Modelización higrogeológica en minería : aplicación a drenaje de minas

The aim of this Thesis is to get in deep in the use of models (conceptual and numerical), as a prediction and analytical tool for hydrogeological studies, mainly from point of view of the mining drainage. In the first place, are developed the basic concepts and the parametric variations range are developed, usually used in the modelization of underground f10w and particle transport, and also the more recommended modelization process, analysing step by step each of its sequences, developed based in the experience of the author, contrasted against the available bibliography. Following MODFLOW is described, as a modelization tool, taking into account the advantages that its more common pre/post-treatment software have (Processing MODFLOW, Mod CAD and Visual MODFLOW). In third place, are introduced the criterions and required parameters to develop a conceptual model, numerical discretization, definition of the boundary and initial conditions, as well as all those factors which affects to the system (antropic or natural), developing the creation process, data introduction, execution of morlel, convergence criterions and calibration and obtaining result, natural of Visual MODFLOUI. Next, five practical cases are analysed, in which the author has been applied MODFLOW, and the different pre/post-treatment software (Processing MODFLOW, Mod CAD and Visual MODFLOW), describing for each one, the objectives, the conceptual model defined, discretization, the parametric definition, sensibility analysis, results reached and future states prediction. In fifth place, are presented a program developed by the author which allow to improve the facilities offered by Mod CAD and Visual MODFLOW, expanding modelization possibilities and connection to other computers. Next step it is presented a series of solutions to the most typical problems which could appear during the modelization with MODFLOW. Finally, the conclusions and recommendation readied are exposed, with the purpose to help in the developing of hydrogeological models both conceptuals and numericals. RESUMEN El objetivo de esta Tesis es profundizar en el empleo de modelos (conceptuales y numéricos), como herramienta de predicción y análisis en estudios hidrogeológicos, fundamentalmente desde el punto de vista de drenaje minero. En primer lugar, se desarrollan los conceptos básicos y los rangos de variación paramétrica, habituales en la modelización de flujos subterráneos y transporte de partículas, así como el proceso de modelización más recomendado, analizando paso a paso cada una de sus secuencias, desarrollado en base a la experiencia del autor, contrastado con la bibliografía disponible. Seguidamente se describe MODFLOW como herramienta de modelización, valorando las ventajas que presentan sus software de pre/post-tratamiento más comunes (Proccesing MODFLOW, Mod CAD y Visual MODFLOW). En tercer lugar, se introducen los criterios y parámetros precisos para desarrollar un modelo conceptual, discretización numérica, definición de las condiciones de contorno e iniciales, así como todos aquellos factores que afectan al sistema (antrópicos o naturales), desarrollando el proceso de creación, introducción de datos, ejecución del modelo, criterios de convergencia y calibración, y obtención de resultados, propios de Visual MODFLOW. A continuación, se analizan cinco casos prácticos, donde el autor ha aplicado MODFLOW, así como diferentes software de pre/post-tratamiento (Proccesing MODFLOW, Mod CAD y Visual MODFLOW), describiendo para cada uno, el objetivo marcado, modelo conceptual definido, discretización, definición paramétrica, análisis de sensibilidad, resultados alcanzados y predicción de estados futuros. En quinto lugar, se presenta un programa desarrollado por el autor, que permite mejorar las prestaciones ofrecidas por MODFLOW y Visual MODFLOW, ampliando las posibilidades de modelización y conexión con otros ordenadores. Seguidamente se plantean una serie de soluciones a los problemas más típicos que pueden producirse durante la modelización con MODFLOW. Por último, se exponen las conclusiones y recomendaciones alcanzadas, con el fin de auxiliar el desarrollo del desarrollo de modelos hidrogeológicos, tanto conceptuales como numéricos.

Identifying Potential Risks and Benefits of Using Cloud in Distributed Software Development.

Cloud-based infrastructure has been increasingly adopted by the industry in distributed software development (DSD) environments. Its proponents claim that its several benefits include reduced cost, increased speed and greater productivity in software development. Empirical evaluations, however, are in the nascent stage of examining both the benefits and the risks of cloud-based infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to identify potential benefits and risks of using cloud in a DSD project conducted by teams based in Helsinki and Madrid. A cross-case qualitative analysis is performed based on focus groups conducted at the Helsinki and Madrid sites. Participants observations are used to supplement the analysis. The results of the analysis indicated that the main benefits of using cloud are rapid development, continuous integration, cost savings, code sharing, and faster ramp-up. The key risks determined by the project are dependencies, unavailability of access to the cloud, code commitment and integration, technical debt, and additional support costs. The results revealed that if such environments are not planned and set up carefully, the benefits of using cloud in DSD projects might be overshadowed by the risks associated with it.

