flexion angles (at initial ground contact, maximum knee flexion, knee flexion displacement) and peak vertical ground reaction force also were assessed during this maneuver. Results: Participants in the training group increased medial hamstrings activation during ground contact after the 6-week agility training program. Both groups decreased their vastus medialis oblique muscle activation during ground contact. Knee flexion angles and peak vertical ground reaction force did not change for either group. Conclusions: Agility training improved medial hamstrings activity in female intramural basketball players during a side-step pivot maneuver. Agility training that improves hamstrings activity might have implications for reducing anterior cruciate ligament sprain injury associated with side-step pivots. PMID:19180214

The agile alert system for gamma-ray transients

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bulgarelli, A.; Trifoglio, M.; Gianotti, F.

2014-01-20

In recent years, a new generation of space missions has offered great opportunities for discovery in high-energy astrophysics. In this article we focus on the scientific operations of the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) on board the AGILE space mission. AGILE-GRID, sensitive in the energy range of 30 MeV-30 GeV, has detected many γ-ray transients of both galactic and extragalactic origin. This work presents the AGILE innovative approach to fast γ-ray transient detection, which is a challenging task and a crucial part of the AGILE scientific program. The goals are to describe (1) the AGILE Gamma-Ray Alert System, (2) a newmore » algorithm for blind search identification of transients within a short processing time, (3) the AGILE procedure for γ-ray transient alert management, and (4) the likelihood of ratio tests that are necessary to evaluate the post-trial statistical significance of the results. Special algorithms and an optimized sequence of tasks are necessary to reach our goal. Data are automatically analyzed at every orbital downlink by an alert pipeline operating on different timescales. As proper flux thresholds are exceeded, alerts are automatically generated and sent as SMS messages to cellular telephones, via e-mail, and via push notifications from an application for smartphones and tablets. These alerts are crosschecked with the results of two pipelines, and a manual analysis is performed. Being a small scientific-class mission, AGILE is characterized by optimization of both scientific analysis and ground-segment resources. The system is capable of generating alerts within two to three hours of a data downlink, an unprecedented reaction time in γ-ray astrophysics.« less

The AGILE Alert System for Gamma-Ray Transients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulgarelli, A.; Trifoglio, M.; Gianotti, F.; Tavani, M.; Parmiggiani, N.; Fioretti, V.; Chen, A. W.; Vercellone, S.; Pittori, C.; Verrecchia, F.; Lucarelli, F.; Santolamazza, P.; Fanari, G.; Giommi, P.; Beneventano, D.; Argan, A.; Trois, A.; Scalise, E.; Longo, F.; Pellizzoni, A.; Pucella, G.; Colafrancesco, S.; Conforti, V.; Tempesta, P.; Cerone, M.; Sabatini, P.; Annoni, G.; Valentini, G.; Salotti, L.

2014-01-01

In recent years, a new generation of space missions has offered great opportunities for discovery in high-energy astrophysics. In this article we focus on the scientific operations of the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) on board the AGILE space mission. AGILE-GRID, sensitive in the energy range of 30 MeV-30 GeV, has detected many γ-ray transients of both galactic and extragalactic origin. This work presents the AGILE innovative approach to fast γ-ray transient detection, which is a challenging task and a crucial part of the AGILE scientific program. The goals are to describe (1) the AGILE Gamma-Ray Alert System, (2) a new algorithm for blind search identification of transients within a short processing time, (3) the AGILE procedure for γ-ray transient alert management, and (4) the likelihood of ratio tests that are necessary to evaluate the post-trial statistical significance of the results. Special algorithms and an optimized sequence of tasks are necessary to reach our goal. Data are automatically analyzed at every orbital downlink by an alert pipeline operating on different timescales. As proper flux thresholds are exceeded, alerts are automatically generated and sent as SMS messages to cellular telephones, via e-mail, and via push notifications from an application for smartphones and tablets. These alerts are crosschecked with the results of two pipelines, and a manual analysis is performed. Being a small scientific-class mission, AGILE is characterized by optimization of both scientific analysis and ground-segment resources. The system is capable of generating alerts within two to three hours of a data downlink, an unprecedented reaction time in γ-ray astrophysics.

Ground System Architectures Workshop GMSEC SERVICES SUITE (GSS): an Agile Development Story

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ly, Vuong

2017-01-01

The GMSEC (Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center) Services Suite (GSS) is a collection of tools and software services along with a robust customizable web-based portal that enables the user to capture, monitor, report, and analyze system-wide GMSEC data. Given our plug-and-play architecture and the needs for rapid system development, we opted to follow the Scrum Agile Methodology for software development. Being one of the first few projects to implement the Agile methodology at NASA GSFC, in this presentation we will present our approaches, tools, successes, and challenges in implementing this methodology. The GMSEC architecture provides a scalable, extensible ground and flight system for existing and future missions. GMSEC comes with a robust Application Programming Interface (GMSEC API) and a core set of Java-based GMSEC components that facilitate the development of a GMSEC-based ground system. Over the past few years, we have seen an upbeat in the number of customers who are moving from a native desktop application environment to a web based environment particularly for data monitoring and analysis. We also see a need to provide separation of the business logic from the GUI display for our Java-based components and also to consolidate all the GUI displays into one interface. This combination of separation and consolidation brings immediate value to a GMSEC-based ground system through increased ease of data access via a uniform interface, built-in security measures, centralized configuration management, and ease of feature extensibility.

Laterality and performance of agility-trained dogs.

PubMed

Siniscalchi, Marcello; Bertino, Daniele; Quaranta, Angelo

2014-01-01

Correlations between lateralised behaviour and performance were investigated in 19 agility-trained dogs (Canis familiaris) by scoring paw preference to hold a food object and relating it to performance during typical agility obstacles (jump/A-frame and weave poles). In addition, because recent behavioural studies reported that visual stimuli of emotional valence presented to one visual hemifield at a time affect visually guided motor responses in dogs, the possibility that the position of the owner respectively in the left and in the right canine visual hemifield might be associated with quality of performance during agility was considered. Dogs' temperament was also measured by an owner-rated questionnaire. The most relevant finding was that agility-trained dogs displayed longer latencies to complete the obstacles with the owner located in their left visual hemifield compared to the right. Interestingly, the results showed that this phenomenon was significantly linked to both dogs' trainability and the strength of paw preference.

Agile Mythbusting

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

0321502752 Coaching Agile Teams Lyssa Adkins ISBN #0321637704 Agile Project Management : Creating Innovative Products – Second Edition Jim Highsmith ISBN...Picatinny Arsenal Lapham, Wrubel Jan 2015 © 2015 Carnegie Mellon University. DoD Acquisition and Innovation Many regulated environments, like the DoD...NEED innovation and NEED incremental improvements to their systems. Many of them are now willing to consider changing their approach if they can do it

Web Based Information System for Job Training Activities Using Personal Extreme Programming (PXP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asri, S. A.; Sunaya, I. G. A. M.; Rudiastari, E.; Setiawan, W.

2018-01-01

Job training is one of the subjects in university or polytechnic that involves many users and reporting activities. Time and distance became problems for users to reporting and to do obligations tasks during job training due to the location where the job training took place. This research tried to develop a web based information system of job training to overcome the problems. This system was developed using Personal Extreme Programming (PXP). PXP is one of the agile methods is combination of Extreme Programming (XP) and Personal Software Process (PSP). The information system that has developed and tested which are 24% of users are strongly agree, 74% are agree, 1% disagree and 0% strongly disagree about system functionality.

Project Management as Related to Weapon Development in Navy Research and Development Organizations.

DTIC Science & Technology

of management . AGILE a current development program, is traced from inception to the present and unique management problems are discussed. The authors...evaluation is based on two standards of measurement: compliance with Department of Defense policy and conformance to generally accepted principles

Practical Approach for Hyperspectral Image Processing in Python

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Annala, L.; Eskelinen, M. A.; Hämäläinen, J.; Riihinen, A.; Pölönen, I.

2018-04-01

Python is a very popular programming language among data scientists around the world. Python can also be used in hyperspectral data analysis. There are some toolboxes designed for spectral imaging, such as Spectral Python and HyperSpy, but there is a need for analysis pipeline, which is easy to use and agile for different solutions. We propose a Python pipeline which is built on packages xarray, Holoviews and scikit-learn. We have developed some of own tools, MaskAccessor, VisualisorAccessor and a spectral index library. They also fulfill our goal of easy and agile data processing. In this paper we will present our processing pipeline and demonstrate it in practice.

Perspectives on Industrial Innovation from Agilent, HP, and Bell Labs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollenhorst, James

2014-03-01

Innovation is the life blood of technology companies. I will give perspectives gleaned from a career in research and development at Bell Labs, HP Labs, and Agilent Labs, from the point of view of an individual contributor and a manager. Physicists bring a unique set of skills to the corporate environment, including a desire to understand the fundamentals, a solid foundation in physical principles, expertise in applied mathematics, and most importantly, an attitude: namely, that hard problems can be solved by breaking them into manageable pieces. In my experience, hiring managers in industry seldom explicitly search for physicists, but they want people with those skills.

Movement augmentation to evaluate human control of locomotor stability.

PubMed

Brown, Geoffrey; Wu, Mengnan Mary; Huang, Felix C; Gordon, Keith E

2017-07-01

Controlling center of mass (COM) position and velocity within a dynamic base of support is essential for gait stability. This skill is often compromised following neurologic injury, creating a need to develop effective interventions to enhance gait stability. A movement augmentation paradigm applied to walking could potentially be used to improve control of COM dynamics. We have developed a cable robot system, the Agility Trainer, to apply continuous frontal-plane forces to the pelvis during treadmill walking. This cable robot system uses a set of series elastic actuators powered by linear motors to create bilateral forces. Here we use the Agility Trainer to create a negative viscosity force field proportional to the subject's lateral velocity. Two healthy young subjects performed two 10-minute walking trials, Baseline and Negative Viscosity. During the first minute of walking in the Negative Viscosity field, participants' lateral COM motion became less controlled when compared to the rhythmic sinusoidal motion observed during Baseline walking. By the 10th minute of walking in the Negative Viscosity field the participants had adapted their gait patterns, decreasing their variation in peak lateral COM speed each stride. These results demonstrate that it is feasible to use the Agility Trainer to apply a movement augmentation paradigm to human walking.

Development and validation of a rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy assay for determination of 17-(allylamino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin and 17-(amino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin in human plasma.

PubMed

Johnston, Jeffrey S; Phelps, Mitch A; Blum, Kristie A; Blum, William; Grever, Michael R; Farley, Katherine L; Dalton, James T

2008-08-01

A sensitive method was developed and validated for the measurement of 17-(allylamino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17AAG) and its active metabolite 17-amino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17AG) in human plasma using 17-(dimethylaminoethylamino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17DMAG) as an internal standard. After the addition of internal standard, 200 microL of plasma was extracted using ice cold acetonitrile followed by analysis on a Thermo Finnigan triple-quadruple mass spectrometer coupled to an Agilent 1100 HPLC system. Chromatography was carried out on a 50 mm x 2.1 mm Agilent Zorbax SB-phenyl 5 microm column coupled to a 3mm Varian metaguard diphenyl pre-column using glacial acetic acid 0.1% and a gradient of acetonitrile and water at a flow rate of 500 microL/min. Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and detection of 17AAG, 17AG and 17DMAG were accomplished using selected reaction monitoring of m/z 584.3>541.3, 544.2>501.2, and 615.3>572.3, respectively in negative ion mode. Retention times for 17AAG, 17AG, and 17DMAG were 4.1, 3.5, and 2.9 min, respectively, with a total run time of 7 min. The assay was linear over the range 0.5-3000 ng/mL for 17AAG and 17AG. Replicate sample analysis indicated within- and between-run accuracy and precision within 15%. The recovery of 17AAG and 17AG from 200 microL of plasma containing 1, 25, 300, and 2500 ng/mL was 93% or greater. This high-performance liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectroscopy (HPLC/MS/MS) method is superior to previous methods. It is the first analytical method reported to date for the quantitation of both 17AAG and its metabolite 17AG and can reliably quantitate concentrations of both compounds as low as 0.5 ng/mL.

Feedstock powder processing research needs for additive manufacturing development

DOE PAGES

Anderson, Iver E.; White, Emma M. H.; Dehoff, Ryan

2018-02-01

Additive manufacturing (AM) promises to redesign traditional manufacturing by enabling the ultimate in agility for rapid component design changes in commercial products and for fabricating complex integrated parts. Here, by significantly increasing quality and yield of metallic alloy powders, the pace for design, development, and deployment of the most promising AM approaches can be greatly accelerated, resulting in rapid commercialization of these advanced manufacturing methods. By successful completion of a critical suite of processing research tasks that are intended to greatly enhance gas atomized powder quality and the precision and efficiency of powder production, researchers can help promote continued rapidmore » growth of AM. Finally, other powder-based or spray-based advanced manufacturing methods could also benefit from these research outcomes, promoting the next wave of sustainable manufacturing technologies for conventional and advanced materials.« less

Feedstock powder processing research needs for additive manufacturing development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Iver E.; White, Emma M. H.; Dehoff, Ryan

Additive manufacturing (AM) promises to redesign traditional manufacturing by enabling the ultimate in agility for rapid component design changes in commercial products and for fabricating complex integrated parts. Here, by significantly increasing quality and yield of metallic alloy powders, the pace for design, development, and deployment of the most promising AM approaches can be greatly accelerated, resulting in rapid commercialization of these advanced manufacturing methods. By successful completion of a critical suite of processing research tasks that are intended to greatly enhance gas atomized powder quality and the precision and efficiency of powder production, researchers can help promote continued rapidmore » growth of AM. Finally, other powder-based or spray-based advanced manufacturing methods could also benefit from these research outcomes, promoting the next wave of sustainable manufacturing technologies for conventional and advanced materials.« less

Architecting for Sustainable Software Delivery

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

14 CrossTalk—May/June 2012 RAPID AND AGILE STABILITY Architecting for Sustainable Software Delivery Ronald J. Koontz , Boeing Robert L. Nord...Figure 2, and additional architecture documentation can be found in the work of Koontz [9, 10, 11]. Designing for extensibility promotes continued...Mapping of Practices to Agile and Architecture Criteria CrossTalk—May/June 2012 19 RAPID AND AGILE STABILITY ABOUT THE AUTHORS Ronald J. Koontz

DoD Acquisitions Reform: Embracing and Implementing Agile

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

required in the traditional waterfall approach.   Specific models for enterprise level efforts include Scaled Agile Framework, Disciplined Agile...and Acquisition Concerns. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon.  Leffingwell, D. (2007). Why The Waterfall Model Doesn’t Work. In D. Leffingwell, Scaling...serious issue might be the acquisitions process itself. For the last twenty plus years, the Air Force has used the waterfall approach for software

Analysis of Army Transformation and the Effects on Customer Ordering Behavior

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-01

operational scenarios ( Caldera and Shinseki, 2000:3). A responsive and agile force requires a responsive and agile logistics structure. The Army...assistance, disaster relief, peace-keeping, peace-making, and major theater wars ( Caldera and Shinseki, 2000:3). In fact, since 1995, the U.S. Army has...must be responsive, deployable, agile, versatile, lethal, survivable, and sustainable ( Caldera and Shinseki, 2000:4-5). Logistics Transformation

Modification of Agility Running Technique in Reaction to a Defender in Rugby Union

PubMed Central

Wheeler, Keane W.; Sayers, Mark G.L.

2010-01-01

Three-dimensional kinematic analysis examined agility running technique during pre-planned and reactive performance conditions specific to attacking ball carries in rugby union. The variation to running technique of 8 highly trained rugby union players was compared between agility conditions (pre-planned and reactive) and also agility performance speeds (fast, moderate and slow). Kinematic measures were used to determine the velocity of the centre of mass (COM) in the anteroposterior (running speed) and mediolateral (lateral movement speed) planes. The position of foot-strike and toe-off was also examined for the step prior to the agility side- step (pre-change of direction phase) and then the side-step (change of direction phase). This study demonstrated that less lateral movement speed towards the intended direction change occurred during reactive compared to pre-planned conditions at pre-change of direction (0.08 ± 0.28 m·s-1 and 0.42 ± 0.25 m·s-1, respectively) and change of direction foot-strikes (0.25 ± 0.42 m·s-1 and 0.69 ± 0.43 m·s-1, respectively). Less lateral movement speed during reactive conditions was associated with greater lateral foot displacement (44.52 ± 6.10% leg length) at the change of direction step compared to pre-planned conditions (41.35 ± 5.85%). Importantly, the anticipation abilities during reactive conditions provided a means to differentiate between speeds of agility performance, with faster performances displaying greater lateral movement speed at the change of direction foot- strike (0.52 ± 0.34 m·s-1) compared to moderate (0.20 ± 0.37 m·s-1) and slow (-0.08 ± 0.31 m·s-1). The changes to running technique during reactive conditions highlight the need to incorporate decision-making in rugby union agility programs. Key points Changes to running technique occur when required to make a decision. Fast agility performers use different stepping strategies in reactive conditions. Decision-making must be incorporated in agility training programs. PMID:24149639

IT Software Development and IT Operations Strategic Alignment: An Agile DevOps Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hart, Michael

2017-01-01

Information Technology (IT) departments that include development and operations are essential to develop software that meet customer needs. DevOps is a term originally constructed from software development and IT operations. DevOps includes the collaboration of all stakeholders such as software engineers and systems administrators involved in the…

The Challenges of Being Agile in DoD

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-01

term “Agile” will serve as an overarching term to represent all forms of iterative development whether Scrum , Lean Software Development, extreme...occur? • How do we know what the development team will deliver at the end of the Sprint? (A basic unit of development in Scrum that lasts for “time

Pathways to agility in the production of neutron generators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stoltz, R.E.; Beavis, L.C.; Cutchen, J.T.

