Browse Articles
Discover research articles across all indexed journals
Quantitative analysis of communication dynamics in agile software teams through multimodal analytics
Abstract Effective collaboration in agile software development depends on communication, cooperation, and coordination. While cooperation is often ensured through defined roles and expertise, coordination—how participants interact during collaborative tasks—remains difficult to evaluate objectively. Agile methods promote coordination through techniques like planning poker, yet there is limited empirical evidence of their actual impact on team communication. Multimodal Analytics (MmA), which enables the quantitative analysis of verbal, paraverbal, and non-verbal cues, offers a promising approach to address this gap. This study examines the effect of coordination techniques on team communication using MmA in a controlled experiment. A total of 72 undergraduate students formed 18 teams of four, self-organized to reflect real-life group formation. Each team performed two software effort estimation tasks, one without coordination (ad hoc) and another using planning poker. The study, designed as a controlled experiment, addresses three research questions regarding the impact of coordination on speaking and attention patterns. Audiovisual recordings were analyzed to measure two dependent variables: speaking time and attention time. For each, we calculated three metrics: total time, average time per participant, and standard deviation among participants. Speaking time was measured via speech diarization, while attention time was inferred from participants’ facial orientation during verbal interactions. Results indicate that while planning poker does not significantly alter total speaking or attention time, it fosters a more equitable distribution of speaking time. This suggests an improvement in balanced participation, an important feature of effective collaboration. The study demonstrates MmA’s utility in capturing subtle team dynamics and contributes empirical evidence on the role of coordination techniques in enhancing collaborative communication in agile environments.
Novel Cu-MXene hybrid nanofluids for the experimental investigation of thermal performance in double pipe heat exchanger
Abstract This work aims at analyzing the performance of a double-pipe heat exchanger (DPHE) using low concentrated (0.02–0.06 vol%) water, methanol, castor oil and silicon oil based Cu-MXene hybrid nanofluids. Convective heat transfer experiments were successfully performed in fabricated modular double pipe heat exchanger without using any twisted tapes, surfaces and effectively measured various heat transfer parameters such as Nusselt number (Nu), heat transfer coefficient (h), rate of heat transfer (Q), overall heat transfer coefficient (U), friction factor (f), pressure drop (∆P), and the thermal performance factor (TPF). The results indicated a considerable improvement in Nu, h, and U with some penalty in ∆P. Moreover, the TPF value of methanol and water-based hybrid nanofluids exceeded unity and showed superior heat transfer characteristics, confirming the viability of improving thermal performance in DPHE. Eventually, the LMTD and U of hybrid nanofluids were positively validated using Aspen HYSYS 12.1 version software to verify the experimental results and showed a variation of less than ± 5.35% for U and LMTD. These results successfully demonstrate the possible usage of proposed Cu-MXene hybrid nanofluids in thermal management systems, automotive cooling, and industrial cooling respectively. In addition, these findings also encourage its use in superior performance and cost-effective thermal management technologies.
Exosomal miR-92a-3p serves as a promising marker and potential therapeutic target for adenomyosis
Liquidity index of the Lublin loess as a function of cone resistance qc from CPTU test
Abstract The paper presents the results of the calibration of an interpretive formula for the determination of I L based on cone resistance q c for loess soils. The studies were carried out on characteristic soils that occur in the Lublin region. For this purpose, three CPTU static soundings were selected in which a representative soil profile with a total length of 21 m was extracted. Boreholes were drilled in close vicinity, at distances ranging within 1.0 m, and samples for laboratory testing were collected at intervals of 0.25 m. A total of 86 samples were tested and the liquidity index was determined. The I L values specified in the laboratory were paired with the cone resistances q c averaged over the depth range corresponding to the sampling. The q c/pa – I L distribution was then analysed and a formula correlating both parameters was derived. The cone resistance depends not only on water content but also on a number of other factors, therefore, the estimation of I L from CPTU tests should be regarded as an approximation, while an accurate identification of the subsoil requires further investigations. Nevertheless, such information provides valuable knowledge in the initial stages of subsoil recognition, e.g. during design work.