Building lean thinking in a telecom software development organization: strengths and challenges.

The potential shown by Lean in different domains has aroused interest in the software industry. However, it remains unclear how Lean can be effectively applied in a domain such as software development that is fundamentally different from manufacturing. This study explores how Lean principles are implemented in software development companies and the challenges that arise when applying Lean Software Development. For that, a case study was conducted at Ericsson R&D Finland, which successfully adopted Scrum in 2009 and subsequently started a comprehensible transition to Lean in 2010. Focus groups were conducted with company representatives to help devise a questionnaire supporting the creation of a Lean mindset in the company (Team Amplifier). Afterwards, the questionnaire was used in 16 teams based in Finland, Hungary and China to evaluate the status of the transformation. By using Lean thinking, Ericsson R&D Finland has made important improvements to the quality of its products, customer satisfaction and transparency within the organization. Moreover, build times have been reduced over ten times and the number of commits per day has increased roughly five times.The study makes two main contributions to research. First, the main factors that have enabled Ericsson R&D?s achievements are analysed. Elements such as ?network of product owners?, ?continuous integration?, ?work in progress limits? and ?communities of practice? have been identified as being of fundamental importance. Second, three categories of challenges in using Lean Software Development were identified: ?achieving flow?, ?transparency? and ?creating a learning culture?

Software tool for simulation of aircraft trajectories

New concepts in air navigation have been introduced recently. Among others, are the concepts of trajectory optimization, 4D trajectories, RBT (Reference Business Trajectory), TBO (trajectory based operations), CDA (Continuous Descent Approach) and ACDA (Advanced CDA), conflict resolution, arrival time (AMAN), introduction of new aircraft (UAVs, UASs) in air space, etc. Although some of these concepts are new, the future Air Traffic Management will maintain the four ATM key performance areas such as Safety, Capacity, Efficiency, and Environmental impact. So much, the performance of the ATM system is directly related to the accuracy with which the future evolution of the traffic can be predicted. In this sense, future air traffic management will require a variety of support tools to provide suitable help to users and engineers involved in the air space management. Most of these tools are based on an appropriate trajectory prediction module as main component. Therefore, the purposes of these tools are related with testing and evaluation of any air navigation concept before they become fully operative. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview to the design of a software tool useful to estimate aircraft trajectories adapted to air navigation concepts. Other usage of the tool, like controller design, vertical navigation assessment, procedures validation and hardware and software in the loop are available in the software tool. The paper will show the process followed to design the tool, the software modules needed to perform accurately and the process followed to validate the output data.

Definition of a support infrastructure for replicating and aggregating families of software engineering experiments

Experimental software engineering includes several processes, the most representative being run experiments, run replications and synthesize the results of multiple replications. Of these processes, only the first is relatively well established in software engineering. Problems of information management and communication among researchers are one of the obstacles to progress in the replication and synthesis processes. Software engineering experimentation has expanded considerably over the last few years. This has brought with it the invention of experimental process support proposals. However, few of these proposals provide integral support, including replication and synthesis processes. Most of the proposals focus on experiment execution. This paper proposes an infrastructure providing integral support for the experimental research process, specializing in the replication and synthesis of a family of experiments. The research has been divided into stages or phases, whose transition milestones are marked by the attainment of their goals. Each goal exactly matches an artifact or product. Within each stage, we will adopt cycles of successive approximations (generateand- test cycles), where each approximation includes a diferent viewpoint or input. Each cycle will end with the product approval.