1994-02-01

This report is the result of a study team commissioned to explore pathways for increased agility in the manufacture of neutron generators. As a part of Sandia`s new responsibility for generator production, the goal of the study was to identify opportunities to reduce costs and increase flexibility in the manufacturing operation. Four parallel approaches (or pathways) were recommended: (1) Know the goal, (2) Use design leverage effectively, (3) Value simplicity, and (4) Configure for flexibility. Agility in neutron generator production can be enhanced if all of these pathways are followed. The key role of the workforce in achieving agility wasmore » also noted, with emphasis on ownership, continuous learning, and a supportive environment.« less

Fostering Cooperative Learning with Scrum in a Semi-Capstone Systems Analysis and Design Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magana, Alejandra J.; Seah, Ying Ying; Thomas, Paul

2018-01-01

Agile methods such as Scrum that emphasize technical, communication, and teamwork skills have been practiced by IT professionals to effectively deliver software products of good quality. The same methods combined with pedagogies of engagement can potentially be used in the setting of higher education to promote effective group learning in software…

An Exploration of Cognitive Agility as Quantified by Attention Allocation in a Complex Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

quantified by eye-tracking data collected while subjects played a military-relevant cognitive agility computer game (Make Goal), to determine whether...subjects played a military-relevant cognitive agility computer game (Make Goal), to determine whether certain patterns are associated with effective...Group and Control Group on Eye Tracking and Game Performance .....................36 3. Comparison between High and Low Performers on Eye tracking and

Orders of C2 Agility and Implications for Information and Decision-Making

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

of agility and, in particular, in discussions of resilience. Orders of agility also invite the re-examination of conceptions of value in informing...incompatible interpretations of decision-making and information. It also gives greater confidence that different conceptions of value and assessment...examination of conceptions of value in informing decision- making, leading to the exposition of a hierarchical model of nested decision-making and decision

A Comparison of 5, 10, 30 Meters Sprint, Modified T-Test, Arrowhead and Illinois Agility Tests on Football Referees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muniroglu, Surhat; Subak, Erdem

2018-01-01

The ability of change of direction quickly, in other words agility, and short distance sprinting speed are two of the most important performance components for football referees. The tests used by FIFA and UEFA such as Cooper Test, Yo-Yo Intermittent Test, 40 × 75 m tests do not include testing the agility skills of the referees. However,…

Assessment of Specificity of the Badcamp Agility test for Badminton Players

PubMed Central

de França Bahia Loureiro, Luiz; Costa Dias, Mário Oliveira; Cremasco, Felipe Couto; da Silva, Maicon Guimarães; de Freitas, Paulo Barbosa

2017-01-01

Abstract The Badcamp agility test was created to evaluate agility of badminton players. The Badcamp is a valid and reliable test, however, a doubt about the need for the use of this test exists as simpler tests could provide similar information about agility in badminton players. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the specificity of the Badcamp, comparing the performance of badminton players and athletes from other sports in the Badcamp and the shuttle run agility test (SRAT). Sixty-four young male and female athletes aged between 14 and 16 years participated in the study. They were divided into 4 groups of 16 according to their sport practices: badminton, tennis, team sport (basketball and volleyball), and track and field. We compared the groups in both tests, the Badcamp and SRAT. The results revealed that the group of badminton players was faster compared to all other groups in the Badcamp. However, in the SRAT there were no differences among groups composed of athletes from open skill sports (e.g., badminton, tennis, and team sports), and a considerable reduction of the difference between badminton players and track and field athletes. Thus, we concluded that the Badcamp test is a specific agility test for badminton players and should be considered in evaluating athletes of this sport modality. PMID:28713471

Assessment of Specificity of the Badcamp Agility test for Badminton Players.

PubMed

de França Bahia Loureiro, Luiz; Costa Dias, Mário Oliveira; Cremasco, Felipe Couto; da Silva, Maicon Guimarães; de Freitas, Paulo Barbosa

2017-06-01

The Badcamp agility test was created to evaluate agility of badminton players. The Badcamp is a valid and reliable test, however, a doubt about the need for the use of this test exists as simpler tests could provide similar information about agility in badminton players. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the specificity of the Badcamp, comparing the performance of badminton players and athletes from other sports in the Badcamp and the shuttle run agility test (SRAT). Sixty-four young male and female athletes aged between 14 and 16 years participated in the study. They were divided into 4 groups of 16 according to their sport practices: badminton, tennis, team sport (basketball and volleyball), and track and field. We compared the groups in both tests, the Badcamp and SRAT. The results revealed that the group of badminton players was faster compared to all other groups in the Badcamp. However, in the SRAT there were no differences among groups composed of athletes from open skill sports (e.g., badminton, tennis, and team sports), and a considerable reduction of the difference between badminton players and track and field athletes. Thus, we concluded that the Badcamp test is a specific agility test for badminton players and should be considered in evaluating athletes of this sport modality.

The Impact of Load Carriage on Measures of Power and Agility in Tactical Occupations: A Critical Review.

PubMed

Joseph, Aaron; Wiley, Amy; Orr, Robin; Schram, Benjamin; Dawes, J Jay

2018-01-07

The current literature suggests that load carriage can impact on a tactical officer's mobility, and that survival in the field may rely on the officer's mobility. The ability for humans to generate power and agility is critical for performance of the high-intensity movements required in the field of duty. The aims of this review were to critically examine the literature investigating the impacts of load carriage on measures of power and agility and to synthesize the findings. The authors completed a search of the literature using key search terms in four databases. After relevant studies were located using strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, the studies were critically appraised using the Downs and Black Checklist and relevant data were extracted and tabled. Fourteen studies were deemed relevant for this review, ranging in percentage quality scores from 42.85% to 71.43%. Outcome measures used in these studies to indicate levels of power and agility included short-distance sprints, vertical jumps, and agility runs, among others. Performance of both power and agility was shown to decrease when tactical load was added to the participants. This suggests that the increase in weight carried by tactical officers may put this population at risk of injury or fatality in the line of duty.

The Impact of Load Carriage on Measures of Power and Agility in Tactical Occupations: A Critical Review

PubMed Central

Joseph, Aaron; Wiley, Amy; Dawes, J. Jay

2018-01-01

The current literature suggests that load carriage can impact on a tactical officer’s mobility, and that survival in the field may rely on the officer’s mobility. The ability for humans to generate power and agility is critical for performance of the high-intensity movements required in the field of duty. The aims of this review were to critically examine the literature investigating the impacts of load carriage on measures of power and agility and to synthesize the findings. The authors completed a search of the literature using key search terms in four databases. After relevant studies were located using strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, the studies were critically appraised using the Downs and Black Checklist and relevant data were extracted and tabled. Fourteen studies were deemed relevant for this review, ranging in percentage quality scores from 42.85% to 71.43%. Outcome measures used in these studies to indicate levels of power and agility included short-distance sprints, vertical jumps, and agility runs, among others. Performance of both power and agility was shown to decrease when tactical load was added to the participants. This suggests that the increase in weight carried by tactical officers may put this population at risk of injury or fatality in the line of duty. PMID:29316674

Analysis of the Association Between Motor and Anthropometric Variables with Change of Direction Speed and Reactive Agility Performance

PubMed Central

Sattler, Tine; Sekulić, Damir; Spasić, Miodrag; Perić, Mia; Krolo, Ante; Uljević, Ognjen; Kondrič, Miran

2015-01-01

There is an evident lack of studies examining the factors associated with reactive agility performances. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between anthropometrics, body composition, jumping capacity, reactive strength, and balance with a stop-and-go change of direction speed (CODS) and reactive agility. The total sample comprised 39 male (body height: 182.95 ± 5.19 cm; body mass: 80.66 ± 7.69 kg) and 34 female (body height: 171.45 ± 6.81 cm; body mass: 61.95 ± 6.70 kg) college-level athletes (21.9 ± 1.9 years of age). The variables included body height, body mass, the percentage of body fat (BF%), balance as measured by an overall-stability index, the countermovement jump (CMJ), a reactive-strength index (RSI), stop-and-go reactive agility, and stop-and-go CODS. To define the associations between motor and anthropometric variables with CODS and reactive agility, the participants were clustered into three achievement groups based on their CODS and reactive agility performances. The ANOVA showed a significant difference between the CODS-based achievement groups for the CMJ (F test = 3.45 and 3.60 for males and females, respectively; p < 0.05), the RSI (F test = 6.94 and 5.29 for males and females, respectively; p < 0.05), and balance (F test = 3.47; p < 0.05 for males). In females, the reactive agility achievement groups differed significantly in the RSI (F test = 6.46; p < 0.05), the CMJ (F test = 4.35; p < 0.05) and BF% (F test = 4.07; p < 0.05), which is further confirmed by discriminant canonical analysis (Can R = 0.74; p < 0.05). The results confirm the need for independent evaluation and training for both CODS and reactive agility performance in sports. PMID:26557198

Reliability and Factorial Validity of Non-Specific and Tennis-Specific Pre-Planned Agility Tests; Preliminary Analysis

PubMed Central

Sekulic, Damir; Uljevic, Ognjen; Peric, Mia; Spasic, Miodrag; Kondric, Miran

2017-01-01

Abstract Agility is an important quality in tennis, yet there is an evident lack of studies focussing on the applicability of tennis-specific agility performances and comparing them to equivalent non-specific agility performances. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and factorial validity of three tests of pre-planned agility, performed in specific (with a tennis racquet) and non-specific (without a tennis racquet) conditions. The sample consisted of 33 tennis players (13 males and 20 females; age: 18.3 ± 1.1 years and 18.6 ± 1.3 years; body height: 185.4 ± 51 cm and 169.3 ± 4.2 cm, 74.0 ± 4.4 kg and 61.2 ± 3.1 kg, respectively). The variables comprised three agility tests: a 20-yard test, a T-test and the Illinois test, all performed in both specific and non-specific conditions. Between-subject and within-subject reliability were found to be high (Cronbach Alpha: 0.93 to 0.98; Coefficient of Variation: 3 to 8%), with better within-subject reliability and stability of the measurement for specific tests. Pearson’s product moment correlations between the non-specific and specific agility performances were high (r ≥0.84), while factor analysis extracted only one significant latent dimension on the basis of the Guttman-Kaiser criterion. The results of the 20-yard test were better when the test was conducted in the specific conditions (t-test = 2.66; p < 0.05). For the Illinois test, superior results were recorded in the non-specific conditions (t-test = 2.96; p < 0.05), which can be explained by the test duration (about 20 s) and non-specific locomotion forms such as rotational movements. Considering the findings of the present study, when testing tennis-specific pre-planned agility, we suggest using tests of short duration (less than 10 s) and sport-specific types of locomotion. PMID:28210343

AGILE as a particle detector: Magnetospheric measurements of 10-100 MeV electrons in L shells less than 1.2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Argan, A.; Piano, G.; Tavani, M.; Trois, A.

2016-04-01

We study the capability of the AGILE gamma ray space mission in detecting magnetospheric particles (mostly electrons) in the energy range 10-100 MeV. Our measurements focus on the inner magnetic shells with L ≲ 1.2 in the magnetic equator. The instrument characteristics and a quasi-equatorial orbit of ˜500 km altitude make it possible to address several important properties of the particle populations in the inner magnetosphere. We review the on board trigger logic and study the acceptance of the AGILE instrument for particle detection. We find that the AGILE effective geometric factor (acceptance) is R≃50 cm2 sr for particle energies in the range 10-100 MeV. Particle event reconstruction allows to determine the particle pitch angle with the local magnetic field with good accuracy. We obtain the pitch angle distributions for both the AGILE "pointing" phase (July 2007 to October 2009) and the "spinning" phase (November 2009 to present). In spinning mode, the whole range (0-180 degrees) is accessible every 7 min. We find a pitch angle distribution of the "dumbbell" type with a prominent depression near α = 90° which is typical of wave-particle resonant scattering and precipitation in the inner magnetosphere. Most importantly, we show that AGILE is not affected by solar particle precipitation events in the magnetosphere. The satellite trajectory intersects magnetic shells in a quite narrow range (1.0 ≲ L ≲ 1.2); AGILE then has a high exposure to a magnetospheric region potentially rich of interesting phenomena. The large particle acceptance in the 10-100 MeV range, the pitch angle determination capability, the L shell exposure, and the solar-free background make AGILE a unique instrument for measuring steady and transient particle events in the inner magnetosphere.

Achieving Agility and Stability in Large-Scale Software Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-16

temporary team is assigned to prepare layers and frameworks for future feature teams. Presentation Layer Domain Layer Data Access Layer...http://www.sei.cmu.edu/training/ elearning ~ Software Engineering Institute CarnegieMellon

DoD Agile Adoption: Necessary Considerations, Concerns, and Changes

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

a large, highly visible display used by software development teams to track progress. The term was first coined by Alistar Cockburn. See <http://www.atlassian.com/ wallboards /information-radiators.jsp>

Agile Model Driven Development of Electronic Health Record-Based Specialty Population Registries

PubMed Central

Kannan, Vaishnavi; Fish, Jason C.; Willett, DuWayne L.

2018-01-01

The transformation of the American healthcare payment system from fee-for-service to value-based care increasingly makes it valuable to develop patient registries for specialized populations, to better assess healthcare quality and costs. Recent widespread adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the U.S. now makes possible construction of EHR-based specialty registry data collection tools and reports, previously unfeasible using manual chart abstraction. But the complexities of specialty registry EHR tools and measures, along with the variety of stakeholders involved, can result in misunderstood requirements and frequent product change requests, as users first experience the tools in their actual clinical workflows. Such requirements churn could easily stall progress in specialty registry rollout. Modeling a system’s requirements and solution design can be a powerful way to remove ambiguities, facilitate shared understanding, and help evolve a design to meet newly-discovered needs. “Agile Modeling” retains these values while avoiding excessive unused up-front modeling in favor of iterative incremental modeling. Using Agile Modeling principles and practices, in calendar year 2015 one institution developed 58 EHR-based specialty registries, with 111 new data collection tools, supporting 134 clinical process and outcome measures, and enrolling over 16,000 patients. The subset of UML and non-UML models found most consistently useful in designing, building, and iteratively evolving EHR-based specialty registries included User Stories, Domain Models, Use Case Diagrams, Decision Trees, Graphical User Interface Storyboards, Use Case text descriptions, and Solution Class Diagrams. PMID:29750222

Agile Model Driven Development of Electronic Health Record-Based Specialty Population Registries.

PubMed

Kannan, Vaishnavi; Fish, Jason C; Willett, DuWayne L

2016-02-01

The transformation of the American healthcare payment system from fee-for-service to value-based care increasingly makes it valuable to develop patient registries for specialized populations, to better assess healthcare quality and costs. Recent widespread adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the U.S. now makes possible construction of EHR-based specialty registry data collection tools and reports, previously unfeasible using manual chart abstraction. But the complexities of specialty registry EHR tools and measures, along with the variety of stakeholders involved, can result in misunderstood requirements and frequent product change requests, as users first experience the tools in their actual clinical workflows. Such requirements churn could easily stall progress in specialty registry rollout. Modeling a system's requirements and solution design can be a powerful way to remove ambiguities, facilitate shared understanding, and help evolve a design to meet newly-discovered needs. "Agile Modeling" retains these values while avoiding excessive unused up-front modeling in favor of iterative incremental modeling. Using Agile Modeling principles and practices, in calendar year 2015 one institution developed 58 EHR-based specialty registries, with 111 new data collection tools, supporting 134 clinical process and outcome measures, and enrolling over 16,000 patients. The subset of UML and non-UML models found most consistently useful in designing, building, and iteratively evolving EHR-based specialty registries included User Stories, Domain Models, Use Case Diagrams, Decision Trees, Graphical User Interface Storyboards, Use Case text descriptions, and Solution Class Diagrams.

Enantioselective supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for simultaneous estimation of risperidone and its 9-hydroxyl metabolites in rat plasma.

PubMed

Prasad, Thatipamula R; Joseph, Siji; Kole, Prashant; Kumar, Anoop; Subramanian, Murali; Rajagopalan, Sudha; Kr, Prabhakar

2017-11-01

Objective of the current work was to develop a 'green chemistry' compliant selective and sensitive supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for simultaneous estimation of risperidone (RIS) and its chiral metabolites in rat plasma. Methodology & results: Agilent 1260 Infinity analytical supercritical fluid chromatography system resolved RIS and its chiral metabolites within runtime of 6 min using a gradient chromatography method. Using a simple protein precipitation sample preparation followed by mass spectrometric detection achieved a sensitivity of 0.92 nM (lower limit of quantification). With linearity over four log units (0.91-7500 nM), the method was found to be selective, accurate, precise and robust. The method was validated and was successfully applied for simultaneous estimation of RIS and 9-hydroxyrisperidone metabolites (R & S individually) after intravenous and per oral administration to rats.

