In the last decades the complexity of software development projects had a significant increase. This complexity emerges from the higher degree of sophistication in the contexts they aim to serve and from the evolution of the functionalities implemented by the applications However, many software corporations have a reduced dimension (micro, small or medium) which imposes a considerable constrain...

It is not possible to walk down the "Management" aisle at a bookstore without getting slapped in the face by a book about Six Sigma. Chances are your organization is either in the middle of a Six Sigma initiative, contemplating one, or at the very least wondering what all the fuss is about. Six Sigma is an approach to improving business processes, improving quality, and generating higher profit...

In this paper, we attempt to invent a new way to understand risk, measure it, and weigh its consequences. We attempt to design a rational process for risk-taking; a process that gives the system dynamicist the ability to define what may happen in the future and then to choose among alternatives. The two conventional ways to use optimization in system dynamics models are historical data fitting ...

The Rational Unified Process® or RUP® product is a software engineering process. It provides a disciplined approach to assigning tasks and responsibilities within a development organization. Its goal is to ensure the production of high-quality software that meets the needs of its end users within a predictable schedule and budget. The RUP has two dimensions: the horizontal axis represents time ...

RUP is a process that emphasizes the development of very complex projects that includes a great volume of activities and artifacts implying software developers do not consider usability aspects. In that way, there is a possibility of enriching this process by taking into account the benefits of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The main goal of this paper is to describe a strategy that provides...

What exactly is the Rational Unified Process, or RUP as many call it now? I can give several answers to this question, from different perspectives: q What is the purpose of the RUP? It is a software engineering process, aimed at guiding software development organizations in their endeavors. q How is the RUP designed and delivered? It is a process product, designed like any software product, and...

The doctrine that Christ is really present in the Eucharist appears to entail that Christ’s body is not only multiply located but present in different ways at different locations. Moreover, the doctrine poses an even more difficult metaquestion: what makes a theological explanation of the Eucharist a ‘real presence’ account? Aquinas’s defence of transubstantiation, perhaps the paradigmatic acco...

Before signing electronic contracts, a rational agent should estimate the expected utilities of these contracts and calculate the violation risks related to them. In order to perform such pre-signing procedures, this agent has to be capable of computing a policy taking into account the norms and sanctions in the contracts. In relation to this, the contribution of this work is threefold. First, ...