Cloud Enhances Agile Software Development

The software industries follow some patterns (i.e., process model to develop any software product). Agile methodology is the most famous and used process model. It is a trend to develop efficient software products with high client satisfaction. In this chapter, the authors discuss agile methodology and its components, benefits, and drawbacks while using the cloud computing in agile software development, existing frameworks for agile-cloud combination, and some security measures.

Design of an environmental management information system for the Universidad Distrital

This article presents the design, development and implementation of a software tool, serving as an alternative to the problems involving management, control and reporting of processes within the institutional plan for environmental management (known as plan institucional de gestión ambiental (PIGA) by its Spanish acronym) for the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. The software is focused on carrying out such processes to the automation setting, based on the extreme programming (XP) Agile methodology that mainly centers on the continuous development of the customer requirements to offer a more assertive tool, in line with the plan institucional de gestión ambiental in Spanish (PIGA) processes. The result is a complete satisfaction of users and a highly usable, adaptable and efficient software, inherently optimizing and automating the environmental management processes of the PIGA program. This work delivers an applet that meets the design and implementation requirements of environmental management policies. The proposed tool manages to reduce process-related times by 97%, therefore, allowing to aim efforts in other missional functions and increase the overall value offer of the organization.

InMut-finder: a software tool for insertion identification in mutagenesis using Nanopore long reads

Background Biological mutagens (such as transposon) with sequences inserted, play a crucial role to link observed phenotype and genotype in reverse genetic studies. For this reason, accurate and efficient software tools for identifying insertion sites based on the analysis of sequencing reads are desired. Results We developed a bioinformatics tool, a Finder, to identify genome-wide Insertions in Mutagenesis (named as “InMut-Finder”), based on target sequences and flanking sequences from long reads, such as Oxford Nanopore Sequencing. InMut-Finder succeeded in identify > 100 insertion sites in Medicago truncatula and soybean mutants based on sequencing reads of whole-genome DNA or enriched insertion-site DNA fragments. Insertion sites discovered by InMut-Finder were validated by PCR experiments. Conclusion InMut-Finder is a comprehensive and powerful tool for automated insertion detection from Nanopore long reads. The simplicity, efficiency, and flexibility of InMut-Finder make it a valuable tool for functional genomics and forward and reverse genetics. InMut-Finder was implemented with Perl, R, and Shell scripts, which are independent of the OS. The source code and instructions can be accessed at https://github.com/jsg200830/InMut-Finder.

spaceAPPS – A modular approach for on-board software

Software modularity and partial qualification capabilities are key enablers to produce cost efficient software in highly regulated domains. The modular concept (called spaceAPPS) described in this paper has been developed in the frame of the OPS-SAT project aiming at missions where flexibility is one of the success factors. spaceAPPS implements a novel software architecture for satellites inspired by the Apps concept of modern smartphones. In the European space domain the operation of a satellite is based on a set of 18 services. Accordingly, in spaceApps these services are mapped to individual Apps. This is not a one-to-one mapping which means that one App implements one or more services. During OPS-SAT ground testing it was demonstrated that functionality could be easily added through a new App or updated through replacing an existing App. Also during OPS-SAT ground testing it could be shown that a failing UserApp did not impact the basic apps to operate the satellite. Thus, it is possible to run applications of different criticality on the same platform. With operating systems supporting time and space separation the risk of failure propagation can be further reduced. The implementation of a partial validation approach, i. e. testing of third-party Apps in a representative environment and not running the validation on the target platform is feasible but was not demonstrated.

Analytical study of software development process model variants

Software Engineering is a branch of Computer Science that evolved as a result of urgent need to deal with decades of software crisis, characterized by low theoretical knowledge and practice of the construction of error-free and efficient software. The introduction of well-organized scientific, engineering and management strategies in the process of software development no doubt led to major breakthroughs, and solutions to software failures. One of the obvious game-changer in this regard is the evolution of Software Development Life Cycle, also known as Software Process Model for driving the different phases of software construction. A sound understanding of the process model is therefore inevitable, not just for software developers, but also to users and researchers. Such a theoretical cum practical understanding will enhance decisions on which process model is best for a particular job or perspective. This invariably, contributes immensely to the probability of success or failure of the project in question. Thus, the necessity for this research. This work presents an unambiguous expository of selected software development model variants. A total of four process model variants were studied, in a theoretical, visual and analytical manner. The variants were analyzed using strength versus weakness (SVW) tabular scenario. This work was concluded by presenting guides towards choice of these models. This research is expected to be a useful reference to software practitioners and researchers.

The Rich Still Get Richer: Empirical Comparison of Preferential Attachment via Linking Statistics in Bitcoin and Ethereum

Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions present some of the largest real-world complex networks that are publicly available for study, including a detailed picture of their time evolution. As such, they have received a considerable amount of attention from the network science community along with analyses from economic and cryptographic perspectives. Among these studies, in an analysis on the early instance of the Bitcoin network, we have shown the clear presence of the preferential attachment, or the “rich-get-richer” phenomenon. Now, we revisit this question, using a recent version of the Bitcoin network that has grown almost 100-fold since our original analysis. Furthermore, we additionally carry out a comparison with Ethereum, the second most important cryptocurrency. Our results show that preferential attachment continues to be a key factor in the evolution of both the Bitcoin and Ethereum transactoin networks. To facilitate further analysis, we publish a recent version of both transaction networks, and an efficient software implementation that is able to evaluate linking statistics necessary for learn about preferential attachment on networks with several hundred million edges.

An Open edX Extension for Parallel Programming Assignments with Automatic Configurable Grading

Computing devices of all types have almost converged to using central processing units featuring multiple processing cores. In order to develop efficient software for such devices, programmers need to learn how to write parallel programs. We present an infrastructure to support parallel programming assignments for online courses. We developed an extension to the Open edX platform with a backend that handles the execution of student codes on a cluster lab. The web user interface offers instructors a wide range of configuration options for the programming assignments as well as a flexible definition of criteria for automatic grading. We have successfully integrated the software with Open edX and tested it with a real parallel programming cluster lab.