Agile Acceptance Test-Driven Development of Clinical Decision Support Advisories: Feasibility of Using Open Source Software.

PubMed

Basit, Mujeeb A; Baldwin, Krystal L; Kannan, Vaishnavi; Flahaven, Emily L; Parks, Cassandra J; Ott, Jason M; Willett, Duwayne L

2018-04-13

Moving to electronic health records (EHRs) confers substantial benefits but risks unintended consequences. Modern EHRs consist of complex software code with extensive local configurability options, which can introduce defects. Defects in clinical decision support (CDS) tools are surprisingly common. Feasible approaches to prevent and detect defects in EHR configuration, including CDS tools, are needed. In complex software systems, use of test-driven development and automated regression testing promotes reliability. Test-driven development encourages modular, testable design and expanding regression test coverage. Automated regression test suites improve software quality, providing a "safety net" for future software modifications. Each automated acceptance test serves multiple purposes, as requirements (prior to build), acceptance testing (on completion of build), regression testing (once live), and "living" design documentation. Rapid-cycle development or "agile" methods are being successfully applied to CDS development. The agile practice of automated test-driven development is not widely adopted, perhaps because most EHR software code is vendor-developed. However, key CDS advisory configuration design decisions and rules stored in the EHR may prove amenable to automated testing as "executable requirements." We aimed to establish feasibility of acceptance test-driven development of clinical decision support advisories in a commonly used EHR, using an open source automated acceptance testing framework (FitNesse). Acceptance tests were initially constructed as spreadsheet tables to facilitate clinical review. Each table specified one aspect of the CDS advisory's expected behavior. Table contents were then imported into a test suite in FitNesse, which queried the EHR database to automate testing. Tests and corresponding CDS configuration were migrated together from the development environment to production, with tests becoming part of the production regression test suite. We used test-driven development to construct a new CDS tool advising Emergency Department nurses to perform a swallowing assessment prior to administering oral medication to a patient with suspected stroke. Test tables specified desired behavior for (1) applicable clinical settings, (2) triggering action, (3) rule logic, (4) user interface, and (5) system actions in response to user input. Automated test suite results for the "executable requirements" are shown prior to building the CDS alert, during build, and after successful build. Automated acceptance test-driven development and continuous regression testing of CDS configuration in a commercial EHR proves feasible with open source software. Automated test-driven development offers one potential contribution to achieving high-reliability EHR configuration. Vetting acceptance tests with clinicians elicits their input on crucial configuration details early during initial CDS design and iteratively during rapid-cycle optimization. ©Mujeeb A Basit, Krystal L Baldwin, Vaishnavi Kannan, Emily L Flahaven, Cassandra J Parks, Jason M Ott, Duwayne L Willett. Originally published in JMIR Medical Informatics (http://medinform.jmir.org), 13.04.2018.

Research Institute for Autonomous Precision Guided Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-08

research on agile autonomous munitions, in direct support of the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate (AFRL/MN). The grant was awarded with a...Flight had (5) research task areas: 1. Aeroforms and Actuation for Small and Micro Agile Air Vehicles 2. Sensing for Autonomous Control and...critical barriers in AAM, but are not covered in the scope of the AVCAAF (Vision-Based Control of Agile, Autonomous Micro Air Vehicles and Small UAVs

Smart Mirrors for Photorefractive Control of Light with Tim Bunning, RX - Agile Filters Application

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-08

AFRL-AFOSR-UK-TR-2017-0008 Smart Mirrors for photorefractive control of light with Tim Bunning, RX-- Agile filters application Luciano De Sio...photorefractive control of light with Tim Bunning, RX-- Agile filters application 5a.  CONTRACT NUMBER 5b.  GRANT NUMBER FA9550-14-1-0050 5c.  PROGRAM...photorefractive, switchable optical filters , liquide crystalline composite materials, Switchable reflective holographic gratings, polymer-dispersed liquid

Understanding Organizational Agility: A Work-Design Perspective

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-06-01

NG SDG Proactive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/S N/S N/S Reactive Simultaneity of work design at three levels Yes Supply Chain Network Agility High Table...firm can take effective action to benefit itself and its customers. In analyzing representative supply - chain definitions of agility, the main theme...and Heppard 2000). Third, as effective supply chain management has come to be regarded as major source of competitive advantage for many firms

AGILE detection of a rebrightening of the gamma-ray source AGL J2251-1239

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piano, G.; Pittori, C.; Tavani, M.; Lucarelli, F.; Verrecchia, F.; Giommi, P.; Cardillo, M.; Ursi, A.; Minervini, G.; Bulgarelli, A.; Parmiggiani, N.; Vercellone, S.; Fioretti, V.; Pilia, M.; Donnarumma, I.; Gianotti, F.; Trifoglio, M.; Giuliani, A.; Mereghetti, S.; Caraveo, P.; Perotti, F.; Chen, A.; Argan, A.; Costa, E.; Del Monte, E.; Evangelista, Y.; Feroci, M.; Lazzarotto, F.; Lapshov, I.; Pacciani, L.; Soffitta, P.; Sabatini, S.; Vittorini, V.; Pucella, G.; Rapisarda, M.; Di Cocco, G.; Fuschino, F.; Galli, M.; Labanti, C.; Marisaldi, M.; Pellizzoni, A.; Trois, A.; Barbiellini, G.; Vallazza, E.; Longo, F.; Morselli, A.; Picozza, P.; Prest, M.; Lipari, P.; Zanello, D.; Cattaneo, P. W.; Rappoldi, A.; Ferrari, A.; Colafrancesco, S.; Paoletti, F.; Antonelli, A.; Salotti, L.; Valentini, G.; D'Amico, F.

2018-01-01

AGILE is detecting again intense gamma-ray emission above 100 MeV from a source at Galactic coordinates (l, b) = (54.6, -58.4) +/- 0.9 deg (95% stat. c.l.) +/- 0.1 deg (syst.) (R.A., Dec. (J2000): 342.26, -12.74 deg), compatible with AGL J2251-1239 reported in a flaring state by AGILE on December 8, 2017 (ATel #11043, F. Lucarelli et al.).

Agile and dexterous robot for inspection and EOD operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handelman, David A.; Franken, Gordon H.; Komsuoglu, Haldun

2010-04-01

The All-Terrain Biped (ATB) robot is an unmanned ground vehicle with arms, legs and wheels designed to drive, crawl, walk and manipulate objects for inspection and explosive ordnance disposal tasks. This paper summarizes on-going development of the ATB platform. Control technology for semi-autonomous legged mobility and dual-arm dexterity is described as well as preliminary simulation and hardware test results. Performance goals include driving on flat terrain, crawling on steep terrain, walking on stairs, opening doors and grasping objects. Anticipated benefits of the adaptive mobility and dexterity of the ATB platform include increased robot agility and autonomy for EOD operations, reduced operator workload and reduced operator training and skill requirements.

Using the Agile Development Methodology and Applying Best Practice Project Management Processes

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

side of this writing: Like finicky domestic helpers who announce that they ‘don’t do windows,’ I’ve often heard software developers state proudly...positioned or motivated, but rather because they were the least skilled developer (2012, 34). This result turned a team of what should be generalists

47 CFR 80.213 - Modulation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... the 2900-3100 MHz band. Racons using frequency agile transmitting techniques must include circuitry... using frequency agile techniques must include circuitry designed to reduce interference caused by...

47 CFR 80.213 - Modulation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... the 2900-3100 MHz band. Racons using frequency agile transmitting techniques must include circuitry... using frequency agile techniques must include circuitry designed to reduce interference caused by...

Investigating Constraint-Based Approaches for the Development of Agile Plans

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

generation in hazardous environments is deemed possible in TPEM by linking Scipio/Optipath tool, developed by DRDC Valcartier ( Pigeon et al...DRDC Valcartier CR 2011‐595. Ghallab, M., D. Nau, P. Traverso (2004), Automated Planning: Theory and Practice, Morgan Kaufman Publishers. Pigeon , L

High throughput identification and quantification of 16 antipsychotics and 8 major metabolites in serum using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Patteet, Lisbeth; Maudens, Kristof E; Sabbe, Bernard; Morrens, Manuel; De Doncker, Mireille; Neels, Hugo

2014-02-15

Therapeutic drug monitoring of antipsychotics is important for optimizing therapy, explaining adverse effects, non-response or poor compliance. We developed a UHPLC-MS/MS method for quantification of 16 commonly used and recently marketed antipsychotics and 8 metabolites in serum. After liquid-liquid extraction using methyl tert-butyl ether, analysis was performed on an Agilent Technologies 1290 Infinity LC system coupled with an Agilent Technologies 6460 Triple Quadrupole MS. Separation with a C18 column and gradient elution at 0.5 mL/min resulted in a 6-min run-time. Detection was performed in dynamic MRM, monitoring 3 ion transitions per compound. Isotope labeled internal standards were used for every compound, except for bromperidol and levosulpiride. Mean recovery was 86.8%. Matrix effects were -18.4 to +9.1%. Accuracy ranged between 91.3 and 107.0% at low, medium and high concentrations and between 76.2 and 113.9% at LLOQ. Within-run precision was <15% (CV), except for asenapine and hydroxy-iloperidone. Between-run precision was aberrant only for 7-hydroxy-N-desalkylquetiapine, asenapine and reduced haloperidol. No interferences were found. No problems of instability were observed, even for olanzapine. The method was successfully applied on patient samples. The liquid-liquid extraction and UHPLC-MS/MS technique allows robust target screening and quantification of 23 antipsychotics and metabolites. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Achieving Agility and Stability in Large-Scale Software Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-16

temporary team is assigned to prepare layers and frameworks for future feature teams. Presentation Layer Domain Layer Data Access Layer Framework...http://www.sei.cmu.edu/training/ elearning ~ Software Engineering Institute CarnegieMellon

Applying the Kanban method in problem-based project work: a case study in a manufacturing engineering bachelor's programme at Aalborg University Copenhagen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balve, Patrick; Krüger, Volker; Tolstrup Sørensen, Lene

2017-11-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) has proven to be highly effective for educating students in an active and self-motivated manner in various disciplines. Student projects carried out following PBL principles are very dynamic and carry a high level of uncertainty, both conditions under which agile project management approaches are assumed to be highly supportive. The paper describes an empirical case study carried out at Aalborg University Copenhagen involving students from two different semesters of a Bachelor of Science programme. While executing the study, compelling examples of how PBL and the agile project management method Kanban blend could be identified. A final survey reveals that applying Kanban produces noticeable improvements with respect to creating, assigning and coordinating project tasks. Other improvements were found in group communication, knowledge about the work progress with regards to both the individual and the collective and the students' way of continuously improving their own teamwork.

Surface friction alters the agility of a small Australian marsupial.

PubMed

Wheatley, Rebecca; Clemente, Christofer J; Niehaus, Amanda C; Fisher, Diana O; Wilson, Robbie S

2018-04-23

Movement speed can underpin an animal's probability of success in ecological tasks. Prey often use agility to outmanoeuvre predators; however, faster speeds increase inertia and reduce agility. Agility is also constrained by grip, as the foot must have sufficient friction with the ground to apply the forces required for turning. Consequently, ground surface should affect optimum turning speed. We tested the speed-agility trade-off in buff-footed antechinus ( Antechinus mysticus ) on two different surfaces. Antechinus used slower turning speeds over smaller turning radii on both surfaces, as predicted by the speed-agility trade-off. Slipping was 64% more likely on the low-friction surface, and had a higher probability of occurring the faster the antechinus were running before the turn. However, antechinus compensated for differences in surface friction by using slower pre-turn speeds as their amount of experience on the low-friction surface increased, which consequently reduced their probability of slipping. Conversely, on the high-friction surface, antechinus used faster pre-turn speeds in later trials, which had no effect on their probability of slipping. Overall, antechinus used larger turning radii (0.733±0.062 versus 0.576±0.051 m) and slower pre-turn (1.595±0.058 versus 2.174±0.050 m s -1 ) and turning speeds (1.649±0.061 versus 2.01±0.054 m s -1 ) on the low-friction surface. Our results demonstrate the interactive effect of surface friction and the speed-agility trade-off on speed choice. To predict wild animals' movement speeds, future studies should examine the interactions between biomechanical trade-offs and terrain, and quantify the costs of motor mistakes in different ecological activities. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

The AGILE Mission and Gamma-Ray Bursts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Longo, Francesco; INFN, section of Trieste; Tavani, M.

2007-05-01

The AGILE Mission will explore the gamma-ray Universe with a very innovative instrument combining for the first time a gamma-ray imager and a hard X-ray imager. AGILE will be operational at the beginning of 2007 and it will provide crucial data for the study of Active Galactic Nuclei, Gamma-Ray Bursts, unidentified gamma-ray sources, Galactic compact objects, supernova remnants, TeV sources, and fundamental physics by microsecond timing. The AGILE instrument is designed to simultaneously detect and image photons in the 30 MeV - 50 GeV and 15 - 45 keV energy bands with excellent imaging and timing capabilities, and a largemore » field of view covering {approx} 1/5 of the entire sky at energies above 30 MeV. A CsI calorimeter is capable of GRB triggering in the energy band 0.3-50 MeV. The broadband detection of GRBs and the study of implications for particle acceleration and high energy emission are primary goals of the mission. AGILE can image GRBs with 2-3 arcminute error boxes in the hard X-ray range, and provide broadband photon-by photon detection in the 15-45 keV, 03-50 MeV, and 30 MeV-30 GeV energy ranges. Microsecond on-board photon tagging and a {approx} 100 microsecond gamma-ray detection deadtime will be crucial for fast GRB timing. On-board calculated GRB coordinates and energy fluxes will be quickly transmitted to the ground by an ORBCOMM transceiver. AGILE is now (January 2007) undergoing final satellite integration and testing. The PLS V launch is planned in spring 2007. AGILE is then foreseen to be fully operational during the summer of 2007.« less

Smart Healthcare Agility Management - Tojisha Doctrine by Self-synchronization

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

impossibility at our age. One is the technology of space elevator and another is the space-walk tourism which the project has existed since the mid-20 th...In regards to the technologies of space-walk tourism , increase of patents related to the technologies of Pulse Detention Engine worldwide is some...medicine, and there is some reference cases such as "open agility" and "closed agility" is immersed in training specifically in sports science which

Search of GRB with AGILE Minicalorimeter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuschino, F.; Labanti, C.; Galli, M.; Marisaldi, M.; Bulgarelli, A.; Gianotti, F.; Trifoglio, M.; Argan, A.; Del Monte, E.; Donnarumma, I.; Feroci, M.; Lazzarotto, F.; Pacciani, L.; Tavani, M.; Trois, A.

2008-04-01

AGILE, the small scientific mission of the Italian Space Agency devoted to Hard-X and Gamma-ray astrophysics, was successfully launched on April 23, 2007. The AGILE payload is composed of a tungsten-silicon tracker (ST), operating in the gamma-ray energy range 30 MeV 50 GeV; Super-AGILE, an X-ray imager operating in the energy range 15 45 keV; the Minicalorimeter (MCAL) and an Anticoincidence shield. MCAL is a detector of about 1400 cm2 sensitive in the range 0.3 200 MeV, that can be used both as a slave of the ST to contribute to the AGILE Gamma Ray imaging Detector (GRID operative mode) and autonomously for detection of transient events (BURST operative mode). MCAL is made of 30 CsI(Tl) bar-shaped scintillation detectors with photodiode readout at both ends, arranged in two orthogonal layers. Energy and position of interaction can be derived from a proper composition of the signals readout at the bar's ends, absolute time tagging can be achieved with a μs resolution. The Burst logic deals with various rate-meters on different time scales, energy bands, and MCAL spatial zones. Different algorithms can be chosen for Burst triggering considering also the contribution of other detectors like Super AGILE. In this paper the various trigger logic will be reviewed as well as their on-ground test performed with a dedicated experimental setup.

Documentation Driven Development for Complex Real-Time Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-12-01

This paper presents a novel approach for development of complex real - time systems , called the documentation-driven development (DDD) approach. This... time systems . DDD will also support automated software generation based on a computational model and some relevant techniques. DDD includes two main...stakeholders to be easily involved in development processes and, therefore, significantly improve the agility of software development for complex real

Distributed agile software development for the SKA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wicenec, Andreas; Parsons, Rebecca; Kitaeff, Slava; Vinsen, Kevin; Wu, Chen; Nelson, Paul; Reed, David

2012-09-01

The SKA software will most probably be developed by many groups distributed across the globe and coming from dierent backgrounds, like industries and research institutions. The SKA software subsystems will have to cover a very wide range of dierent areas, but still they have to react and work together like a single system to achieve the scientic goals and satisfy the challenging data ow requirements. Designing and developing such a system in a distributed fashion requires proper tools and the setup of an environment to allow for ecient detection and tracking of interface and integration issues in particular in a timely way. Agile development can provide much faster feedback mechanisms and also much tighter collaboration between the customer (scientist) and the developer. Continuous integration and continuous deployment on the other hand can provide much faster feedback of integration issues from the system level to the subsystem developers. This paper describes the results obtained from trialing a potential SKA development environment based on existing science software development processes like ALMA, the expected distribution of the groups potentially involved in the SKA development and experience gained in the development of large scale commercial software projects.

