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Patent application title: Disposable Stereoscopic Endoscope System
Wei Su (Sunnyvale, CA, US)
Wei Su (Sunnyvale, CA, US)
Gary Zhang (Sunnyvale, CA, US)
IPC8 Class: AA61B106FI
USPC Class:
Class name: Surgery endoscope having means to protect user, patient, or endoscope from electrical discharge
Publication date: 2009-03-19
Patent application number: 20090076329
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Patent application title: Disposable Stereoscopic Endoscope System
Wei Su
Gary Zhang
Wei Su
Origin: SUNNYVALE, CA US
IPC8 Class: AA61B106FI
USPC Class:
A disposable simultaneous stereo endoscope system is disclosed. The
disposable endoscope does not include image relay. Instead, two
electronic imaging sensors and solid illumination lighting are arranged
inside the endoscope. A demultiplexing beam splitter is used for
splitting the two imaging light beams to the two imaging devices. A
wedged multi-facet illumination window is used to create an illumination
field that is larger than the field of view of the imaging optics. An
electrically conductive heat sink is engaged for dissipating the heat
generated by the solid light source and also for shielding end side of
the endoscope. The disposable endoscope is shielded from electromagnetic
interferences. A repeater unit is used to electrically connect the
disposable endoscope with a remote receiver and to increase the data
transfer rate. An electrical isolation means is provided between the
endoscope and an image processing and power conditioning unit to protect
the endoscope against electric shock.
1. A disposable simultaneous stereo endoscope system, comprising,an
imaging sub-system having two sub-apertures for defining the two stereo
imaging channels and a demultiplexing beam splitter for splitting the two
light beams to two imaging devices,an illumination sub-system further
comprising a solid light source, an optical fibers based ring
illumination path, and a wedged multi-facet illumination window,an
electrically conductive heat sink for dissipating the heat generated by
the solid light source and also for shielding end side of the endoscope,a
metallic tube for shielding the opto-electronic components inside the
endoscope from electromagnetic interferences,
2. The endoscope of claim 1, wherein said illumination sub-system further comprises a light homogenization device for homogenizing the illumination light from the solid light source to the optical fibers.
3. The endoscope of claim 1, wherein said illumination sub-system further comprises an optical beam combiner for combining illumination light beams from at least two light sources of different wavelengths.
4. The endoscope of claim 1, wherein said illumination sub-system further comprises condensing optical lens for focusing the illumination light from the solid light source into the optical fibers.
5. The endoscope system of claim 1, further comprising an outer tube made from an electrically insulating and biocompatible material.
6. The endoscope system of claim 1, further comprising means for coating or depositing an optically transparent and electrically conductive layer on at least one of the surfaces of the imaging optics to achieve a complete electric shielding for the disposable endoscope.
7. The endoscope of claim 1, wherein said illumination sub-system creates an illumination field that is larger than the field of view of the imaging sub-system for the desired imaging space of the endoscope.
8. The endoscope of claim 1, further comprising means for electrically connecting the disposable imaging and lighting endoscope with a repeater unit containing a power conditioning/distribution module and an input/output conditioning module to increase the data transfer rate over a relatively long distance.
9. The endoscope of claim 1, further comprising an image processing and power conditioning unit and an electrical isolation means to provide protection against electric shock.
10. The endoscope of claim 9, wherein said electrical isolation means comprises a basic insulation design in which electrical cable shielding is directly connected to the metallic instrument enclosure of the image processing and power conditioning unit.
11. The endoscope of claim 9, wherein said electrical isolation means comprises a double insulation design in which a galvanic isolation device is used to allow signals to travel through and meanwhile to prevent a direct flow of electric current.
12. The endoscope of claim 1, further comprising an orientation detection sensor for sensing the orientation direction of the endoscope so that the displayed stereo video images can be adjusted based on the orientation of the endoscope.
13. The endoscope of claim 1, further comprising writable memory chip for recording the information about the disposable device and its usage.
14. The endoscope of claim 1, wherein said solid light source is driven in the form of pulse width modulation (PWM) with constant peak electric current to maintain stable color output and a high enough repetition rate so that the illumination light appears continuous to a human eye.