Gestión de configuración y línea de productos para mejorar el proceso experimental en ingeniería del software

La Ingeniería del Software (IS) Empírica adopta el método científico a la IS para facilitar la generación de conocimiento. Una de las técnicas empleadas, es la realización de experimentos. Para que el conocimiento obtenido experimentalmente adquiera el nivel de madurez necesario para su posterior uso, es necesario que los experimentos sean replicados. La existencia de múltiples replicaciones de un mismo experimento conlleva la existencia de numerosas versiones de los distintos productos generados durante la realización de cada replicación. Actualmente existe un gran descontrol sobre estos productos, ya que la administración se realiza de manera informal. Esto causa problemas a la hora de planificar nuevas replicaciones, o intentar obtener información sobre las replicaciones ya realizadas. Para conocer con detalle la dimensión del problema a resolver, se estudia el estado actual de la gestión de materiales experimentales y su uso en replicaciones, así como de las herramientas de gestión de materiales experimentales. El estudio concluye que ninguno de los enfoques estudiados proporciona una solución al problema planteado. Este trabajo persigue como objetivo mejorar la administración de los materiales experimentales y replicaciones de experimentos en IS para dar soporte a la replicación de experimentos. Para satisfacer este objetivo, se propone la adopción en experimentación de los paradigmas de Gestión de Configuración del Software (GCS) y Línea de Producto Software (LPS). Para desarrollar la propuesta se decide utilizar el método de investigación acción (en inglés action research). Para adoptar la GCS a experimentación, se comienza realizando un estudio del proceso experimental como transformación de productos; a continuación, se realiza una adopción de conceptos fundamentada en los procesos del desarrollo software y de experimentación; finalmente, se desarrollan un conjunto de instrumentos, que se incorporan a un Plan de Gestión de Configuración de Experimentos (PGCE). Para adoptar la LPS a experimentación, se comienza realizando un estudio de los conceptos, actividades y fases que fundamentan la LPS; a continuación, se realiza una adopción de los conceptos; finalmente, se desarrollan o adoptan las técnicas, simbología y modelos para dar soporte a las fases de la Línea de Producto para Experimentación (LPE). La propuesta se valida mediante la evaluación de su: viabilidad, flexibilidad, usabilidad y satisfacción. La viabilidad y flexibilidad se evalúan mediante la instanciación del PGCE y de la LPE en experimentos concretos en IS. La usabilidad se evalúa mediante el uso de la propuesta para la generación de las instancias del PGCE y de LPE. La satisfacción evalúa la información sobre el experimento que contiene el PGCE y la LPE. Los resultados de la validación de la propuesta muestran mejores resultados en los aspectos de usabilidad y satisfacción a los experimentadores. ABSTRACT Empirical software engineering adapts the scientific method to software engineering (SE) in order to facilitate knowledge generation. Experimentation is one of the techniques used. For the knowledge generated experimentally to acquire the level of maturity necessary for later use, the experiments have to be replicated. As the same experiment is replicated more than once, there are numerous versions of all the products generated during a replication. These products are generally administered informally without control. This is troublesome when it comes to planning new replications or trying to gather information on replications conducted in the past. In order to grasp the size of the problem to be solved, this research examines the current state of the art of the management and use of experimental materials in replications, as well as the tools managing experimental materials. The study concludes that none of the analysed approaches provides a solution to the stated problem. The aim of this research is to improve the administration of SE experimental materials and experimental replications in support of experiment replication. To do this, we propose the adaptation of software configuration management (SCM) and software product line (SPL) paradigms to experimentation. The action research method was selected in order to develop this proposal. The first step in the adaptation of the SCM to experimentation was to analyse the experimental process from the viewpoint of the transformation of products. The concepts were then adapted based on software development and experimentation processes. Finally, a set of instruments were developed and added to an experiment configuration management plan (ECMP). The first step in the adaptation of the SPL to experimentation is to analyse the concepts, activities and phases underlying the SPL. The concepts are then adapted. Finally, techniques, symbols and models are developed or adapted in support of the experimentation product line (EPL) phases. The proposal is validated by evaluating its feasibility, flexibility, usability and satisfaction. Feasibility and flexibility are evaluated by instantiating the ECMP and the EPL in specific SE experiments. Usability is evaluated by using the proposal to generate the instances of the ECMP and EPL. The results of the validation of the proposal show that the proposal performs better with respect to usability issues and experimenter satisfaction.