A coupling strategy for nonlocal and local diffusion models with mixed volume constraints and boundary conditions

DOE PAGES

D'Elia, Marta; Perego, Mauro; Bochev, Pavel B.; ...

2015-12-21

We develop and analyze an optimization-based method for the coupling of nonlocal and local diffusion problems with mixed volume constraints and boundary conditions. The approach formulates the coupling as a control problem where the states are the solutions of the nonlocal and local equations, the objective is to minimize their mismatch on the overlap of the nonlocal and local domains, and the controls are virtual volume constraints and boundary conditions. When some assumptions on the kernel functions hold, we prove that the resulting optimization problem is well-posed and discuss its implementation using Sandia’s agile software components toolkit. As a result,more » the latter provides the groundwork for the development of engineering analysis tools, while numerical results for nonlocal diffusion in three-dimensions illustrate key properties of the optimization-based coupling method.« less

Effects of short-term two weeks low intensity plyometrics combined with dynamic stretching training in improving vertical jump height and agility on trained basketball players.

PubMed

Ramachandran, Selvam; Pradhan, Binita

2014-01-01

Sport specific training in basketball players should focus on vertical jump height and agility in consistent with demands of the sport. Since plyometrics training improves vertical jump height and agility, it can be useful training strategy to improve the performance of basketball players. A convenience sample of thirty professional basketball players were recruited. Following pre-intervention assessment, interventions using plyometrics training and dynamic stretching protocol was administered on the basketball players. The outcome measures were assessed before the intervention and at the end of first and second week. Statistically significant improvements in vertical jump height (31.68 ± 11.64 to 37.57 ± 16.74; P < 0.012) and agility (16.75 ± 2.49 to 16.51 ± 2.80; P <0.00) were observed between pretest--posttest measures and no changes in muscle girth and isometric muscle strength. The study concludes that short term two weeks plyometrics training combined with dynamic stretching as a useful sport specific training strategy to improve vertical jump height and agility on trained basketball players.

Effect of core strength training on dynamic balance and agility in adolescent badminton players.

PubMed

Ozmen, Tarik; Aydogmus, Mert

2016-07-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate effect of core strength training (CST) on core endurance, dynamic balance and agility in adolescent badminton players. Twenty adolescent (age = 10.8 ± 0.3 years; height = 140.6 ± 4.4 cm, weight = 33.9 ± 5.8 kg) badminton players were randomly divided into two groups as training group (TG) and control (CG) group. All subjects were evaluated with Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT), Illinois Agility Test, and the core endurance tests. The TG completed CST twice a week, for 6 weeks. There were significant increases in (p < 0.05) directions of SEBT and core endurance tests (p < 0.05). However, no significant change was observed for agility (p > 0.05). The CST resulted in significant gains in directions of the SEBT and core endurances in adolescent badminton players, but not in agility. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gamma-ray blazars: the combined AGILE and MAGIC views

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Persic, M.; De Angelis, A.; Longo, F.; Tavani, M.

The large FOV of the AGILE Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID), 2.5 sr, will allow the whole sky to be surveyed once every 10 days in the 30 MeV - 50 GeV energy band down to 0.05 Crab Units. This fact gives the opportunity of performing the first flux-limited, high-energy g-ray all-sky survey. The high Galactic latitude point-source population is expected to be largely dominated by blazars. Several tens of blazars are expected to be detected by AGILE (e.g., Costamante & Ghisellini 2002), about half of which accessible to the ground-based MAGIC Cherenkov telescope. The latter can then carry out pointed observations of this subset of AGILE sources in the 50GeV - 10TeV band. Given the comparable sensitivities of AGILE/GRID and MAGIC in adjacent energy bands where the emitted radiation is produced by the same (e.g., SSC) mechanism, we expect that most of these sources can be detected by MAGIC. We expect this broadband g-ray strategy to enable discovery by MAGIC of 10-15 previously unknown TeV blazars.

Effects of Plymetrics Training and Weight Training on selected Motor Ability Components among University Male Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaikh, Alauddin; Mallick, Nazrul Islam

2012-11-01

Introduction: The aim of this study was to find out the effects of plyometrics training and weight training among university male students.Procedure: 60 male students from the different colleges of the Burdwan University were randomly selected as subjects and their age were 19-25 years served as Weight training Group (WTG), second group served as Plyometric Training Group (PTG) and the third group served as Control Group (CT). Eight weeks weight training and six weeks plyometric training were given for experiment accordingly. The control group was not given any training except of their routine. The selected subjects were measured of their motor ability components, speed, endurance, explosive power and agility. ANCOVA was calculation for statistical treatment.Finding: Plyometric training and weight training groups significantly increase speed, endurance, explosive power and agility.Conclusion: The plyometric training has significantly improved speed, explosive power, muscular endurance and agility. The weight training programme has significantly improved agility, muscular endurance, and explosive power. The plometric training is superior to weight training in improving explosive power, agility and muscular endurance.

Tailoring Agility: Promiscuous Pair Story Authoring and Value Calculation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tendon, Steve

This chapter describes how a multi-national software organization created a business plan involving business units from eight countries that followed an agile way, after two previously failed attempts with traditional approaches. The case is told by the consultant who initiated implementation of agility into requirements gathering, estimation and planning processes in an international setting. The agile approach was inspired by XP, but then tailored to meet the peculiar requirements. Two innovations were critical. The first innovation was promiscuous pair story authoring, where user stories were written by two people (similarly to pair programming), and the pairing changed very often (as frequently as every 15-20 minutes) to achieve promiscuity and cater for diverse point of views. The second innovation was an economic value evaluation (and not the cost) which was attributed to stories. Continuous recalculation of the financial value of the stories allowed to assess the projects financial return. In this case implementation of agility in the international context allowed the involved team members to reach consensus and unanimity of decisions, vision and purpose.

The characterization of four gene expression analysis in circulating tumor cells made by Multiplex-PCR from the AdnaTest kit on the lab-on-a-chip Agilent DNA 1000 platform.

PubMed

Škereňová, Markéta; Mikulová, Veronika; Čapoun, Otakar; Zima, Tomáš

2016-01-01

Nowadays, on-a-chip capillary electrophoresis is a routine method for the detection of PCR fragments. The Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer was one of the first commercial devices in this field. Our project was designed to study the characteristics of Agilent DNA 1000 kit in PCR fragment analysis as a part of circulating tumour cell (CTC) detection technique. Despite the common use of this kit a complex analysis of the results from a long-term project is still missing. A commercially available Agilent DNA 1000 kit was used as a final step in the CTC detection (AdnaTest) for the determination of the presence of PCR fragments generated by Multiplex PCR. Data from 30 prostate cancer patients obtained during two years of research were analyzed to determine the trueness and precision of the PCR fragment size determination. Additional experiments were performed to demonstrate the precision (repeatability, reproducibility) and robustness of PCR fragment concentration determination. The trueness and precision of the size determination was below 3% and 2% respectively. The repeatability of the concentration determination was below 15%. The difference in concentration determination increases when Multiplex-PCR/storage step is added between the two measurements of one sample. The characteristics established in our study are in concordance with the manufacturer's specifications established for a ladder as a sample. However, the concentration determination may vary depending on chip preparation, sample storage and concentration. The 15% variation of concentration determination repeatability was shown to be partly proportional and can be suppressed by proper normalization.

Coming Soon: The Bionic Man

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodard, Colin

2006-01-01

This article describes the latest advancement in the development of prosthetic arms. Bionic researchers are making significant advances in creating more agile prosthetics that users can control via their own nervous system. The bionic arm, which is still under development, can not only execute complex, thought-controlled movements, but also can…

Agile Project Management for e-Learning Developments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doherty, Iain

2010-01-01

We outline the project management tactics that we developed in praxis in order to manage elearning projects and show how our tactics were enhanced through implementing project management techniques from a formal project management methodology. Two key factors have contributed to our project management success. The first is maintaining a clear…

Agile Development of Advanced Prototypes

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-01

prostheses: retinal implants, cochlear implants, and neuroprosthetics (EEG controlled artificial limbs); an interactive, virtual experience...demonstrations allowing users to experience, from a patient’s perspective life with three different prostheses: retinal implants, cochlear implants...three experiences were researched and developed. The applications are interactive demonstrations of retinal implants, cochlear implants, and

Together We Innovate: Cross-Cultural Teamwork through Virtual Platforms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duus, Rikke; Cooray, Muditha

2014-01-01

In a global business environment, marketing education must support students to develop cross-cultural agility and adeptness with an aim to enhance their employability. This article contributes with an experiential cross-cultural exercise that enables students to develop new enterprises in collaboration with other students in a different country…

Form gene clustering method about pan-ethnic-group products based on emotional semantic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Dengkai; Ding, Jingjing; Gao, Minzhuo; Ma, Danping; Liu, Donghui

2016-09-01

The use of pan-ethnic-group products form knowledge primarily depends on a designer's subjective experience without user participation. The majority of studies primarily focus on the detection of the perceptual demands of consumers from the target product category. A pan-ethnic-group products form gene clustering method based on emotional semantic is constructed. Consumers' perceptual images of the pan-ethnic-group products are obtained by means of product form gene extraction and coding and computer aided product form clustering technology. A case of form gene clustering about the typical pan-ethnic-group products is investigated which indicates that the method is feasible. This paper opens up a new direction for the future development of product form design which improves the agility of product design process in the era of Industry 4.0.

Rovers for intelligent, agile traverse of challenging terrain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schenker, P.; Huntsberger, T.; Pirjanian, P.; Dubowsky, S.; Iagnemma, K.; Sujan, V.

2003-01-01

Planetary surface mobility has to date been limited to benign locations. If rover systems could be developed for more challenging terrain, e.g., sloped and irregularly feathered areas, then planetary science opportunities would be greatly expanded.

AstroCloud: An Agile platform for data visualization and specific analyzes in 2D and 3D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina, F. Z.; Salgado, R.; Bergel, A.; Infante, A.

2017-07-01

Nowadays, astronomers commonly run their own tools, or distributed computational packages, for data analysis and then visualizing the results with generic applications. This chain of processes comes at high cost: (a) analyses are manually applied, they are therefore difficult to be automatized, and (b) data have to be serialized, thus increasing the cost of parsing and saving intermediary data. We are developing AstroCloud, an agile visualization multipurpose platform intended for specific analyses of astronomical images (https://astrocloudy.wordpress.com). This platform incorporates domain-specific languages which make it easily extensible. AstroCloud supports customized plug-ins, which translate into time reduction on data analysis. Moreover, it also supports 2D and 3D rendering, including interactive features in real time. AstroCloud is under development, we are currently implementing different choices for data reduction and physical analyzes.

Laser development for optimal helicopter obstacle warning system LADAR performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yaniv, A.; Krupkin, V.; Abitbol, A.; Stern, J.; Lurie, E.; German, A.; Solomonovich, S.; Lubashitz, B.; Harel, Y.; Engart, S.; Shimoni, Y.; Hezy, S.; Biltz, S.; Kaminetsky, E.; Goldberg, A.; Chocron, J.; Zuntz, N.; Zajdman, A.

2005-04-01

Low lying obstacles present immediate danger to both military and civilian helicopters performing low-altitude flight missions. A LADAR obstacle detection system is the natural solution for enhancing helicopter safety and improving the pilot situation awareness. Elop is currently developing an advanced Surveillance and Warning Obstacle Ranging and Display (SWORD) system for the Israeli Air Force. Several key factors and new concepts have contributed to system optimization. These include an adaptive FOV, data memorization, autonomous obstacle detection and warning algorithms and the use of an agile laser transmitter. In the present work we describe the laser design and performance and discuss some of the experimental results. Our eye-safe laser is characterized by its pulse energy, repetition rate and pulse length agility. By dynamically controlling these parameters, we are able to locally optimize the system"s obstacle detection range and scan density in accordance with the helicopter instantaneous maneuver.

Adaptive Global Innovative Learning Environment for Glioblastoma: GBM AGILE.

PubMed

Alexander, Brian M; Ba, Sujuan; Berger, Mitchel S; Berry, Donald A; Cavenee, Webster K; Chang, Susan M; Cloughesy, Timothy F; Jiang, Tao; Khasraw, Mustafa; Li, Wenbin; Mittman, Robert; Poste, George H; Wen, Patrick Y; Yung, W K Alfred; Barker, Anna D

2018-02-15

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a deadly disease with few effective therapies. Although much has been learned about the molecular characteristics of the disease, this knowledge has not been translated into clinical improvements for patients. At the same time, many new therapies are being developed. Many of these therapies have potential biomarkers to identify responders. The result is an enormous amount of testable clinical questions that must be answered efficiently. The GBM Adaptive Global Innovative Learning Environment (GBM AGILE) is a novel, multi-arm, platform trial designed to address these challenges. It is the result of the collective work of over 130 oncologists, statisticians, pathologists, neurosurgeons, imagers, and translational and basic scientists from around the world. GBM AGILE is composed of two stages. The first stage is a Bayesian adaptively randomized screening stage to identify effective therapies based on impact on overall survival compared with a common control. This stage also finds the population in which the therapy shows the most promise based on clinical indication and biomarker status. Highly effective therapies transition in an inferentially seamless manner in the identified population to a second confirmatory stage. The second stage uses fixed randomization to confirm the findings from the first stage to support registration. Therapeutic arms with biomarkers may be added to the trial over time, while others complete testing. The design of GBM AGILE enables rapid clinical testing of new therapies and biomarkers to speed highly effective therapies to clinical practice. Clin Cancer Res; 24(4); 737-43. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

Frequency Agile Microwave Photonic Notch Filter in a Photonic Chip

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-21

AFRL-AFOSR-JP-TR-2016-0087 Frequency Agile Microwave Photonic Notch Filter in a Photonic Chip Benjamin Eggleton UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Final Report 10...REPORT TYPE      Final 3.  DATES COVERED (From - To)      14 May 2014 to 13 May 2016 4.  TITLE AND SUBTITLE Frequency Agile Microwave Photonic Notch Filter ...primary objective is to explore a novel class microwave photonic (MWP) notch filter with a very narrow isolation bandwidth, an ultrahigh stopband

Toward a Leaner, More Agile Force: The Army in a Time of Fiscal Austerity

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-27

challenges. Toward a Leaner, More Agile Force: The Army in a Time of Fiscal Austerity Word Count: 1817 Toward a Leaner, More Agile Force: The...Army in a Time of Fiscal Austerity As the Department of Defense seeks to cut its budget, the overall force structure of the Army will continue to...degree of flexibility during previous instances of fiscal austerity , and that flexibility has not been lost. The Army is a learning organization as

An Improved LC-MS/MS Method for Simultaneous Determination of the Eleven Bioactive Constituents for Quality Control of Radix Angelicae Pubescentis and Its Related Preparations

PubMed Central

Li, Jin; Zhang, Qiu-Hong; He, Jun; Liu, Er-wei; Gao, Xiu-mei; Chang, Yan-xu

2015-01-01

An improved LC-MS/MS method was developed for simultaneous determination of eleven bioactive constituents of Radix Angelicae Pubescentis and its related preparations. It was the first report on the quantification of bioactive constituents in different preparations of Radix Angelicae Pubescentis by LC-MS/MS analytical method. These samples were separated with an Agilent Zorbax Extend reversed-phase C18 column (1.8 μm, 4.6 × 100 mm) by linear gradient elution using aqueous ammonium acetate and acetonitrile as mobile phase. The flow rate was 0.3 mL min−1. The eleven bioactive constituents showed good regression (R > 0.990) within test ranges and the recoveries were in the range of 87.1–110%. The limit of detections and quantifications for most of the major constituents were less than 0.5 and 1.0 ng mL−1, respectively. All results indicated that the developed method could be readily utilized as a suitable quality control method for Radix Angelicae Pubescentis and related preparations. PMID:26078992

The effects of 6 weeks of preseason skill-based conditioning on physical performance in male volleyball players.

PubMed

Trajković, Nebojša; Milanović, Zoran; Sporis, Goran; Milić, Vladan; Stanković, Ratko

2012-06-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in physical performance after a 6-week skill-based conditioning training program in male competitive volleyball players. Sixteen male volleyball players (mean ± SD: age 22.3 ± 3.7 years, body height 190.7 ± 4.2 cm, and body mass 78.4 ± 4.5 kg) participated in this study. The players were tested for sprinting (5- and 10-m sprint), agility, and jumping performance (the vertical-jump test, the spike-jump test, and the standing broad jump [SBJ]). Compared with pretraining, there was a significant improvement in the 5- and 10-m speed. There were no significant differences between pretraining and posttraining for lower-body muscular power (vertical-jump height, spike-jump height, and SBJ) and agility. Based on our results, it could be concluded that a preseason skill-based conditioning program does not offer a sufficient stimulus for volleyball players. Therefore, a general conditioning and hypertrophy training along with specific volleyball conditioning is necessary in the preseason period for the development of the lower-body strength, agility and speed performance in volleyball players.