15. The endoscope of claim 14, wherein said pulse modulation is further turned on only when the shutters for the two imaging sensors are open
16. The endoscope of claim 14 wherein said pulse modulation has a small duty cycle and a high peak light intensity for reducing the blurring of the images caused by the motion of the endoscope.
[0001]This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No 60/993,858, filed Sep. 17, 2007 by the present inventors.
[0002]This application is related to a co-pending U.S. patent application entitled "Compact Stereoscopic Endoscopes" which is incorporated herein by reference.
US Patents
[0003]U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,477 [0004]U.S. Pat. No. 6,720,988 [0005]U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,956 [0006]U.S. Pat. No. 7,230,756
[0007]The present invention generally relates to endoscopes and in particular, to the design of a stereoscopic endoscopes system for medical procedures and industrial applications.
[0008]An endoscope is an imaging device capable of transmitting image from its tip (or distal end) through its long, slim shank to an imaging sensor so that a live image can be displayed on an electronic monitor at a distance. An endoscopic system often consists of four major parts: a miniature imaging optics, image transmission optics, electronic imaging sensor and display. Endoscopes are generally required to be of certain length since they are usually operated outside patients' body and the distal imaging optics collects and conveys the images of inner anatomy to the outside. Since the imaging electronics is too bulky to be placed close to the imaging optics, the image transmission optics becomes a critical component, which also defines the basic architectural design of any endoscope. Before the coherent fiber optic cable was invented and used to relay an optical image over the full length of the cable, miniature relay lens system was generally used to transmit the optical image. Due to the fixed positions of the relay lenses, endoscopes can only be made with a rigid shank, limiting its potential applications. The flexibility of the fiber optical cable has made flexible endoscopes a reality. However, the inherent low resolution and high optical attenuation resulting from limitation of the optical fiber has limited the performance of endoscopes based on fiber cables. The endoscopes with similar optical design and construction are also used widely in industrial supplications for inspecting defect or objects in places difficult to be accessed from a small opening.
[0009]The endoscopes on market today are mostly designed for multiple uses in medical procedures, requiring various levels of disinfection and rigorous reprocessing after each use. The shortcomings of repeated use include the risk of potential cross contamination, high cost of a sustainable design, tear and wear in function, and increased personnel cost for maintenance. Given these issues, a disposable endoscope apparently has its clear advantage. However, the cost of optics, especially that of the image transmission optics and electronic imaging sensors have so far kept the cost high even for endoscopes designed as disposables (U.S. Pat. No. 7,230,756 B2). Besides, the size of the imaging electronics prevents its placement close to the imaging optics and as a consequence the design still relies on traditional relay optics for image transmission.
[0010]Today most endoscopes are not designed and manufactured to generate stereoscopic images. Prior art stereo endoscope not only requires dual apertures (pupils) for generating two independent imaging channels, but also need a relative large space to transmit the two image through two spatially non-overlapping optical paths. Such a spatial division based configuration also result in a larger dimension of the endoscope, and hence is unlikely to meet the requirement of minimally invasive surgeries.
[0011]There are two traditional architectural designs for stereo endoscopes. One typical design uses the relay optical system to transmit the optical image from the distal end to two imaging sensors located at the other end (U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,956, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,720,988). Due to the higher cost of relay optics for dual channel stereo endoscopes, these types of endoscopes are very expensive and not applicable for disposable applications. The second design places the electronic imaging sensors directly behind the imaging optics and removes the expensive relay optics from the endoscope (U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,477). However, the design proposed in patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,477 is based on sequential stereo imaging, in which the images from the two independent channels are captured one at a time. When the captured video images are displayed on a stereoscopic monitor, a slight motion of the targeted object or endoscope itself would result in false stereoscopic acuity for the observer, which will result in the impression that the object is moving in-and-out of the monitor screen.
[0012]In addition to issues related to the imaging and relay optics, from a system level perspective, traditional endoscopes also have limitations in optical illumination, EMI shielding, electrical isolation, and other safety related issues. For example, traditionally, the illumination light is guided from a high intensity lamp to the imaging site by an optical fiber cable. The small size and numerical aperture of the fiber cable result in huge light loss during its coupling and transmission. As a result, high power short arc lamps, which often have short life time, have to be used to compensate for the low efficiency of illumination light transmission.