Metamodelo para la definición de metodologías de desarrollo software centradas en documentos y la mejora de la calidad de la documentación software

La documentación en los proyectos software presenta una serie de problemas que afectan a la calidad del producto y al proceso software. Con frecuencia, la documentación es considerada sólo como un volumen adicional de información disponible para la organización y el equipo de desarrollo, que ralentiza la ejecución del proyecto. En este sentido, el papel de la documentación en un proyecto se concibe como una de las actividades más costosas y que consumen más tiempo y que luego no se utiliza de forma extensiva. La documentación queda, en muchos casos, relegada a un segundo plano y es poco valorada frente a la comunicación cara a cara. Existe además una relación entre la calidad de la documentación y el proceso software. Se plantean dificultades en la adopción de buenas prácticas de proceso software y el impacto del exceso de documentación percibido por parte de los gestores de proyectos en los que se quiere abordad un programa de mejora del proceso software. Recordemos que la calidad de la documentación está muy relacionada con la utilización de la misma que puedan hacer los desarrolladores. Esta tesis aborda el problema planteando un cambio de punto de vista en el proceso software, en el que la documentación pasa de ser un sub producto de las actividades y tareas del proceso a ser el elemento que vertebra el propio proceso. En este nuevo punto de vista, la definición de los propios documentos, sus propiedades y relaciones permiten establecer y guiar procesos software de cualquier tipo. Para ello, desarrolla un metamodelo para definición de metodologías centradas en documentos. Este metamodelo se confronta con una serie atributos de calidad de la documentación software para comprobar que existe una mejora sobre estos, y, por consiguiente se mejora la calidad de la documentación software en general. Por último se utiliza este metamodelo centrado en documentos para describir una metodología ágil (Scrum) y validar la capacidad y flexibilidad del metamodelo utilizando el cambio de punto de vista sobre el proceso software planteado en esta tesis. ABSTRACT The documentation in software projects has a number of problems affecting the quality of the product and the software process. Often, documentation is considered only as an additional volume of information available to the organization and development team, which slows project execution. In this sense, the role of documentation in a project is conceived as one of the most expensive activities and more time-consuming and then not used extensively. The documentation is, in many cases, relegated to the background and is undervalued compared to face-to-face communication. There is also a relationship between the quality of the documentation and software process. There are difficulties in adopting good practices of software process and the impact of excess documentation perceived by project managers in Software Process Improvement activities. We have to remember that quality of the documentation is closely related to the use of it that can make developers. This thesis addresses the problem considering a change of view on the software process, in which the documentation happens to be a by-product of the activities and tasks of the process to be the element that structures the process itself. Through this new view, the definition of the documents themselves, their properties and relationships, allow us to establish processes and guidance for develop software of any kind. To achieve this target, a metamodel for defining document-centric methodologies has been developed. This metamodel confronts a number of quality attributes software documentation to prove that there is an improvement on these, and therefore the quality of the software documentation is improved. Finally this document-centric metamodel is used to describe an agile methodology (Scrum) to validate the capability and flexibility of the metamodel, using the proposed change of view on the software process described in this thesis.