Frequency-agile wireless sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arms, Steven W.; Townsend, Christopher P.; Churchill, David L.; Hamel, Michael J.; Galbreath, Jacob H.; Mundell, Steven W.

2004-07-01

Our goal was to demonstrate a wireless communications system capable of simultaneous, high speed data communications from a variety of sensors. We have previously reported on the design and application of 2 KHz data logging transceiver nodes, however, only one node may stream data at a time, since all nodes on the network use the same communications frequency. To overcome these limitations, second generation data logging transceivers were developed with software programmable radio frequency (RF) communications. Each node contains on-board memory (2 Mbytes), sensor excitation, instrumentation amplifiers with programmable gains & offsets, multiplexer, 16 bit A/D converter, microcontroller, and frequency agile, bi-directional, frequency shift keyed (FSK) RF serial data link. These systems are capable of continuous data transmission from 26 distinct nodes (902-928 MHz band, 75 kbaud). The system was demonstrated in a compelling structural monitoring application. The National Parks Service requested a means for continual monitoring and recording of sensor data from the Liberty Bell during a move to a new location (Philadelphia, October 2003). Three distinct, frequency agile, wireless sensing nodes were used to detect visible crack shear/opening micromotions, triaxial accelerations, and hairline crack tip strains. The wireless sensors proved to be useful in protecting the Liberty Bell.

Agile: From Software to Mission System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trimble, Jay; Shirley, Mark H.; Hobart, Sarah Groves

2016-01-01

The Resource Prospector (RP) is an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technology demonstration mission, designed to search for volatiles at the Lunar South Pole. This is NASA's first near real time tele-operated rover on the Moon. The primary objective is to search for volatiles at one of the Lunar Poles. The combination of short mission duration, a solar powered rover, and the requirement to explore shadowed regions makes for an operationally challenging mission. To maximize efficiency and flexibility in Mission System design and thus to improve the performance and reliability of the resulting Mission System, we are tailoring Agile principles that we have used effectively in ground data system software development and applying those principles to the design of elements of the mission operations system.

Organizational Agility Model and Simulation

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

and response profile. Also, compensatory, anticipatory , adaptive, and learning behaviours (methods) are employed to modify stiffness and resistance...The hypothetical profile in Figure 1b shows some complexity changes for a major sporting event or...classical motion tracking problem using compensatory, anticipatory , adaptive, and learning behaviours. These behaviours modify the size, resistance, and

CRO Crowing About Their Growth.

PubMed

Carroll, John

2005-12-01

Contract research organizations have quietly and quickly become a force in drug development and clinical trial recruitment. In supplanting academia as the primary route to market, they have the kind of business plan and agility that only a biotech could love.

EDGE3: A web-based solution for management and analysis of Agilent two color microarray experiments

PubMed Central

Vollrath, Aaron L; Smith, Adam A; Craven, Mark; Bradfield, Christopher A

2009-01-01

Background The ability to generate transcriptional data on the scale of entire genomes has been a boon both in the improvement of biological understanding and in the amount of data generated. The latter, the amount of data generated, has implications when it comes to effective storage, analysis and sharing of these data. A number of software tools have been developed to store, analyze, and share microarray data. However, a majority of these tools do not offer all of these features nor do they specifically target the commonly used two color Agilent DNA microarray platform. Thus, the motivating factor for the development of EDGE3 was to incorporate the storage, analysis and sharing of microarray data in a manner that would provide a means for research groups to collaborate on Agilent-based microarray experiments without a large investment in software-related expenditures or extensive training of end-users. Results EDGE3 has been developed with two major functions in mind. The first function is to provide a workflow process for the generation of microarray data by a research laboratory or a microarray facility. The second is to store, analyze, and share microarray data in a manner that doesn't require complicated software. To satisfy the first function, EDGE3 has been developed as a means to establish a well defined experimental workflow and information system for microarray generation. To satisfy the second function, the software application utilized as the user interface of EDGE3 is a web browser. Within the web browser, a user is able to access the entire functionality, including, but not limited to, the ability to perform a number of bioinformatics based analyses, collaborate between research groups through a user-based security model, and access to the raw data files and quality control files generated by the software used to extract the signals from an array image. Conclusion Here, we present EDGE3, an open-source, web-based application that allows for the storage, analysis, and controlled sharing of transcription-based microarray data generated on the Agilent DNA platform. In addition, EDGE3 provides a means for managing RNA samples and arrays during the hybridization process. EDGE3 is freely available for download at . PMID:19732451

EDGE(3): a web-based solution for management and analysis of Agilent two color microarray experiments.

PubMed

Vollrath, Aaron L; Smith, Adam A; Craven, Mark; Bradfield, Christopher A

2009-09-04

The ability to generate transcriptional data on the scale of entire genomes has been a boon both in the improvement of biological understanding and in the amount of data generated. The latter, the amount of data generated, has implications when it comes to effective storage, analysis and sharing of these data. A number of software tools have been developed to store, analyze, and share microarray data. However, a majority of these tools do not offer all of these features nor do they specifically target the commonly used two color Agilent DNA microarray platform. Thus, the motivating factor for the development of EDGE(3) was to incorporate the storage, analysis and sharing of microarray data in a manner that would provide a means for research groups to collaborate on Agilent-based microarray experiments without a large investment in software-related expenditures or extensive training of end-users. EDGE(3) has been developed with two major functions in mind. The first function is to provide a workflow process for the generation of microarray data by a research laboratory or a microarray facility. The second is to store, analyze, and share microarray data in a manner that doesn't require complicated software. To satisfy the first function, EDGE3 has been developed as a means to establish a well defined experimental workflow and information system for microarray generation. To satisfy the second function, the software application utilized as the user interface of EDGE(3) is a web browser. Within the web browser, a user is able to access the entire functionality, including, but not limited to, the ability to perform a number of bioinformatics based analyses, collaborate between research groups through a user-based security model, and access to the raw data files and quality control files generated by the software used to extract the signals from an array image. Here, we present EDGE(3), an open-source, web-based application that allows for the storage, analysis, and controlled sharing of transcription-based microarray data generated on the Agilent DNA platform. In addition, EDGE(3) provides a means for managing RNA samples and arrays during the hybridization process. EDGE(3) is freely available for download at http://edge.oncology.wisc.edu/.

A Control Law Design Method Facilitating Control Power, Robustness, Agility, and Flying Qualities Tradeoffs: CRAFT

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Patrick C.; Davidson, John B.

1998-01-01

A multi-input, multi-output control law design methodology, named "CRAFT", is presented. CRAFT stands for the design objectives addressed, namely, Control power, Robustness, Agility, and Flying Qualities Tradeoffs. The methodology makes use of control law design metrics from each of the four design objective areas. It combines eigenspace assignment, which allows for direct specification of eigenvalues and eigenvectors, with a graphical approach for representing the metrics that captures numerous design goals in one composite illustration. Sensitivity of the metrics to eigenspace choice is clearly displayed, enabling the designer to assess the cost of design tradeoffs. This approach enhances the designer's ability to make informed design tradeoffs and to reach effective final designs. An example of the CRAFT methodology applied to an advanced experimental fighter and discussion of associated design issues are provided.

Evaluation of the Responsiveness Index of the Family Health Strategy in rural areas.

PubMed

Shimizu, Helena Eri; Trindade, Josélia de Souza; Mesquita, Monique Santos de; Ramos, Maíra Catharina

2018-01-01

Objective To evaluate the responsiveness of Family Health Strategy units in the rural area of the Federal District registered in the National Program for Improvement of Access and Quality of Basic Care. Method Descriptive study, which used a questionnaire to evaluate the following dimensions: a) respect for people: dignity, confidentiality of information, autonomy, communication; b) customer orientation: facilities, choice of the professional, agile service and social support. Results The users' assessment of responsiveness was 0.755. The dimensions related to respect for people received an index of 0.814 and customer orientation was 0.599. Conclusion Care is given that shows respect for human dignity, but progress needs to be made in building confidentiality and the autonomy of users. Infrastructure is poor and care is not agile, highlighting the need for greater investments in rural areas.

Implications of the Social Web Environment for User Story Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fancott, Terrill; Kamthan, Pankaj; Shahmir, Nazlie

2012-01-01

In recent years, user stories have emerged in academia, as well as industry, as a notable approach for expressing user requirements of interactive software systems that are developed using agile methodologies. There are social aspects inherent to software development, in general, and user stories, in particular. This paper presents directions and…

An Integrated Toolset for Agile Systems Engineering Requirements Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-19

Tool STDUse Cases Collaboration Tool Data Mgmt T l 1 e a a managemen oo Run the test in the test lab, redline the STD Update the collaboration...Boeing Defense, Space & Security Lean-Agile Software A I t t d T l t fn n egra e oo se or Agile Systems Engineering Requirements Analysis Phyllis...Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration R l ti (EAR) h i l bl b t h th i th BOEING is a trademark of Boeing Management Company. Copyright © 2010

Control design for future agile fighters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Patrick C.; Davidson, John B.

1991-01-01

The CRAFT control design methodology is presented. CRAFT stands for the design objectives addressed, namely, Control power, Robustness, Agility, and Flying Qualities Tradeoffs. The approach combines eigenspace assignment, which allows for direct specification of eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and a graphical approach for representing control design metrics that captures numerous design goals in one composite illustration. The methodology makes use of control design metrics from four design objective areas, namely, control power, robustness, agility, and flying qualities. An example of the CRAFT methodology as well as associated design issues are presented.

Agile Port System Transition Support Transition Plan Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-29

Operational Needs addressed • Proposed Solutions • Current Status • Risk • A Business Case for transition • Appropriate Funding Sources • Transition...13  3.1.6  Risk  Table...18  3.2.6  Risk  Table

Dynamic mobility applications open source application development portal task 6.1a : architecture and high-level design task 6.1b : list of requirements included in initial architecture and high-level design.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-10-12

This document offers a detailed discussion of the systems functionality that was planned to be implemented. However, following the Agile Development methodology, during the course of system development, diligent decisions were made based on the la...

Isometric Mid-Thigh Pull Correlates With Strength, Sprint, and Agility Performance in Collegiate Rugby Union Players.

PubMed

Wang, Ran; Hoffman, Jay R; Tanigawa, Satoru; Miramonti, Amelia A; La Monica, Michael B; Beyer, Kyle S; Church, David D; Fukuda, David H; Stout, Jeffrey R

2016-11-01

Wang, R, Hoffman, JR, Tanigawa, S, Miramonti, AA, La Monica, MB, Beyer, KS, Church, DD, Fukuda, DH, and Stout, JR. Isometric mid-thigh pull correlates with strength, sprint, and agility performance in collegiate rugby union players. J Strength Cond Res 30(11): 3051-3056, 2016-The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationships between isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) force and strength, sprint, and agility performance in collegiate rugby union players. Fifteen members of a champion-level university's club rugby union team (mean ± SD: 20.67 ± 1.23 years, 1.78 ± 0.06 m, and 86.51 ± 14.18 kg) participated in this investigation. One repetition maximum (1RM) squat, IMTP, speed (40 m sprint), and agility (proagility test and T-test) were performed during 3 separate testing sessions. Rate of force development (RFD) and force output at 30, 50, 90, 100, 150, 200, and 250 milliseconds of IMTP, as well as the peak value were determined. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between these measures. Performance in the 1RM squat was significantly correlated to the RFD between 90 and 250 milliseconds from the start of contraction (r's ranging from 0.595 to 0.748), and peak force (r = 0.866, p ≤ 0.05). One repetition maximum squat was also correlated to force outputs between 90 and 250 milliseconds (r's ranging from 0.757 to 0.816, p ≤ 0.05). Sprint time over the first 5 m in the 40 m sprint was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) correlated with peak RFD (r = -0.539) and RFD between 30 and 50 milliseconds (r's = -0.570 and -0.527, respectively). Time for the proagility test was correlated with peak RFD (r = -0.523, p ≤ 0.05) and RFD between 30 and 100 milliseconds (r's ranging from -0.518 to -0.528, p's < 0.05). Results of this investigation indicate that IMTP variables are significantly associated with strength, agility, and sprint performance. Future studies should examine IMTP as a potential tool to monitor athletic performance during the daily training of rugby union players.

Agility, gnosis, and graphaesthesia for the toes and fingers in children: normative data (ages 7-14 years).

PubMed

Richards, P M; Persinger, M A

2004-01-01

The differential representation of the toes/feet and fingers/hands along the medial and lateral surfaces of the cerebral cortices, respectively, may have diagnostic utility. Normative data for errors for toe and finger graphaesthesia and gnosis, as well as foot and finger agility, were collected for 86 children (ages 7 to 14). The fingers were more agile than the feet, and the right side of the body was more agile than the left side, regardless of age. A marked improvement in toe gnosis, but not in finger gnosis occurred in children after 11-12 years of age. A statistically significant interaction between laterality and gender was due to the greater numbers of errors for both toe and finger gnosis, displayed by girls for the left sides of their bodies compared to their right sides. This discrepancy was not significant for boys.

Prediction of performance on the RCMP physical ability requirement evaluation.

PubMed

Stanish, H I; Wood, T M; Campagna, P

1999-08-01

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police use the Physical Ability Requirement Evaluation (PARE) for screening applicants. The purposes of this investigation were to identify those field tests of physical fitness that were associated with PARE performance and determine which most accurately classified successful and unsuccessful PARE performers. The participants were 27 female and 21 male volunteers. Testing included measures of aerobic power, anaerobic power, agility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and body composition. Multiple regression analysis revealed a three-variable model for males (70-lb bench press, standing long jump, and agility) explaining 79% of the variability in PARE time, whereas a one-variable model (agility) explained 43% of the variability for females. Analysis of the classification accuracy of the males' data was prohibited because 91% of the males passed the PARE. Classification accuracy of the females' data, using logistic regression, produced a two-variable model (agility, 1.5-mile endurance run) with 93% overall classification accuracy.

User-driven product data manager system design

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1995-03-01

With the infusion of information technologies into product development and production processes, effective management of product data is becoming essential to modern production enterprises. When an enterprise-wide Product Data Manager (PDM) is implemented, PDM designers must satisfy the requirements of individual users with different job functions and requirements, as well as the requirements of the enterprise as a whole. Concern must also be shown for the interrelationships between information, methods for retrieving archival information and integration of the PDM into the product development process. This paper describes a user-driven approach applied to PDM design for an agile manufacturing pilot projectmore » at Sandia National Laboratories that has been successful in achieving a much faster design-to-production process for a precision electro mechanical surety device.« less

The Yo-Yo IR2 test: physiological response, reliability, and application to elite soccer.

PubMed

Oberacker, Lisa M; Davis, Shala E; Haff, G Gregory; Witmer, Chad A; Moir, Gavin L

2012-10-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of resistance training performed on either a stable or unstable surface on performance tests in female soccer players. Nineteen National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II female soccer players were assigned to either an unstable training group (UST: 19.0 ± 0.47 years; 1.69 ± 6.4 m; 67.8 ± 7.7 kg) or a stable training group (ST: 19.6 ± 0.49 years; 1.64 ± 3.2 m; 62.7 ± 6.27 kg). Player positions were distributed evenly between the groups. Both the groups followed a 5-week periodized resistance training program designed to develop maximum muscular strength. The groups performed the same exercises during each workout, with the UST performing 2 of the exercises in each session on an unstable surface. Pretraining and posttraining measures of straight-line sprint speed, planned and reactive agility, aerobic capacity, and countermovement vertical jump (CMJ) were taken. Significant main effects for time were reported for straight-line sprint speed, planned agility, and reactive agility with both groups demonstrating improvements during the posttraining testing session. The ST demonstrated a significant increase in CMJ during the posttraining session (change in mean: 0.04 m) in contrast to the decline demonstrated by the UST (change in mean: -0.01 m). Performing resistance training exercises on an unstable surface confers no advantage over traditional resistance training exercises for improving the speed, agility, and aerobic capacity of female soccer players. Furthermore, the use of an unstable surface may inhibit the effects of resistance training on vertical jump height, an important variable in soccer performance.

Interprofessional education in Erlangen: A needs analysis and the conceptual work of a student working group.

PubMed

Konietzko, Raffael; Frank, Luca; Maudanz, Nils; Binder, Johannes

2016-01-01

Interprofessional education (IPE) is receiving growing significance both nationally and internationally. Despite this, organizational and curricular changes are posing challenges. The level of need for IPE and how changes can be made to curricula and infrastructure were investigated at the University of Erlangen in Germany. The student working group for interprofessional teaching (AGIL) has turned its attention to these issues. This group is composed of students from medicine, dentistry, molecular medicine, medical technology and speech therapy. In June, 2015, a needs analysis was carried out among the students in the study programs represented in the working group to assess the actual and target situation concerning IPE (n=1,105). In the search for answers and to better measure any needs, contact was sought with instructors. The majority of students feel that they are insufficiently educated in terms of interprofessional skills. A large proportion of the students wish to see expansion of the IPE offerings. Students also expressed a desire for additional spaces and welcomed the idea of an interprofessional learning center. AGIL began establishing interprofessional electives in October 2015. A concept for an interprofessional learning center was developed. Based on the survey results, a need for improvements to curricula and infrastructure can be seen; however, the results are limited to the student point of view. AGIL would like to establish more interprofessional electives. These courses would then facilitate curricular implementation. Modern ideas about study environments could be applied to IPE, in particular to promote informal forms of learning. Contact with instructors was crucial for the project work and should be expanded. Realizing and financing the learning center in Erlangen are now the future goals of AGIL. The aim is to create a foundation for this purpose.