[0013]Practically, all of endoscopes today use electronic imaging system to transfer the optical image captured by the endoscope to an electronic display monitor. The image capturing device is attached to the endoscope at its proximal end and located at a distance from the patient. Because of this, only simple Basic Insulation is required for the electronics when it is further isolated electrically from the distal end of the endoscope. Even when Reinforced Insulation is required for the imaging electronics, it is rather simple to implement due to lax constraint on the available space in the area. It is much more difficult to implement the required electrical insulation when the miniature electronics is implemented into the distal end of the endoscope. So far, very few attentions have been paid to the electrical safety issues.
[0014]In this invention, the word "disposable endoscope" means an endoscope that is relatively compact and low cost so that one can afford to use it for only a limited number of times before throwing it away.
[0015]The present invention discloses a disposable simultaneous stereoscopic endoscope system that is compact and low cost. In addition, a number of system level issues have been addressed to make the system suitable for meeting the safety regulatory requirement.
[0016]One object of this invention is to design a disposable unit of the endoscope that contains both the imaging and the illumination sub-systems so that the disposable unit only needs to be connected to the rest of the system electrically. The imaging sub-system uses two spatially separated sub-apertures for defining two stereo imaging channels and a demultiplexing beam splitter for splitting the two light beams to two imaging devices to make the sub-system compact. The illumination sub-system uses more efficient and compact solid state light sources such as high brightness white LEDs (light emitting diodes) or LDs (laser diodes) or SLEDs (superluminescent light emitting diodes) to replace traditional high intensity illumination lamps. Meanwhile, light from the solid light source is coupled into optical fibers based ring illumination path, and a wedged multi-facet illumination window is used to modify the illumination light ray so that the illumination field is slightly larger than the field of view of the imaging sub-system for the desired imaging space of the endoscope.
[0017]Another object of this invention is to electrically connect the disposable imaging and lighting endoscope unit with a repeater unit containing a power conditioning/distribution module and an input/output signal conditioning and control module so that high data transfer rate can be maintained over a relatively long distance.
[0018]Another object is to electrically isolate the disposable endoscope and its electronics from the patient to satisfy the electric safety requirement of medical device and to provide protection means for the patient against electric shocks in the case of device failure.
[0019]Another objective is to reduce the exposure of EMI (electromagnetic interference) to the patient from the working electronics inside the distal end of the endoscope, and meanwhile provide EMI shielding to the sensitive electronics in the endoscope from the environment.
[0020]Another objective is to use proper thermal sink at the distal end of the endoscope, to dissipate heat generated by the solid lighting source and electronics for prolong operation and to integrate the heat sink with the EMI shielding.
[0021]Another objective is to install an orientation detection sensor to the endoscope, so that the displayed stereo video images could be adjusted based on the orientation of the endoscope.
[0022]Still another objective is to add writable memory chip to the disposable part of the endoscope so that information about the disposable device and its usage could be recorded and tracked; the initial setup of the disposable device to the base station could be automated and the device could cease to function when the limit for usage is reached. Imaging parameters may also be stored in this memory for later retrieval to correct optical distortions and electronic defects.
[0023]Additional objects, features and advantages of the various aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of its preferred embodiment, which description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
[0024]FIG. 1 shows a section view of the disposable imaging and lighting unit of the presently disclosed stereoscopic endoscope.
[0025]FIG. 2 shows the illumination field and the imaging field, where the illumination field is larger than the imaging field, but still covers the field of view of the endoscope.
[0026]FIG. 3 shows the electrical connection between the disposable imaging and lighting unit and a unit containing a power conditioning/distribution module and an input/output conditioning module.
[0027]FIG. 4 shows a Basic Protective Earth Insulation design of the presently disclosed simultaneous stereo endoscope system.
[0028]FIG. 5 shows a Double Insulation design of the presently disclosed simultaneous stereo endoscope system.
[0029]FIG. 6(a) shows one embodiment of the lighting unit in which the solid light source is directly connected to the fiber cable for illumination light delivery.
[0030]FIG. 6(b) shows another embodiment of the lighting unit in which light from the solid light source is coupled to the fiber cable via a condensing lens.
[0031]FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the lighting unit in which an optical beam combiner is used to combine light beams from at least two light sources with different wavelengths, to form an equivalent light source of multiple wavelengths, and the light beam is coupled into the fiber cable through a condensing optical lens and/or light homogenization device.