Análisis del software ImageJ para el análisis científico de imágenes

ImageJ es un programa informático de tratamiento digital de imagen orientado principalmente hacia el ámbito de las ciencias de la salud. Se trata de un software de dominio público y de código abierto desarrollado en lenguaje Java en las instituciones del National Institutes of Health de Estados Unidos. Incluye por defecto potentes herramientas para editar, procesar y analizar imágenes de casi cualquier tipo y formato. Sin embargo, su mayor virtud reside en su extensibilidad: las funcionalidades de ImageJ pueden ampliarse hasta resolver casi cualquier problema de tratamiento digital de imagen mediante macros, scripts y, especialmente, plugins programables en lenguaje Java gracias a la API que ofrece. Además, ImageJ cuenta con repositorios oficiales en los que es posible obtener de forma gratuita macros, scripts y plugins aplicables en multitud de entornos gracias a la labor de la extensa comunidad de desarrolladores de ImageJ, que los depura, mejora y amplia frecuentemente. Este documento es la memoria de un proyecto que consiste en el análisis detallado de las herramientas de tratamiento digital de imagen que ofrece ImageJ. Tiene por objetivo determinar si ImageJ, a pesar de estar más enfocado a las ciencias de la salud, puede resultar útil en el entorno de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería y Sistemas de Telecomunicación de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, y en tal caso, resaltar las características que pudieran resultar más beneficiosas en este ámbito y servir además como guía introductoria. En las siguientes páginas se examinan una a una las herramientas de ImageJ (versión 1.48q), su funcionamiento y los mecanismos subyacentes. Se sigue el orden marcado por los menús de la interfaz de usuario: el primer capítulo abarca las herramientas destinadas a la manipulación de imágenes en general (menú Image); el segundo, las herramientas de procesado (menú Process); el tercero, las herramientas de análisis (menú Analyze); y el cuarto y último, las herramientas relacionadas con la extensibilidad de ImageJ (menú Plugins). ABSTRACT. ImageJ is a digital image processing computer program which is mainly focused at the health sciences field. It is a public domain, open source software developed in Java language at the National Institutes of Health of the United States of America. It includes powerful built-in tools to edit, process and analyze almost every type of image in nearly every format. However, its main virtue is its extensibility: ImageJ functionalities can be widened to solve nearly every situation found in digital image processing through macros, scripts and, specially, plugins programmed in Java language thanks to the ImageJ API. In addition, ImageJ has official repositories where it is possible to freely get many different macros, scripts and plugins thanks to the work carried out by the ImageJ developers community, which continuously debug, improve and widen them. This document is a report which explains a detailed analysis of all the digital image processing tools offered by ImageJ. Its final goal is to determine if ImageJ can be useful to the environment of Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenierfa y Sistemas de Telecomunicacion of Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, in spite of being focused at the health sciences field. In such a case, it also aims to highlight the characteristics which could be more beneficial in this field, and serve as an introductory guide too. In the following pages, all of the ImageJ tools (version 1.48q) are examined one by one, as well as their work and the underlying mechanics. The document follows the order established by the menus in ImageJ: the first chapter covers all the tools destined to manipulate images in general (menu Image); the second one covers all the processing tools (menu Process); the third one includes analyzing tools (menu Analyze); and finally, the fourth one contains all those tools related to ImageJ extensibility (menu Plugins).

UML 1.4 versus UML 2.0 as Languages to Describe Software Architectures.

ML 1.4 is widely accepted as the standard for representing the various software artifacts generated by a development process. For this reason, there have been attempts to use this language to represent the software architec- ture of systems as well. Unfortunately, these attempts have ended in representa- tions (boxes and lines) already criticized by the software architecture commu- nity. Recently, OMG has published a draft that will constitute the future UML 2.0 specification. In this paper we compare the capacities of UML 1.4 and UML 2.0 to describe software architectures. In particular, we study extensions of both UML versions to describe the static view of the C3 architectural style (a simplification of the C2 style). One of the results of this study is the difficulties found when using the UML 2.0 metamodel to describe the concept of connector in a software architecture.

Probabilistic assessment of risk from the exposure to mercury in artisanal gold mining communities in Colombia

Colombia is one the largest per capita mercury polluters as a consequence of its artisanal gold mining operations, which are steadily increasing following the rising price of this metal. Compared to gravimetric separation methods and cyanidation, the concentration of gold using Hg amalgams presents several advantages: the process is less time-consuming and minimizes gold losses, and Hg is easily transported and inexpensive relative to the selling price of gold. Very often, mercury amalgamation is carried out on site by unprotected workers. During this operation large amounts of mercury are discharged to the environment and eventually reach the fresh water bodies in the vicinity where it is subjected to methylation. Additionally, as gold is released from the amalgam by heating on open charcoal furnaces in small workshops, mercury vapors are emitted and inhaled by the artisanal smelters and the general population