Physical performance characteristics of high-level female soccer players 12-21 years of age.

PubMed

Vescovi, J D; Rupf, R; Brown, T D; Marques, M C

2011-10-01

Performance assessment has become an invaluable component of monitoring player development and within talent identification programs in soccer, yet limited performance data are available for female soccer players across a wide age range. The aim of this study was to describe the physical performance characteristics of female soccer players ranging in age from 12 to 21 years. High-level female soccer players (n=414) were evaluated on linear sprinting (36.6 m with 9.1 m splits), countermovement jump (CMJ), and two agility tests. Separate one-way ANOVAs were used to compare performance characteristics between (1) each year of chronological age and (2) three age groups: 12-13 years, n=78, 14-17 years, n=223, and 18-21 years, n=113. Mean linear sprint speed over 9.1 m was similar across all chronological ages, however sprint speed over the final 9.1 m, CMJ height and agility scores improved until approximately 15-16 years. Outcomes from the group data indicated better performance on all tests for the 14-17-year-old group compared with the 12-13-year-old group. Additionally, sprint speed on the second and fourth 9.1 m splits and 36.6 m sprint speed as well as performance on the Illinois agility test was better in the 18-21-year-old group compared with the 14-17-year-old group. The findings from this study indicate that marked improvements of high intensity short duration work occur up until 15-16 years. Smaller gains in performance were observed beyond 16 years of age as evidenced by better performance on 36.6 m sprint speed, several sprint splits and the Illinois agility test in the college aged players (i.e., 18-21-year-old group). © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Mathematics, Information, and Life Sciences

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-05

INS • Chip -scale atomic clocks • Ad hoc networks • Polymorphic networks • Agile networks • Laser communications • Frequency-agile RF systems...FY12 BAA Bionavigation (Bio) Neuromorphic Computing (Human) Multi-scale Modeling (Math) Foundations of Information Systems (Info) BRI

Creating an Agile ECE Learning Environment through Engineering Clinics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jansson, P. M.; Ramachandran, R. P.; Schmalzel, J. L.; Mandayam, S. A.

2010-01-01

To keep up with rapidly advancing technology, numerous innovations to the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) curriculum, learning methods and pedagogy have been envisioned, tested, and implemented. It is safe to say that no single approach will work for all of the diverse ECE technologies and every type of learner. However, a few key…

How Lean the Machine: How Agile the Mind?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkinson, Simon Reay; Goodger, Amanda; Caldwell, Nicholas; Hossain, Liaquat

2012-01-01

Purpose: Competition for resources appears to be increasing at a time of political, security (including energy, food and climate) and economic change; leading to potential collapse. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to examine the impact of policies exercised at the macro level on methods and processes applied at the micro level through, for…

Effect of RNA Integrity Determined With the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer on Bacterial RNA Quantification with RT-PCR

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

RNA integrity is critical for successful RNA quantification. The level of integrity required differs among sources and extraction procedures and has not been determined for bacterial RNA. Three RNA isolation methods were evaluated for their ability to produce high quality RNA from D. dadantii. The i...

Innovate or Perish: Lessons for Dealing with Hard Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tosti, Donald

2010-01-01

One of the most important variables in the success of a business over time is the extent to which the organization develops innovative business strategies and has an agile culture that supports such innovation. This article describes ways of accomplishing both requirements.

From vision to reality: strategic agility in complex times.

PubMed

Soule, Barbara M

2002-04-01

Health care is experiencing turbulent times. Change has become the constant. Complexity and sometimes chaos are common characteristics. Within this context, infection control professionals strive to maintain their practices, achieve excellence, and plan for the future. As demands shift and expectations increase, professionals in infection surveillance, prevention, and control (ISPC) programs must develop strategic agility. This article describes the rationale for strategic thinking and action set within a framework of 6 thought-provoking questions. It also describes a number of techniques to use for thinking strategically, such as designing visions, becoming entrepreneurial, and engaging in creative and futuristic exercises to evaluate possibilities for program direction. These techniques can guide individual professionals or ISPC programs in strategic decision-making that will increase the ability to survive and succeed in the future.

A new algorithm for agile satellite-based acquisition operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bunkheila, Federico; Ortore, Emiliano; Circi, Christian

2016-06-01

Taking advantage of the high manoeuvrability and the accurate pointing of the so-called agile satellites, an algorithm which allows efficient management of the operations concerning optical acquisitions is described. Fundamentally, this algorithm can be subdivided into two parts: in the first one the algorithm operates a geometric classification of the areas of interest and a partitioning of these areas into stripes which develop along the optimal scan directions; in the second one it computes the succession of the time windows in which the acquisition operations of the areas of interest are feasible, taking into consideration the potential restrictions associated with these operations and with the geometric and stereoscopic constraints. The results and the performances of the proposed algorithm have been determined and discussed considering the case of the Periodic Sun-Synchronous Orbits.

Frequency-agile THz-wave generation and detection system using nonlinear frequency conversion at room temperature.

PubMed

Guo, Ruixiang; Ikar'i, Tomofumi; Zhang, Jun; Minamide, Hiroaki; Ito, Hiromasa

2010-08-02

A surface-emitting THz parametric oscillator is set up to generate a narrow-linewidth, nanosecond pulsed THz-wave radiation. The THz-wave radiation is coherently detected using the frequency up-conversion in MgO: LiNbO(3) crystal. Fast frequency tuning and automatic achromatic THz-wave detection are achieved through a special optical design, including a variable-angle mirror and 1:1 telescope devices in the pump and THz-wave beams. We demonstrate a frequency-agile THz-wave parametric generation and THz-wave coherent detection system. This system can be used as a frequency-domain THz-wave spectrometer operated at room-temperature, and there are a high possible to develop into a real-time two-dimensional THz spectral imaging system.

Open Technology Development: Roadmap Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-04-01

65 RECOMMENDATION 1: APPROVE AND FUND AN OTD STRIKE TEAM................. 67 Senior Leadership...negotiated, rather than an innate property of the product. Software’s replicability also means it can be incorporated into other software systems without...to leverage an open code development model, DoD would provide the market incentives to increase the agility and competitiveness of the industrial

First-Year Students' Impressions of Pair Programming in CS1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, Beth; Hanks, Brian

2008-01-01

Pair programming, as part of the Agile Development process, has noted benefits in professional software development scenarios. These successes have led to a rise in use of pair programming in educational settings, particularly in Computer Science 1 (CS1). Specifically, McDowell et al. [2006] has shown that students using pair programming in CS1 do…

Improving the Agility of the NATO Response Force (NRF)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

the MCCE and the MIH helicopter task force. As 168 Hauser and Kernic eds., 140-141. 169 NATO...agility through unified efforts. Initiatives such as the MIH helicopter task force and the Movement Coordination Centre Europe (MCCE) are positive

Research to Operations of Ionospheric Scintillation Detection and Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, J.; Scro, K.; Payne, D.; Ruhge, R.; Erickson, B.; Andorka, S.; Ludwig, C.; Karmann, J.; Ebelhar, D.

Ionospheric Scintillation refers to random fluctuations in phase and amplitude of electromagnetic waves caused by a rapidly varying refractive index due to turbulent features in the ionosphere. Scintillation of transionospheric UHF and L-Band radio frequency signals is particularly troublesome since this phenomenon can lead to degradation of signal strength and integrity that can negatively impact satellite communications and navigation, radar, or radio signals from other systems that traverse or interact with the ionosphere. Although ionospheric scintillation occurs in both the equatorial and polar regions of the Earth, the focus of this modeling effort is on equatorial scintillation. The ionospheric scintillation model is data-driven in a sense that scintillation observations are used to perform detection and characterization of scintillation structures. These structures are then propagated to future times using drift and decay models to represent the natural evolution of ionospheric scintillation. The impact on radio signals is also determined by the model and represented in graphical format to the user. A frequency scaling algorithm allows for impact analysis on frequencies other than the observation frequencies. The project began with lab-grade software and through a tailored Agile development process, deployed operational-grade code to a DoD operational center. The Agile development process promotes adaptive promote adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, continuous improvement, regular collaboration with the customer, and encourage rapid and flexible response to customer-driven changes. The Agile philosophy values individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a rigid plan. The end result was an operational capability that met customer expectations. Details of the model and the process of operational integration are discussed as well as lessons learned to improve performance on future projects.

Maturity-Associated Variation in Functional Characteristics Of Elite Youth Tennis Players.

PubMed

Myburgh, Gillian K; Cumming, Sean P; Silva, Manuel Coelho E; Cooke, Karl; Malina, Robert M

2016-11-01

To evaluate relationships among skeletal maturity, body size, and functional capacities of elite junior tennis players. Participants were 88 elite British Junior tennis players (44 male; 44 female), 8-16 years of age (12.4 } 1.9 years). Skeletal age estimated maturty. Anthropometry, grip strength, countermovement jump, squat jump, forehand agility, backhand agility, Yo-Yo, 5-m, 10-m and 20-m sprints were measured. Comparative analysis for each sex was performed, relating advanced maturers (Male: 15; Female: 29) to a combination of on-time and late maturers (Male: 29; Female: 31). ANCOVAs were used to determine absolute differences between male and female players and between the 2 maturity subgroups, with chronological age as the covariate. Advanced maturity afforded male players advantages in absolute measures of grip strength, speed, upper and lower body power but not in acceleration, agility or aerobic endurance. Male players were significantly taller than females in the U13-U16 age group. Advanced maturity in female players afforded advantages in absolute measures of grip strength, agility and overhead power, but not in backhand agility, aerobic endurance or squat jump power. It is important that talent identification protocols consider the maturity of youth athletes to more satisfactorily address athletic potential rather than transient physical capabilities.

Towards agile large-scale predictive modelling in drug discovery with flow-based programming design principles.

PubMed

Lampa, Samuel; Alvarsson, Jonathan; Spjuth, Ola

2016-01-01

Predictive modelling in drug discovery is challenging to automate as it often contains multiple analysis steps and might involve cross-validation and parameter tuning that create complex dependencies between tasks. With large-scale data or when using computationally demanding modelling methods, e-infrastructures such as high-performance or cloud computing are required, adding to the existing challenges of fault-tolerant automation. Workflow management systems can aid in many of these challenges, but the currently available systems are lacking in the functionality needed to enable agile and flexible predictive modelling. We here present an approach inspired by elements of the flow-based programming paradigm, implemented as an extension of the Luigi system which we name SciLuigi. We also discuss the experiences from using the approach when modelling a large set of biochemical interactions using a shared computer cluster.Graphical abstract.

Formal Approach For Resilient Reachability based on End-System Route Agility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rauf, Usman; Gillani, Fida; Al-Shaer, Ehab

The deterministic nature of existing routing protocols has resulted into an ossified Internet with static and predictable network routes. This gives persistent attackers (e.g. eavesdroppers and DDoS attackers) plenty of time to study the network and identify the vulnerable links (critical) to plan a devastating and stealthy attack. Recently, route mutation approaches have been proposed to address such issues. However, these approaches incur significantly high overhead and depend upon the availability of disjoint routes in the network, which inherently limit their use for mission critical services. To cope with these issues, we extend the current routing architecture to consider end-hostsmore » as routing elements, and present a formal method based agile defense mechanism to increase resiliency of the existing cyber infrastructure. The major contributions of this paper include: (1) formalization of efficient and resilient End to End (E2E) reachability problem as a constraint satisfaction problem, which identifies the potential end-hosts to reach a destination while satisfying resilience and QoS constraints, (2) design and implementation of a novel decentralized End Point Route Mutation (EPRM) protocol, and (3) design and implementation of planning algorithm to minimize the overlap between multiple flows, for the sake of maximizing the agility in the system. Our implementation and evaluation validates the correctness, effectiveness and scalability of the proposed approach.« less

Gastrointestinal protists and helminths of habituated agile mangabeys (Cercocebus agilis) at Bai Hokou, Central African Republic.

PubMed

Pafčo, Barbora; Tehlárová, Zuzana; Jirků Pomajbíková, Kateřina; Todd, Angelique; Hasegawa, Hideo; Petrželková, Klára J; Modrý, David

2018-02-01

Infectious diseases including those caused by parasites can be a major threat to the conservation of endangered species. There is thus a great need for studies describing parasite infections of these species in the wild. Here we present data on parasite diversity in an agile mangabey (Cercocebus agilis) group in Bai Hokou, Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (DSPA), Central African Republic. We coproscopically analyzed 140 mangabey fecal samples by concentration techniques (flotation and sedimentation). Agile mangabeys hosted a broad diversity of protistan parasites/commensals, namely amoebas (Entamoeba spp., Iodamoeba buetschlli), a Buxtonella-like ciliate and several parasitic helminths: strongylid and spirurid nematodes, Primasubulura sp., Enterobius sp., and Trichuris sp. Importantly, some of the detected parasite taxa might be of potential zoonotic importance, such as Entamoeba spp. and the helminths Enterobius sp., Trichuris sp., and strongylid nematodes. Detailed morphological examination of ciliate cysts found in mangabeys and comparison with cysts of Balantioides coli from domestic pigs showed no distinguishing structures, although significant differences in cyst size were recorded. Scanning or transmission electron microscopy combined with molecular taxonomy methods are needed to properly identify these ciliates. Further studies using molecular epidemiology are warranted to better understand cross-species transmission and the zoonotic potential of parasites in sympatric non-human primates and humans cohabiting DSPA. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Flight control with adaptive critic neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Dongchen

2001-10-01

In this dissertation, the adaptive critic neural network technique is applied to solve complex nonlinear system control problems. Based on dynamic programming, the adaptive critic neural network can embed the optimal solution into a neural network. Though trained off-line, the neural network forms a real-time feedback controller. Because of its general interpolation properties, the neurocontroller has inherit robustness. The problems solved here are an agile missile control for U.S. Air Force and a midcourse guidance law for U.S. Navy. In the first three papers, the neural network was used to control an air-to-air agile missile to implement a minimum-time heading-reverse in a vertical plane corresponding to following conditions: a system without constraint, a system with control inequality constraint, and a system with state inequality constraint. While the agile missile is a one-dimensional problem, the midcourse guidance law is the first test-bed for multiple-dimensional problem. In the fourth paper, the neurocontroller is synthesized to guide a surface-to-air missile to a fixed final condition, and to a flexible final condition from a variable initial condition. In order to evaluate the adaptive critic neural network approach, the numerical solutions for these cases are also obtained by solving two-point boundary value problem with a shooting method. All of the results showed that the adaptive critic neural network could solve complex nonlinear system control problems.

Edge method for on-orbit defocus assessment.

PubMed

Viallefont-Robinet, Françoise

2010-09-27

In the earth observation domain, two classes of sensors may be distinguished: a class for which sensor performances are driven by radiometric accuracy of the images and a class for which sensor performances are driven by spatial resolution. In this latter case, as spatial resolution depends on the triplet constituted by the Ground Sampling Distance (GSD), Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), refocusing, acting as an MTF improvement, is very important. Refocusing is not difficult by itself as far as the on-board mechanism is reliable. The difficulty is on the defocus assessment side. Some methods such as those used for the SPOT family rely on the ability of the satellite to image the same landscape with two focusing positions. This can be done with a bi-sensor configuration, with adequate focal plane, or with the satellite agility. A new generation of refocusing mechanism will be taken aboard Pleiades. As the speed of this mechanism will be much slower than the speed of the older generation, it won't be possible, despite the agility of the satellite, to image the same landscape with two focusing positions on the same orbit. That's why methods relying on MTF measurement with edge method have been studied. This paper describes the methods and the work done to assess the defocus measurement accuracy in the Pleiades context.

Candidate control design metrics for an agile fighter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Patrick C.; Bailey, Melvin L.; Ostroff, Aaron J.

1991-01-01

Success in the fighter combat environment of the future will certainly demand increasing capability from aircraft technology. These advanced capabilities in the form of superagility and supermaneuverability will require special design techniques which translate advanced air combat maneuvering requirements into design criteria. Control design metrics can provide some of these techniques for the control designer. Thus study presents an overview of control design metrics and investigates metrics for advanced fighter agility. The objectives of various metric users, such as airframe designers and pilots, are differentiated from the objectives of the control designer. Using an advanced fighter model, metric values are documented over a portion of the flight envelope through piloted simulation. These metric values provide a baseline against which future control system improvements can be compared and against which a control design methodology can be developed. Agility is measured for axial, pitch, and roll axes. Axial metrics highlight acceleration and deceleration capabilities under different flight loads and include specific excess power measurements to characterize energy meneuverability. Pitch metrics cover both body-axis and wind-axis pitch rates and accelerations. Included in pitch metrics are nose pointing metrics which highlight displacement capability between the nose and the velocity vector. Roll metrics (or torsion metrics) focus on rotational capability about the wind axis.