[0032]A novel simultaneous stereoscopic endoscope system based on solid state lighting is proposed. One unique feature of the present invention is the compact design of stereoscopic imaging and lighting within a disposable housing such that only electrical signal connection is required between the disposable part and the rest of the endoscope system for transmitting power, imaging and control signals. In particular, a miniature low cost digital imaging unit is placed directly at the distal end of the endoscope, which eliminates the need for a relay optical system. The new optical design makes it possible to miniaturize the imaging unit to the size similar to traditional optical endoscopes.
[0033]FIG. 1 shows a section view of the disposable imaging and lighting unit of the presently disclosed stereoscopic endoscope. In terms of imaging optics, two optical modules such as the lenses 104 and 108 are used to form two images of an object onto two electronic imaging sensors 112 and 114. The optical aperture 106 is placed between two optical modules 104 and 108 and it is composed of two symmetrically located sub-apertures that offer optical multiplexing characteristics. The beam splitter cube 110 is designed with a matching demultiplexing optical characteristic of the two sub-apertures in 106 so that imaging light beam from one sub-aperture is reflected to imaging device 112, while the imaging light beam from the other sub-aperture is transmitted to imaging device 114.
[0034]The imaging devices 112 and 114 are synchronized in their image capturing action so that pairs of images are generated at exactly the same instant, and their relationship is kept throughout the later stages of stereo image processing and display as a registered stereo pair. Due to the spatial separation of the two sub-apertures in 106, the pair of images would introduce stereoscopic vision to the observer when the images are displayed on a stereoscopic display device.
[0035]In one of the proposed multiplexing/demultiplexing designs, two linear polarizers with orthogonal polarizations are inserted into the two sub-apertures. A polarization beam splitter cube is used as 110, in which the polarization direction of the cube is aligned exactly with that of the polarizers inserted in the aperture stop 106.
[0036]The captured image pairs, in their digital form, are sent from the distal end through electric wires in cable 124 and 125 to the rest of the endoscope. The electric power supply and control commands for the electronic imaging sensor 112 and 114 are also sent to the sensors through wires in the cable 124. The benefits include the fact that the size of the electric cable 124 is much smaller than that of rigid relay lenses or optical image transmitting fiber bundles used in conventional designs, and the fact that the cable 124 will not limit the resolution of the endoscope. Due to the mechanical flexibility of the electric cable 124 and 125, the endoscope can be made with either flexible or rigid insertion tubes. Therefore, the platform technology proposed here can be extended to cover both rigid and flexible endoscopes. Once the optical images are converted into electronic signals, the flexible endoscope could be made with small diameter and very flexible insertion tube.
[0037]In terms of illumination optics, a solid state light source 126, made of either LEDs or laser diodes, with either broad or narrow spectral bandwidth, is placed behind the imaging sensors. The electrical power to the solid state light source 126 is supplied through the electric cable 128. Additional sensors or measuring devices, including thermal sensor and color sensor, can be implemented around the light source 126 to ensure its steady performance, and also to communicate with the micro controller in the base station of the endoscope system through the electric wires in cable 128. The emitted light from the light source 126 is projected into an optical homogenization device 118, which can be made of a light pipe, in order to generate uniform illumination in term of angular and spatial light distribution in brightness and color for the optical fibers 116 at the other end of the homogenizer 118. The homogenization device 118 is also designed to increase the optical coupling efficacy between the light source 126 and the optical fibers, 116. The optical fibers are spread around the lens cell 105 for the imaging optics, to form a very thin, but uniform illumination ring behind the illumination window 102 of the endoscope.
[0038]To produce images with uniform brightness, the optical illumination to the object must be both uniform and with certain unique distribution patterns. Meanwhile, in order to reduce haziness in images and increase image contrast, it is desirable to make the illumination field 242 slightly larger than, but still cover the field of view (FOV) 244 of the endoscope, as shown in FIG. 2. An optical illumination window component 102, which is designed to change the direction and angular distribution of the illumination light from the optical fiber ring 116, is arranged in the front of fiber ring end. The illumination window component 102 is made of a wedged transparent optical material with multi-facet surfaces on the side facing the fiber ring. The outside surface of the illumination window component 102 is preferably smooth and forms the optical window for the illumination light. The illumination window also seals the gap between the imaging optics and the shank of the endoscope.