Effects of different human body parameters on the vertical dynamic characteristics of a pedestrian structure perception coupled system
Abstract Different dynamic parameters of the human body will affect the vertical dynamic characteristics of the structure. If this parameter is ignored, it will affect the serviceability evaluation results. To consider the influence of different human dynamic parameters on the human-induced vibration of the floor, the pedestrian-structure-perception coupling equation is established in this paper, taking the lightweight CFS composite floor as an example. 60 sitting people of different ages and genders are selected as perceptions, the dynamic parameters of the human body are mass, stiffness, and damping. By calculating the frequency and damping ratio of the floor when pedestrians pass through the floor at an asynchronous frequency, as well as the dynamic response of the floor and the perceiver, The effects of human dynamic parameters on the dynamic characteristics of pedestrian-structure-perception coupling system are compared. The results show that with the change of pedestrian walking position, in the pedestrian-structure-perception coupling system, when the pedestrian walks near the mid-span of the structure, the frequency of the structure reaches the minimum and the damping ratio of the structure reaches the maximum. The influence of men’s dynamic parameters on the frequency and damping of the structure is greater than women and children, with values of 3.74% and 186.50%. Comparison of acceleration 1-s RMS, the perceiver is larger than the floor. When evaluating the serviceability of the floor, the interaction of the pedestrian-structure-perception coupling system should be considered.
Comprehensive framework for smart residential demand side management with electric vehicle integration and advanced optimization techniques
Advanced extraction of Glycyrrhiza glabra root extract using a combined ultrasonic and cold plasma reactor
A mental state aware brain computer interface for adaptive control of electric powered wheelchair
Specific island biogeographic and landscape features shape plant diversity and habitat specialism on edaphic quartz islands in an arid ocean
Abstract Edaphic habitat islands offer unique environmental conditions for plants and often harbour specialized floras, thus having high nature conservation value. Besides edaphic uniqueness, distinct spatial features and landscape filters characterize habitat islands. However, their role as drivers of biodiversity on habitat islands remains unclear. We aim to quantify the extent to which spatial parameters (island shape characteristics, habitat diversity) and landscape filters (insularity parameters, surrounding matrix effects) explain plant diversity on natural edaphic islands in an arid biodiversity hotspot. The quartz islands in our study area (Knersvlakte, South Africa), resemble natural edaphic islands within a semi-arid vegetation matrix, hosting unique, predominantly dwarf and locally endemic succulent plants. In a comprehensive field survey, we sampled plant diversity and richness of 47 quartz islands and analysed their spatial characteristics derived from satellite imagery. Island area and habitat diversity were the most reliable predictors of plant diversity. Including measures of landscape features, (e.g. matrix contrast) improved the predictive power of several models. However, distance-based isolation measures had little explanatory value in relation to the observed variance. These results suggest that the diversity of quartz islands can be effectively described using specific island biogeographic parameters, such as island area or habitat diversity. However, measuring isolation in edaphic island systems may require alternative quantification methods such as incorporating matrix properties. Based on the results of this study, we recommend combining different parameters in a habitat island biogeography to quantify the biodiversity of such natural terrestrial edaphic islands.
An enhanced single phase quasi Z-source switched capacitor seven level inverter with modified SPWM for PV applications
Abstract The combination of impedance source networks with switched capacitor multilevel inverters (SC-MLIs) can address the inrush current problem, enhance voltage-gain, and improve immunity which is came from Z-source topology. This paper proposes an improved symmetric single-phase transformerless quasi-Z-Source based on switched capacitor 7-Level inverter (qZ-SC7LI) with a modified modulation technique. The circuit configuration of the qZ-SC7LI is meticulously designed to completely eradicate the issue of leakage current. To address the limited number of shoot-through (ST) states at the zero-voltage level in the proposed topology, a modified modulation technique has been developed. This technique creates ST states at various other voltage levels. Implicitly, this technique reduces the variation of the inverter output voltage (Δv). Furthermore, the qZ-SC7LI can handle reactive power, and continuously derive current from input DC source. Owing to developing stair case output voltage and needing low value for ST duty-ratio (d) the total harmonic distortion (THD) of injected current to the grid is improved and filter size is reduced. The proposed topology is verified by simulation in PSIM software. For experimentally verification of the proposed topology properties, related studies on a 1.2kVA-Lab-scale prototype are carried out.