Medical capability team: the clinical microsystem for combat healthcare delivery in counterinsurgency operations.

PubMed

Clark, Susz; Van Steenvort, Jon K

2008-01-01

Today's operational environment in the support of counterinsurgency operations requires greater tactical and operational flexibility and diverse medical capabilities. The skills and organizations required for full spectrum medical operations are different from those of the past. Combat healthcare demands agility and the capacity for rapid change in clinical systems and processes to better support the counterinsurgency environment. This article proposes the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) develop and implement the medical capability team (MCT) for combat healthcare delivery. It discusses using the concept of the brigade combat team to develop medical capability teams as the unit of effectiveness to transform frontline care; provides a theoretical overview of the MCT as a "clinical microsystem"; discusses MCT leadership, training, and organizational support, and the deployment and employment of the MCT in a counterinsurgency environment. Additionally, this article proposes that the AMEDD initiate the development of an AMEDD Combat Training Center of Excellence to train and validate the MCTs. The complexity of combat healthcare demands an agile and campaign quality AMEDD with joint expeditionary capability in order to promote the best patient outcomes in a counterinsurgency environment.

Organizational Leadership Process for University Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Llamosa-Villalba, Ricardo; Delgado, Dario J.; Camacho, Heidi P.; Paéz, Ana M.; Valdivieso, Raúl F.

2014-01-01

This paper relates the "Agile School", an emerging archetype of the enterprise architecture: "Processes of Organizational Leadership" for leading and managing strategies, tactics and operations of forming in Higher Education Institutions. Agile School is a system for innovation and deep transformation of University Institutions…

David S. Ginley | NREL

Science.gov Websites

is on the development of new nanomaterials for organic electronics and as biofilters etc. Dr are applying what they learn to improved devices, i.e. batteries, frequency agile electronics Society (ECS) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) American Association for the

Beyond TQM: Competition and Cooperation Create the Agile Institution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godbey, Galen

1993-01-01

The market environment for higher education is being shaped by developments in technology, business practices, partnerships between education and industry, and adoption of Total Quality Management principles. Shrewd college administrators will combine competitiveness and cooperation to maintain or enhance their institutions' distinctiveness in the…

Coaching for Better (Software) Buying Power in an Agile World

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

believes that DevOps , the process of warfighters and developers work- ing together throughout the project, is superior to volumes of detailed...ride on the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) infrastructure. This transformation is not easy. It requires a change in

Agile Implementation: A Blueprint for Implementing Evidence-Based Healthcare Solutions.

PubMed

Boustani, Malaz; Alder, Catherine A; Solid, Craig A

2018-03-07

To describe the essential components of an Agile Implementation (AI) process, which rapidly and effectively implements evidence-based healthcare solutions, and present a case study demonstrating its utility. Case demonstration study. Integrated, safety net healthcare delivery system in Indianapolis. Interdisciplinary team of clinicians and administrators. Reduction in dementia symptoms and caregiver burden; inpatient and outpatient care expenditures. Implementation scientists were able to implement a collaborative care model for dementia care and sustain it for more than 9 years. The model was implemented and sustained by using the elements of the AI process: proactive surveillance and confirmation of clinical opportunities, selection of the right evidence-based healthcare solution, localization (i.e., tailoring to the local environment) of the selected solution, development of an evaluation plan and performance feedback loop, development of a minimally standardized operation manual, and updating such manual annually. The AI process provides an effective model to implement and sustain evidence-based healthcare solutions. © 2018, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2018, The American Geriatrics Society.

Generic Airplane Model Concept and Four Specific Models Developed for Use in Piloted Simulation Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffler, Keith D.; Fears, Scott P.; Carzoo, Susan W.

1997-01-01

A generic airplane model concept was developed to allow configurations with various agility, performance, handling qualities, and pilot vehicle interface to be generated rapidly for piloted simulation studies. The simple concept allows stick shaping and various stick command types or modes to drive an airplane with both linear and nonlinear components. Output from the stick shaping goes to linear models or a series of linear models that can represent an entire flight envelope. The generic model also has provisions for control power limitations, a nonlinear feature. Therefore, departures from controlled flight are possible. Note that only loss of control is modeled, the generic airplane does not accurately model post departure phenomenon. The model concept is presented herein, along with four example airplanes. Agility was varied across the four example airplanes without altering specific excess energy or significantly altering handling qualities. A new feedback scheme to provide angle-of-attack cueing to the pilot, while using a pitch rate command system, was implemented and tested.

Hovering Dual-Spin Vehicle Groundwork for Bias Momentum Sizing Validation Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rothhaar, Paul M.; Moerder, Daniel D.; Lim, Kyong B.

2008-01-01

Angular bias momentum offers significant stability augmentation for hovering flight vehicles. The reliance of the vehicle on thrust vectoring for agility and disturbance rejection is greatly reduced with significant levels of stored angular momentum in the system. A methodical procedure for bias momentum sizing has been developed in previous studies. This current study provides groundwork for experimental validation of that method using an experimental vehicle called the Dual-Spin Test Device, a thrust-levitated platform. Using measured data the vehicle's thrust vectoring units are modeled and a gust environment is designed and characterized. Control design is discussed. Preliminary experimental results of the vehicle constrained to three rotational degrees of freedom are compared to simulation for a case containing no bias momentum to validate the simulation. A simulation of a bias momentum dominant case is presented.

Computerized Agility Training Improves Change-of-Direction and Balance Performance Independently of Footwear in Young Adults.

PubMed

Paquette, Max R; Schilling, Brian K; Bravo, Joshua D; Peel, Shelby A; Li, Yuhua; Townsend, Robert J

2017-03-01

Understanding the effects of training in different footwear on sporting performance would be useful to coaches and athletes. This study compared the effects of computerized agility training using 3 types of footwear on change-of-direction and balance performance in young adults. Thirty recreationally active young adults (M age  = 22.8 ± 3.1 years; M height  = 1.71 ± 0.7 m; M bodymass  = 73.4 ± 10.3 kg) were randomly assigned to a 6-week computerized agility training intervention in 1 of 3 footwear groups (n = 10/group): barefoot, minimal footwear, or traditional shoes. Participants had no previous barefoot or minimal-footwear training experience. Dependent variables included change-of-direction test time to completion, Star Excursion Balance Test, and single-leg stability evaluation. Testing was performed at the start of the training program, after 2 weeks, after 4 weeks, and at the end of the training program. No group or time interactions were found for any of the dependent variables. Time main effects were observed for the performance measures of change of direction, Star Excursion, and single-leg-with-eyes-open stability evaluation. Participants improved in all 3 tests as early as 2 weeks into the intervention, with improvements continuing through the entire 6-week intervention. The lack of interaction and footwear effects suggests that agility and balance improvements during foot agility training are independent of footwear in a recreationally active young-adult population. Computerized agility training improves change-of-direction and balance performance within 2 weeks of training implementation. Future studies should consider footwear training effects in different populations, including frail older adults and athletes.

A web-based 3D visualisation and assessment system for urban precinct scenario modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trubka, Roman; Glackin, Stephen; Lade, Oliver; Pettit, Chris

2016-07-01

Recent years have seen an increasing number of spatial tools and technologies for enabling better decision-making in the urban environment. They have largely arisen because of the need for cities to be more efficiently planned to accommodate growing populations while mitigating urban sprawl, and also because of innovations in rendering data in 3D being well suited for visualising the urban built environment. In this paper we review a number of systems that are better known and more commonly used in the field of urban planning. We then introduce Envision Scenario Planner (ESP), a web-based 3D precinct geodesign, visualisation and assessment tool, developed using Agile and Co-design methods. We provide a comprehensive account of the tool, beginning with a discussion of its design and development process and concluding with an example use case and a discussion of the lessons learned in its development.

Operational Interoperability Challenges on the Example of GEOSS and WIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heene, M.; Buesselberg, T.; Schroeder, D.; Brotzer, A.; Nativi, S.

2015-12-01

The following poster highlights the operational interoperability challenges on the example of Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and World Meteorological Organization Information System (WIS). At the heart of both systems is a catalogue of earth observation data, products and services but with different metadata management concepts. While in WIS a strong governance with an own metadata profile for the hundreds of thousands metadata records exists, GEOSS adopted a more open approach for the ten million records. Furthermore, the development of WIS - as an operational system - follows a roadmap with committed downwards compatibility while the GEOSS development process is more agile. The poster discusses how the interoperability can be reached for the different metadata management concepts and how a proxy concept helps to couple two different systems which follow a different development methodology. Furthermore, the poster highlights the importance of monitoring and backup concepts as a verification method for operational interoperability.

Light-leaking region segmentation of FOG fiber based on quality evaluation of infrared image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Haoting; Wang, Wei; Gao, Feng; Shan, Lianjie; Ma, Yuzhou; Ge, Wenqian

2014-07-01

To improve the assembly reliability of Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG), a light leakage detection system and method is developed. First, an agile movement control platform is designed to implement the pose control of FOG optical path component in 6 Degrees of Freedom (DOF). Second, an infrared camera is employed to capture the working state images of corresponding fibers in optical path component after the manual assembly of FOG; therefore the entire light transmission process of key sections in light-path can be recorded. Third, an image quality evaluation based region segmentation method is developed for the light leakage images. In contrast to the traditional methods, the image quality metrics, including the region contrast, the edge blur, and the image noise level, are firstly considered to distinguish the image characters of infrared image; then the robust segmentation algorithms, including graph cut and flood fill, are all developed for region segmentation according to the specific image quality. Finally, after the image segmentation of light leakage region, the typical light-leaking type, such as the point defect, the wedge defect, and the surface defect can be identified. By using the image quality based method, the applicability of our proposed system can be improved dramatically. Many experiment results have proved the validity and effectiveness of this method.

Poster — Thur Eve — 64: Preliminary investigation of arc configurations for optimal sparing of normal tissue in hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (HF-SRT) of multiple brain metastases using a 5mm interdigitating micro-multileaf collimator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Leavens, C; Wronski, M; Lee, YK

2014-08-15

Purpose: To evaluate normal tissue sparing in intra-cranial HF-SRT, comparing various arc configurations with the Synergy Beam Modulator (SynBM) and Agility linacs, the latter incorporating leaf interdigitation and backup jaws. Methods: Five patients with multiple brain metastases (BMs), (5 BMs (n=2), 3 BMs (n=3)) treated with HF-SRT using 25 Gy (n=2) or 30 Gy (n=3) in 5 fractions, were investigated. Clinical treatment plans used the SynBM. Each patient was retrospectively re-planned on Agility, employing three planning strategies: (A) one isocenter and dedicated arc for each BM; (B) a single isocenter, centrally placed with respect to BMs; (C) the isocenter andmore » arc configuration used in the SynBM plan, where closely spaced (<5cm) BMs used a dedicated isocenter and arcs. Agility plans were normalized for PTV coverage and heterogeneity. Results and Conclusion: Strategy A obtained the greatest improvements over the SynBM plan, where the maximum OAR dose, and mean dose to normal brain (averaged for all patients) were reduced by 55cGy and 25cGy, respectively. Strategy B was limited by having a single isocenter, hence less jaw shielding and increased MLC leakage. The maximum OAR dose was reduced by 13cGy, however mean dose to normal brain increased by 84cGy. Strategy C reduced the maximum OAR dose and mean dose to normal brain by 32cGy and 9cGy, respectively. The results from this study indicate that, for intra-cranial HF-SRT of multiple BMs, Agility plans are equal or better than SynBM plans. Further planning is needed to investigate dose sparing using Strategy A and the SynBM.« less

Red Teaming Agility (Briefing Charts)

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

are termed “ antifragile ”. Black Swan Model for Deep Red Futures The future is dominated not by trends, but by outliers, extreme events that lie...disproportionately higher mission impact. Agility is a measure of antifragile systems Red Teaming Defined Red Teaming is a function to provide

5th Annual AGILE Science Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunter, Stanley

2008-01-01

The EGRET model of the galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission (GALDIF) has been extended to provide full-sky coverage and improved to address the discrepancies with the EGRET data. This improved model is compared with the AGILE results from the Galactic center. The comparison is discussed.

76 FR 14690 - Manufacturer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Registration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-17

... December 3, 2010, (75 FR 75498), Agilent Technologies, 25200 Commercentre Drive, Lake Forest, California... determined that the registration of Agilent Technologies to manufacture the listed basic classes of... Technologies to ensure that the company's registration is consistent with the public interest. The...

Vision and agility training in community dwelling older adults: incorporating visual training into programs for fall prevention.

PubMed

Reed-Jones, Rebecca J; Dorgo, Sandor; Hitchings, Maija K; Bader, Julia O

2012-04-01

This study aimed to examine the effect of visual training on obstacle course performance of independent community dwelling older adults. Agility is the ability to rapidly alter ongoing motor patterns, an important aspect of mobility which is required in obstacle avoidance. However, visual information is also a critical factor in successful obstacle avoidance. We compared obstacle course performance of a group that trained in visually driven body movements and agility drills, to a group that trained only in agility drills. We also included a control group that followed the American College of Sports Medicine exercise recommendations for older adults. Significant gains in fitness, mobility and power were observed across all training groups. Obstacle course performance results revealed that visual training had the greatest improvement on obstacle course performance (22%) following a 12 week training program. These results suggest that visual training may be an important consideration for fall prevention programs. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High-energy Gamma-Ray Activity from V404 Cygni Detected by AGILE during the 2015 June Outburst

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Piano, G.; Munar-Adrover, P.; Tavani, M.

The AGILE satellite detected transient high-energy γ -ray emission from the X-ray binary V404 Cygni, during the 2015 June outburst observed in radio, optical, X-ray, and soft γ -ray frequencies. The activity was observed by AGILE in the 50–400 MeV energy band, between 2015 June 24 UT 06:00:00 and 2015 June 26 UT 06:00:00 (MJD 57197.25–57199.25), with a detection significance of ∼4.3 σ . The γ -ray detection, consistent with a contemporaneous observation by Fermi -LAT, is correlated with a bright flare observed at radio and hard X-ray frequencies, and with a strong enhancement of the 511 keV line emission,more » possibly indicating plasmoid ejections in a lepton-dominated transient jet. The AGILE observations of this binary system are compatible with a microquasar scenario in which transient jets are responsible for the high-energy γ -ray emission.« less

The Mini-Calorimeter on-board AGILE: The first year in space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marisaldi, M.; Labanti, C.; Fuschino, F.; Galli, M.; Argan, A.; Bulgarelli, A.; Di Cocco, G.; Gianotti, F.; Tavani, M.; Trifoglio, M.; Trois, A.

2009-04-01

AGILE, the Italian space mission dedicated to gamma-ray and hard-X astrophysics, was successfully launched on 23rd April 2007 and is currently fully operative. The Mini-Calorimeter (MCAL) on-board the AGILE satellite is a scintillation detector made of 20 kg of segmented CsI(Tl) scintillator with photodiode readout with a total geometrical area of 1400 cm2. MCAL can work both as a slave of the AGILE Silicon tracker and as an independent detector for gamma-ray bursts (GRB) detection in the 300 keV - 100 MeV energy range. Despite its limited thickness, due to weight constraints, MCAL has proven to successfully self-trigger GRBs at MeV energies providing photon-by-photon data with less than 2 μs time resolution and almost all-sky detection capabilities. The instrument design and characteristics, as well as the in-flight performance after one year of operation in space and the scientific results obtained so far are reviewed and discussed.

Design and construction of the Mini-Calorimeter of the AGILE satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Labanti, C.; Marisaldi, M.; Fuschino, F.; Galli, M.; Argan, A.; Bulgarelli, A.; Di Cocco, G.; Gianotti, F.; Tavani, M.; Trifoglio, M.

2009-01-01

AGILE is a small space mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) devoted to gamma-ray and hard-X astrophysics, successfully launched on April 23, 2007. The AGILE Payload is composed of three instruments: a gamma-ray imager based on a tungsten-silicon tracker (ST), for observations in the gamma ray energy range 30 MeV-50 GeV, a Silicon based X-ray detector, SuperAGILE (SA), for imaging in the range 18-60 keV and a CsI(Tl) Mini-Calorimeter (MCAL) that detects gamma rays or charged particles energy loss in the range 300 keV-100 MeV. MCAL is composed of 30 CsI(Tl) scintillator bars with photodiode readout at both ends, arranged in two orthogonal layers. MCAL can work both as a slave of the ST and as an independent gamma-ray detector for transients and gamma-ray bursts detection. In this paper a detailed description of MCAL is presented together with its performance.

Clustering-based urbanisation to improve enterprise information systems agility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imache, Rabah; Izza, Said; Ahmed-Nacer, Mohamed

2015-11-01

Enterprises are daily facing pressures to demonstrate their ability to adapt quickly to the unpredictable changes of their dynamic in terms of technology, social, legislative, competitiveness and globalisation. Thus, to ensure its place in this hard context, enterprise must always be agile and must ensure its sustainability by a continuous improvement of its information system (IS). Therefore, the agility of enterprise information systems (EISs) can be considered today as a primary objective of any enterprise. One way of achieving this objective is by the urbanisation of the EIS in the context of continuous improvement to make it a real asset servicing enterprise strategy. This paper investigates the benefits of EISs urbanisation based on clustering techniques as a driver for agility production and/or improvement to help managers and IT management departments to improve continuously the performance of the enterprise and make appropriate decisions in the scope of the enterprise objectives and strategy. This approach is applied to the urbanisation of a tour operator EIS.