Diseño de una metodología CASE de desarrollo de software

En la actualidad existe una gran expectación ante la introducción de nuevas herramientas y métodos para el desarrollo de productos software, que permitirán en un futuro próximo un planteamiento de ingeniería del proceso de producción software. Las nuevas metodologías que empiezan a esbozarse suponen un enfoque integral del problema abarcando todas las fases del esquema productivo. Sin embargo el grado de automatización conseguido en el proceso de construcción de sistemas es muy bajo y éste está centrado en las últimas fases del ciclo de vida del software, consiguiéndose así una reducción poco significativa de sus costes y, lo que es aún más importante, sin garantizar la calidad de los productos software obtenidos. Esta tesis define una metodología de desarrollo software estructurada que se puede automatizar, es decir una metodología CASE. La metodología que se presenta se ajusta al modelo de ciclo de desarrollo CASE, que consta de las fases de análisis, diseño y pruebas; siendo su ámbito de aplicación los sistemas de información. Se establecen inicialmente los principios básicos sobre los que la metodología CASE se asienta. Posteriormente, y puesto que la metodología se inicia con la fijación de los objetivos de la empresa que demanda un sistema informático, se emplean técnicas que sirvan de recogida y validación de la información, que proporcionan a la vez un lenguaje de comunicación fácil entre usuarios finales e informáticos. Además, estas mismas técnicas detallarán de una manera completa, consistente y sin ambigüedad todos los requisitos del sistema. Asimismo, se presentan un conjunto de técnicas y algoritmos para conseguir que desde la especificación de requisitos del sistema se logre una automatización tanto del diseño lógico del Modelo de Procesos como del Modelo de Datos, validados ambos conforme a la especificación de requisitos previa. Por último se definen unos procedimientos formales que indican el conjunto de actividades a realizar en el proceso de construcción y cómo llevarlas a cabo, consiguiendo de esta manera una integridad en las distintas etapas del proceso de desarrollo.---ABSTRACT---Nowdays there is a great expectation with regard to the introduction of new tools and methods for the software products development that, in the very near future will allow, an engineering approach in the software development process. New methodologies, just emerging, imply an integral approach to the problem, including all the productive scheme stages. However, the automatization degree obtained in the systems construction process is very low and focused on the last phases of the software lifecycle, which means that the costs reduction obtained is irrelevant and, which is more important, the quality of the software products is not guaranteed. This thesis defines an structured software development methodology that can be automated, that is a CASE methodology. Such a methodology is adapted to the CASE development cycle-model, which consists in analysis, design and testing phases, being the information systems its field of application. Firstly, we present the basic principies on which CASE methodology is based. Secondly, since the methodology starts from fixing the objectives of the company demanding the automatization system, we use some techniques that are useful for gathering and validating the information, being at the same time an easy communication language between end-users and developers. Indeed, these same techniques will detail completely, consistently and non ambiguously all the system requirements. Likewise, a set of techniques and algorithms are shown in order to obtain, from the system requirements specification, an automatization of the Process Model logical design, and of the Data Model logical design. Those two models are validated according to the previous requirement specification. Finally, we define several formal procedures that suggest which set of activities to be accomplished in the construction process, and how to carry them out, getting in this way integrity and completness for the different stages of the development process.

Modelo explicativo de la relación entre productividad y valores organizacionales, en la PYME del sector metalúrgico y minero de Venezuela

Como consecuencia de los procesos de globalización el mundo empresarial está sometido a constantes cambios que han originado la necesidad en las empresas de evaluar su funcionamiento, con el objeto de adecuar su gestión a las mejores prácticas gerenciales y operativas, en función de adaptarse a las exigencias presentes en los escenarios en que están inmersas. La presente investigación tiene como propósito desarrollar un modelo explicativo de la relación entre la productividad y los valores organizacionales, teniendo como premisa los distintos planteamientos o teorías que destacan la importancia que tienen los valores organizacionales para que las empresas logren sus metas. Específicamente se tomó como referencia la clasificación de los valores organizacionales, que contempla el modelo de gestión de Dirección por Valores (DPV), de García y Dolan (2001). Las PYMES, al considerar el efecto que tienen los valores organizacionales en la productividad, pueden apoyar su gestión a través del compromiso de las personas para lograr los resultados de productividad que quieren o necesitan alcanzar. El abordaje del estudio se ha basado en la investigación explicativa, a través de la cual se exponen las razones de ocurrencia de un fenómeno o se muestran los mecanismos por los que se relacionan dos o más variables, lo que permitió conjugar definiciones y supuestos de las relaciones encontradas entre los valores organizacionales identificados de acuerdo a la opinión de los entrevistados y que resultaron ser significativos con los resultados de productividad que presentan las empresas que fueron objeto de esta investigación La población estuvo conformada por 40 empresas activas del sector metalúrgico y minero de Ciudad Guayana, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela, pertenecientes a la Asociación de Industriales Metalúrgicos y de Minería de la región Guayana (AIMM) y al directorio de la Cámara de Industriales y Mineros de Guayana. La muestra estudiada corresponde a 25 empresas que representan el 62% de la población. El proceso que se siguió para generar el modelo explicativo contempla tres etapas. La primera consiste en la fase descriptiva donde se recogió la información referente a la productividad de las empresas y a la determinación de los valores organizacionales identificados a través del análisis cualitativo de las entrevistas que se realizaron a los informantes de las empresas de la muestra. Para ello se utilizó el software Atlas ti 6.0. La segunda etapa, denominada comparativa, consistió en determinar la relación entre la productividad y los valores organizacionales, a través de las tablas de contingencias, de acuerdo con el grado de significancia que mostró el estadístico Chi- cuadrado. La tercera y última etapa del proceso es la fase explicativa que consistió en estimar la magnitud de la relación entre las variables productividad y valores organizacionales utilizando el coeficiente de contingencia de Pearson, y en establecer las asociaciones de acuerdo a las proximidades observadas que resultaron del análisis de correspondencias múltiples. Entre los hallazgos del estudio desarrollado se encontró que la productividad de las empresas puede fijarse en tres categorías: alta, media y baja y entre los factores que afectan a la productividad destacan, en el contexto externo: el gobierno, los clientes y los proveedores y en el contexto interno: la mano de obra, los materiales y los suministros. Según la opinión de los gerentes entrevistados, los valores organizacionales que caracterizan a las empresas del sector estudiado se agrupan en veintisiete categorías, que se clasifican en los siguientes componentes: entorno mercado, clientes, proveedores y otras empresas aliadas, medio ambiente, forma de tratar la Dirección al resto de empleados, forma de trabajar cotidiana y gestión de los recursos económicos. Los valores organizacionales que resultaron ser significativos fueron la innovación, la honestidad y el orden y limpieza. La magnitud de la relación encontrada del valor innovación fue moderadamente fuerte. Se infiere que las empresas, al tener una Productividad baja, deciden innovar en el desarrollo de nuevos productos. El valor honestidad arrojó una relación moderadamente fuerte, determinando que las empresas de Productividad alta basan sus relaciones con los proveedores en la honestidad. Finalmente, el valor orden y limpieza muestra una relación moderadamente débil, lo que hace suponer que las empresas de Productividad media tienen alguna preferencia por mantener el orden y limpieza en las áreas de trabajo. El modelo explicativo de la relación entre productividad y valores organizacionales, en las PYMES del sector metalúrgico y minero de Ciudad Guayana, quedó conformado por los siguientes componentes: mercado, clientes, proveedores y otras empresas aliadas, y medio ambiente. No se encontraron relaciones en los componentes forma de tratar la Dirección al resto de empleados, forma de trabajar cotidiana y gestión de los recursos económicos. ABSTRACT As a result of globalization processes, the business world is subject to constant change. This has resulted in the need for companies to evaluate their performance in order to adjust their processes to the best managerial and operational practices, with the goal to adapt to the demands present in the scenarios in which they are embedded. This research aimed to develop an explanatory model of the relationship between productivity and organizational values. In addition, it was based on the different approaches or theories that relate the importance for enterprises of the organizational values to achieve their goals. Specifically, reference was made to the classification of organizational values, which includes the model of Management by Values (DPV) following García and Dolan (1997). The SMEs, considering the effect of organizational values on productivity, can support their management through the commitment of their people to achieve productivity results that they want or need to accomplish. The study approach was based on explanatory research, which presents the reasons for occurrence of a phenomenon and the mechanisms through which two or more variables are related. This allowed to combine definitions and assumptions about the relationship found between organizational values and the productivity results of the companies that took part in this research. Organizational values were identified in the opinion of the managers interviewed, and were found to be significant with the productivity results. The population consisted of 40 active enterprises of the metallurgical and mining industry of Ciudad Guayana, Estado Bolivar, Venezuela. These enterprises were members of the Association of Metallurgical and Mining Industry of the Guayana Region (AIMM, by its acronym in Spanish) and the Directory of the Chamber of Industrial and Mining of Guayana. The sample of the study is comprised of 25 enterprises, which represent 62% of the total population. The process which has been followed to generate the explanatory model involves three stages. The first stage is the descriptive phase where the information about enterprises productivity and the determination of organizational values is gathered. These organizational values were identified by a qualitative analysis of the interviews conducted with managers of each enterprise. This analysis was performed using the Atlas ti 6.0 software. The second stage, denominated comparative, consisted in determining the relationship between productivity and organizational values through contingency tables, and according to the degree of significance showed by the Chi-Square, statistic. The third, and final stage of the process, is the explanatory phase. This consisted in estimating the magnitude of the relationship between productivity and organizational values variables using the Pearson's contingency coefficient. In addition, this stage comprises the establishment of the associations according to the observed proximities that resulted from the multiple correspondence analysis. Among the findings of this study, it was found that the productivity of enterprises can be set in three categories: high, medium and low. Additionally, it was found that in the external context the factors that stand out affecting productivity are: government policy, customers and suppliers, while in the domestic context they are: labor, materials and supplies. According to the opinion of the managers interviewed the organizational values that characterize the companies that were studied are grouped into twenty seven categories. These categories are classified into the following components: market environment, customers, suppliers and other allied companies, the environment, how Management deals with of the employees, way to work every day, and management of economic resources. Organizational values that were found to be significant were innovation, honesty and order and cleanliness. The magnitude of the relation of the innovation value was found to be moderately strong. It is inferred that companies that have low productivity decide to innovate in the development of new products. The honesty value showed a moderately strong relation, determining that high productivity enterprises base their relationships with suppliers on honesty. Lastly, the order and cleanliness value showed a moderately weak relation, which suggests that average productivity enterprises have a preference to maintain order and cleanliness in the work areas. The explanatory model of the relationship between productivity and organizational values, in the SMEs of the metallurgical and mining sector of Ciudad Guayana, was composed of the following components: market, customers, suppliers and other allied companies, and the environment. No relationships were found in the following components: how Management deals with employees, way to work every day, and management of economic resources.