Total Sleep Deprivation and Recovery Sleep Affect the Diurnal Variation of Agility Performance: The Gender Differences.

PubMed

Romdhani, Mohamed; Hammouda, Omar; Smari, Khawla; Chaabouni, Yassine; Mahdouani, Kacem; Driss, Tarak; Souissi, Nizar

2018-05-30

Romdhani, M, Hammouda, O, Smari, K, Chaabouni, Y, Mahdouani, K, Driss, T, and Souissi, N. Total sleep deprivation and recovery sleep affect the diurnal variation of agility performance: The gender differences. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2018-This study aimed to investigate the effects of time-of-day, 24 and 36 hours of total sleep deprivation (TSD), and recovery sleep (RS) on repeated-agility performances. Twenty-two physical education students (11 male and 11 female students) completed 5 repeated modified agility T-test (RMAT) sessions (i.e., 2 after normal sleep night [NSN] [at 07:00 and 17:00 hours], 2 after TSD [at 07:00 hours, i.e., 24-hour TSD and at 17:00 hours, i.e., 36-hour TSD], and 1 after RS at 17:00 hours). The RMAT index decreased from the morning to the afternoon after NSN (p < 0.05, d = 1.05; p < 0.01, d = 0.73) and after TSD (p < 0.001, d = 0.92; d = 1.08), respectively, for total time (TT) and peak time (PT). This finding indicates a diurnal variation in repeated agility, which persisted after TSD. However, the diurnal increase in PT was less marked in the female group after NSN (2.98 vs. 6.24%). Moreover, TT and PT increased, respectively, after 24-hour TSD (p < 0.001; d = 0.84, d = 0.87) and 36-hour TSD (p < 0.001, d = 1.12; p < 0.01, d = 0.65). Female participants' PT was less affected by 24-hour TSD (1.76 vs. 6.81%) compared with male participants' PT. After 36-hour TSD, the amount of decrease was not different between groups, which increased the diurnal amplitude of PT only for male participants. Total sleep deprivation suppressed the diurnal increase of PT and increased the diurnal amplitude of oral temperature only in women. Nevertheless, RS normalized the sleep-loss-induced performance disruption. Conclusively, sleep loss and RS differently affect repeated-agility performance of men and women during the day. Sleep extension postdeprivation could have potent restorative effect on repeated-agility performances, and female participants could extract greater benefits.

Extreme Programming: Maestro Style

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norris, Jeffrey; Fox, Jason; Rabe, Kenneth; Shu, I-Hsiang; Powell, Mark

2009-01-01

"Extreme Programming: Maestro Style" is the name of a computer programming methodology that has evolved as a custom version of a methodology, called extreme programming that has been practiced in the software industry since the late 1990s. The name of this version reflects its origin in the work of the Maestro team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that develops software for Mars exploration missions. Extreme programming is oriented toward agile development of software resting on values of simplicity, communication, testing, and aggressiveness. Extreme programming involves use of methods of rapidly building and disseminating institutional knowledge among members of a computer-programming team to give all the members a shared view that matches the view of the customers for whom the software system is to be developed. Extreme programming includes frequent planning by programmers in collaboration with customers, continually examining and rewriting code in striving for the simplest workable software designs, a system metaphor (basically, an abstraction of the system that provides easy-to-remember software-naming conventions and insight into the architecture of the system), programmers working in pairs, adherence to a set of coding standards, collaboration of customers and programmers, frequent verbal communication, frequent releases of software in small increments of development, repeated testing of the developmental software by both programmers and customers, and continuous interaction between the team and the customers. The environment in which the Maestro team works requires the team to quickly adapt to changing needs of its customers. In addition, the team cannot afford to accept unnecessary development risk. Extreme programming enables the Maestro team to remain agile and provide high-quality software and service to its customers. However, several factors in the Maestro environment have made it necessary to modify some of the conventional extreme-programming practices. The single most influential of these factors is that continuous interaction between customers and programmers is not feasible.

Application and comparison of large-scale solution-based DNA capture-enrichment methods on ancient DNA

PubMed Central

Ávila-Arcos, María C.; Cappellini, Enrico; Romero-Navarro, J. Alberto; Wales, Nathan; Moreno-Mayar, J. Víctor; Rasmussen, Morten; Fordyce, Sarah L.; Montiel, Rafael; Vielle-Calzada, Jean-Philippe; Willerslev, Eske; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.

2011-01-01

The development of second-generation sequencing technologies has greatly benefitted the field of ancient DNA (aDNA). Its application can be further exploited by the use of targeted capture-enrichment methods to overcome restrictions posed by low endogenous and contaminating DNA in ancient samples. We tested the performance of Agilent's SureSelect and Mycroarray's MySelect in-solution capture systems on Illumina sequencing libraries built from ancient maize to identify key factors influencing aDNA capture experiments. High levels of clonality as well as the presence of multiple-copy sequences in the capture targets led to biases in the data regardless of the capture method. Neither method consistently outperformed the other in terms of average target enrichment, and no obvious difference was observed either when two tiling designs were compared. In addition to demonstrating the plausibility of capturing aDNA from ancient plant material, our results also enable us to provide useful recommendations for those planning targeted-sequencing on aDNA. PMID:22355593

Transformative Learning in Human Resource Development: Successes in Scholarly Practitioner Applications--Conflict Management, Discursive Processes in Diversity and Leadership Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher-Yoshida, Beth; Geller, Kathy D.; Wasserman, Ilene C.

2005-01-01

Today's complex global environment calls for leaders to be agile decision makers, engage in critical self-reflection, integrate reflection with action, and partner with those who are different in significant ways. These capabilities and skills are the core qualities of transformative learning. This paper weaves research findings that explore…

Gaps in the Body of Knowledge of Systems Engineering

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-01

practices, agile development, Kanban , risk management, and decision management. This focus is being driven by the need to reduce time for delivery of...to incorporate Kanban approaches to scheduling the SE activities based on value. Rapid Fielding. In this situation, there is a short time to

Development of a low-cost, low micro-vibration CMG for small agile satellite applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawak, B. J.

2017-02-01

The agility of the spacecraft which refers to the spacecraft's ability to execute fast and accurate manoeuvers within a fixed period of time, is a key satellite parameter. The spacecraft' s agility is directly proportional to the spacecraft actuators' output torque. For high torque inertial actuators (>0.5 Nm), Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) exhibits better performances in terms of mass and electrical power consumption than reaction wheels. However, in addition to the complex steering law required to avoid CMG singularities, one of the reasons why CMGs are not widely used is also due to their high micro-vibration emission which may interfere and disrupt the spacecraft' s sensitive instruments such as optical payloads. In this paper, an innovative two-stage viscoelastic isolation system has been designed and implemented in a new low micro-vibration CMG prototype. The first stage of the damping system acts at bearing level to attenuate the possible shock vibrations while the second stage acts at mechanism level to attenuate the structural resonances and motor noise. The developed CMG enables to combine high actuator output torque with a low micro-vibration signature. The viscoelastic damping system is cost effective as it is a fully passive system which requires no thermal control and no electronics. Furthermore, the attenuation provided by this innovative two stage damping system can reach a slope up to -80 dB/dec which leads to a Mini-CMG micro-vibration signature lower than similar output torque reaction wheels not equipped with a damping system.

IMAGE: Simulation for Understanding Complex Situations and Increasing Future Force Agility

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

IMAGE: SIMULATION FOR UNDERSTANDING COMPLEX SITUATIONS AND INCREASING FUTURE FORCE AGILITY Michel Lizotte, François Bernier, Marielle Mokhtari ...Valcartier TM, 2008. [Bernier et al., 2007] Bernier, F., Boivin, E., DuCharme, M., Lizotte, M., Mokhtari , M., Pestov, I., and Pous- sart, D., Selection

Creating IT agility.

PubMed

Glaser, John

2008-04-01

Seven steps healthcare organizations can take to improve IT agility are: Pay attention to the capabilities of IT applications. Establish short project phases. Stage the release of capital and new IT positions. Cross-train IT staff. Adopt technology standards. Shorten IT plan time horizons. Align IT with organizational strategies and priorities.

Operation Breakthrough for Continuous Self-Systems Improvement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Given, Barbara K.

1994-01-01

Operation Breakthrough, in which graduate student interns teach life skills to adolescents with learning disabilities, provided an impetus for identifying a profile of learning and work habits necessary for production of an agile workforce. Agile learning for self-systems improvement calls for self-empowered learning, collaborative learning,…

Anatomy of a hash-based long read sequence mapping algorithm for next generation DNA sequencing.

PubMed

Misra, Sanchit; Agrawal, Ankit; Liao, Wei-keng; Choudhary, Alok

2011-01-15

Recently, a number of programs have been proposed for mapping short reads to a reference genome. Many of them are heavily optimized for short-read mapping and hence are very efficient for shorter queries, but that makes them inefficient or not applicable for reads longer than 200 bp. However, many sequencers are already generating longer reads and more are expected to follow. For long read sequence mapping, there are limited options; BLAT, SSAHA2, FANGS and BWA-SW are among the popular ones. However, resequencing and personalized medicine need much faster software to map these long sequencing reads to a reference genome to identify SNPs or rare transcripts. We present AGILE (AliGnIng Long rEads), a hash table based high-throughput sequence mapping algorithm for longer 454 reads that uses diagonal multiple seed-match criteria, customized q-gram filtering and a dynamic incremental search approach among other heuristics to optimize every step of the mapping process. In our experiments, we observe that AGILE is more accurate than BLAT, and comparable to BWA-SW and SSAHA2. For practical error rates (< 5%) and read lengths (200-1000 bp), AGILE is significantly faster than BLAT, SSAHA2 and BWA-SW. Even for the other cases, AGILE is comparable to BWA-SW and several times faster than BLAT and SSAHA2. http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/~smi539/agile.html.

Archetype Model-Driven Development Framework for EHR Web System.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Shinji; Kimura, Eizen; Ishihara, Ken

2013-12-01

This article describes the Web application framework for Electronic Health Records (EHRs) we have developed to reduce construction costs for EHR sytems. The openEHR project has developed clinical model driven architecture for future-proof interoperable EHR systems. This project provides the specifications to standardize clinical domain model implementations, upon which the ISO/CEN 13606 standards are based. The reference implementation has been formally described in Eiffel. Moreover C# and Java implementations have been developed as reference. While scripting languages had been more popular because of their higher efficiency and faster development in recent years, they had not been involved in the openEHR implementations. From 2007, we have used the Ruby language and Ruby on Rails (RoR) as an agile development platform to implement EHR systems, which is in conformity with the openEHR specifications. We implemented almost all of the specifications, the Archetype Definition Language parser, and RoR scaffold generator from archetype. Although some problems have emerged, most of them have been resolved. We have provided an agile EHR Web framework, which can build up Web systems from archetype models using RoR. The feasibility of the archetype model to provide semantic interoperability of EHRs has been demonstrated and we have verified that that it is suitable for the construction of EHR systems.

Roles and Responsibilities in Feature Teams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eckstein, Jutta

Agile development requires self-organizing teams. The set-up of a (feature) team has to enable self-organization. Special care has to be taken if the project is not only distributed, but also large and more than one feature team is involved. Every feature team needs in such a setting a product owner who ensures the continuous focus on business delivery. The product owners collaborate by working together in a virtual team. Each feature team is supported by a coach who ensures not only the agile process of the individual feature team but also across all feature teams. An architect (or if necessary a team of architects) takes care that the system is technically sound. Contrariwise to small co-located projects, large global projects require a project manager who deals with—among other things—internal and especially external politics.

Improvement in vehicle agility and stability by G-Vectoring control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamakado, Makoto; Takahashi, Jyunya; Saito, Shinjiro; Yokoyama, Atsushi; Abe, Masato

2010-12-01

We extracted a trade-off strategy between longitudinal traction/braking force and cornering force by using jerk information through observing an expert driver's voluntary braking and turning action. Using the expert driver's strategy, we developed a new control concept, called 'G-Vectoring control', which is an automatic longitudinal acceleration control (No DYC) in accordance with the vehicle's lateral jerk caused by the driver's steering manoeuvres. With the control, the direction of synthetic acceleration (G) changes seamlessly (i.e. vectoring). The improvements in vehicle agility and stability were evaluated by theoretical analysis and through computer simulation. We then introduced a 'G-Vectoring' equipped test vehicle realised by brake-by-wire technology and executed a detailed examination on a test track. We have confirmed that the vehicle motion in view of both handling and ride quality has improved dramatically.

Frequency-agile electromagnetically induced transparency analogue in terahertz metamaterials.

PubMed

Xu, Quan; Su, Xiaoqiang; Ouyang, Chunmei; Xu, Ningning; Cao, Wei; Zhang, Yuping; Li, Quan; Hu, Cong; Gu, Jianqiang; Tian, Zhen; Azad, Abul K; Han, Jiaguang; Zhang, Weili

2016-10-01

Recently reported active metamaterial analogues of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) are promising in developing novel optical components, such as active slow light devices. However, most of the previous works have focused on manipulating the EIT resonance strength at a fixed characteristic frequency and, therefore, realized on-to-off switching responses. To further extend the functionalities of the EIT effect, here we present a frequency tunable EIT analogue in the terahertz regime by integrating photoactive silicon into the metamaterial unit cell. A tuning range from 0.82 to 0.74 THz for the EIT resonance frequency is experimentally observed by optical pump-terahertz probe measurements, allowing a frequency tunable group delay of the terahertz pulses. This straightforward approach delivers frequency agility of the EIT resonance and may enable novel ultrafast tunable devices for integrated plasmonic circuits.

Thrust Direction Optimization: Satisfying Dawn's Attitude Agility Constraints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whiffen, Gregory J.

2013-01-01

The science objective of NASA's Dawn Discovery mission is to explore the two largest members of the main asteroid belt, the giant asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn successfully completed its orbital mission at Vesta. The Dawn spacecraft has complex, difficult to quantify, and in some cases severe limitations on its attitude agility. The low-thrust transfers between science orbits at Vesta required very complex time varying thrust directions due to the strong and complex gravity and various science objectives. Traditional thrust design objectives (like minimum (Delta)V or minimum transfer time) often result in thrust direction time evolutions that can not be accommodated with the attitude control system available on Dawn. This paper presents several new optimal control objectives, collectively called thrust direction optimization that were developed and necessary to successfully navigate Dawn through all orbital transfers at Vesta.

Multi-Intelligence Analytics for Next Generation Analysts (MIAGA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blasch, Erik; Waltz, Ed

2016-05-01

Current analysts are inundated with large volumes of data from which extraction, exploitation, and indexing are required. A future need for next-generation analysts is an appropriate balance between machine analytics from raw data and the ability of the user to interact with information through automation. Many quantitative intelligence tools and techniques have been developed which are examined towards matching analyst opportunities with recent technical trends such as big data, access to information, and visualization. The concepts and techniques summarized are derived from discussions with real analysts, documented trends of technical developments, and methods to engage future analysts with multiintelligence services. For example, qualitative techniques should be matched against physical, cognitive, and contextual quantitative analytics for intelligence reporting. Future trends include enabling knowledge search, collaborative situational sharing, and agile support for empirical decision-making and analytical reasoning.

Agile data management for curation of genomes to watershed datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varadharajan, C.; Agarwal, D.; Faybishenko, B.; Versteeg, R.

2015-12-01

A software platform is being developed for data management and assimilation [DMA] as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Genomes to Watershed Sustainable Systems Science Focus Area 2.0. The DMA components and capabilities are driven by the project science priorities and the development is based on agile development techniques. The goal of the DMA software platform is to enable users to integrate and synthesize diverse and disparate field, laboratory, and simulation datasets, including geological, geochemical, geophysical, microbiological, hydrological, and meteorological data across a range of spatial and temporal scales. The DMA objectives are (a) developing an integrated interface to the datasets, (b) storing field monitoring data, laboratory analytical results of water and sediments samples collected into a database, (c) providing automated QA/QC analysis of data and (d) working with data providers to modify high-priority field and laboratory data collection and reporting procedures as needed. The first three objectives are driven by user needs, while the last objective is driven by data management needs. The project needs and priorities are reassessed regularly with the users. After each user session we identify development priorities to match the identified user priorities. For instance, data QA/QC and collection activities have focused on the data and products needed for on-going scientific analyses (e.g. water level and geochemistry). We have also developed, tested and released a broker and portal that integrates diverse datasets from two different databases used for curation of project data. The development of the user interface was based on a user-centered design process involving several user interviews and constant interaction with data providers. The initial version focuses on the most requested feature - i.e. finding the data needed for analyses through an intuitive interface. Once the data is found, the user can immediately plot and download data through the portal. The resulting product has an interface that is more intuitive and presents the highest priority datasets that are needed by the users. Our agile approach has enabled us to build a system that is keeping pace with the science needs while utilizing limited resources.