Modelling spatial decisión support systems focused on the development of a data warehouse: applying software engineering

Nowadays, organizations have plenty of data stored in DB databases, which contain invaluable information. Decision Support Systems DSS provide the support needed to manage this information and planning médium and long-term ?the modus operandi? of these organizations. Despite the growing importance of these systems, most proposals do not include its total evelopment, mostly limiting itself on the development of isolated parts, which often have serious integration problems. Hence, methodologies that include models and processes that consider every factor are necessary. This paper will try to fill this void as it proposes an approach for developing spatial DSS driven by the development of their associated Data Warehouse DW, without forgetting its other components. To the end of framing the proposal different Engineering Software focus (The Software Engineering Process and Model Driven Architecture) are used, and coupling with the DB development methodology, (and both of them adapted to DW peculiarities). Finally, an example illustrates the proposal.

Replications of software engineering experiments

There are many open issues that must be addressed before the replication process can be successfully formalized in empirical software engineering research. We define replication as the deliberate repetition of the same empirical study for the purpose of determining whether the results of the first experiment can be reproduced. This definition would appear at first glance to be good. However, it needs several clarifications that have not yet been forthcoming in software engineering: – What is the exact meaning of the same empirical study? Namely how similar should an experiment be to the baseline study for it to be considered a replication? What is the exact meaning of a result being reproduced? Namely how similar does a result have to be to the result of the baseline study for it to be considered reproduced? These and other methodological questions need to be researched and tailored for empirical software engineering.

Are team personality and climate related to satisfaction and software quality? Aggregating results from a twice replicated experiment

Research into software engineering teams focuses on human and social team factors. Social psychology deals with the study of team formation and has found that personality factors and group processes such as team climate are related to team effectiveness. However, there are only a handful of empirical studies dealing with personality and team climate and their relationship to software development team effectiveness. Objective We present aggregate results of a twice replicated quasi-experiment that evaluates the relationships between personality, team climate, product quality and satisfaction in software development teams. Method Our experimental study measures the personalities of team members based on the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) and team climate factors (participative safety, support for innovation, team vision and task orientation) preferences and perceptions. We aggregate the results of the three studies through a meta-analysis of correlations. The study was conducted with students. Results The aggregation of results from the baseline experiment and two replications corroborates the following findings. There is a positive relationship between all four climate factors and satisfaction in software development teams. Teams whose members score highest for the agreeableness personality factor have the highest satisfaction levels. The results unveil a significant positive correlation between the extraversion personality factor and software product quality. High participative safety and task orientation climate perceptions are significantly related to quality. Conclusions First, more efficient software development teams can be formed heeding personality factors like agreeableness and extraversion. Second, the team climate generated in software development teams should be monitored for team member satisfaction. Finally, aspects like people feeling safe giving their opinions or encouraging team members to work hard at their job can have an impact on software quality. Software project managers can take advantage of these factors to promote developer satisfaction and improve the resulting product.