[0039]In addition to the imaging and lighting consideration, there are also other issues that must be considered; and these include thermal dissipation, electrical grounding, the shielding from electromagnetic interference (EMI), data transfer rate and electrical insulation. For example, although a solid state light source is relatively highly efficient, it can still generate certain amount of heat and hence requires proper cooling design for a heat sink in order to maintain a desired working temperature range for the light source. As shown in FIG. 1, a heat sink device 130/132 made of materials of good heat conduction can be attached to the back of the solid state light source 126. The size of the heat sink 130/132 can vary depending on the efficiency of the light source and expected working time of the endoscope. The heat sink 130/132 can also be attached to a thin metal tube wall 122, which can in effect increase the size and mass of the heat sink. The heat sink 130/132 can also function as the electrical ground for the solid state light source 126. Properly grounded electrically, the thin metal wall tube 122 not only provides mechanical strength and protection for the precision opto-electronics in the imaging unit, but also offers much needed shielding for electromagnetic interference. Depending on the specific requirement, the thin metal wall tube 122 could also be replaced by a thin electrically conductive coating or an electro-plated surface deposited onto the inner surface of the outer tube 120, to provide needed shielding from electromagnetic interference (EMI).
[0040]The thin outer wall tube 120 is placed outside the metal tube 122 and can be made of an electrically insulating and biocompatible material. The tube 120 provides supplementary electrical isolation for the endoscope, which is required for medical devices in contact with patients' inner anatomy. In another design, tube 120 can also be removed and the metal tube 122 becomes the exterior wall of the endoscope, if the required electric insulation is sufficient by using well known basic insulation techniques.
[0041]If more stringent shielding from electromagnetic interference is required, one of the surfaces of the optical modules 104 and 108 could be coated with an electrically conductive but optically transparent layer such as an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer. When the surface is grounded electrically to the metal tube 122, a full enclosure (shielding) of the electronic components in the disposable unit of the endoscope is formed. Another option is to coat the surface of the aperture plate with electrically conductive but optically transparent layer, if an optically transparent substrate is used; or to make the opaque portion of the aperture from an electrically conductive material.
[0042]The working length of the electrical wires 124, 125 often is limited by the required data transmission rate of live images and I/O communication port. As a solution in the present invention, an electronic repeater is installed in the proximal portion of the endoscope. As shown in FIG. 3, a power conditioning/distribution module 344 is powered through an electric wire 346, which supplies DC power to solid state light source via a cable 328 and also to the imaging sensors via a cable 343 and an I/O conditioning module 342. The power module 344 also controls the functions of the solid state light source, and distributes power for I/O conditioning module 342. Module 342 is a two-way digital signal condition unit which converts signals from the imaging sensors through wires 324 and 325 to the preferred digital formats so that the signals could be transmitted to another receiver located far away by wires 348. At the same time, the electric signals from a distant location can be relayed to the module 342 through wires 348, and further to the imaging sensors after being converted into a format that can be recognized by various sensors. The cable 343 not only supplies power to module 342, but also relays control commands for the solid lighting source between module 342 and module 344. The returned performance monitoring data from the light source is then converted at the module 342 into ones with standard I/O protocols and is transmitted between module 342 and far away receivers. It is important to point out that although the term "convert" is used in the above discussion, the signal conditioning module 342 does not necessarily have to convert the data formats of the transmitted data, it could act as a two-way repeater to enhance the strength of the digital signals passing through it, so that the signal could be transmitted over long distance.
[0043]When properly grounded, the electrically conductive shielding 347 and 349 reduce the effect of electromagnetic emission from the wire 346 and 348, and also provide protection from potential EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) in operating environment.
[0044]In stereoscopic endoscopy, it is important to track the orientation of the stereoscopic endoscope during operation and adjust the orientation of displayed stereo images accordingly. In order to achieve orientation tracking, an electronic senor capable of detecting the orientation of the endoscope can be added into the module 342. The sensor is in constant communication with the image processor in the main system through cable 348.
[0045]A writable memory chip can also be added to the module 342. It will record the manufacturing, initial optical and electronic calibration information, and product ID, including the type of endoscope, illumination, stereo base settings, in the encrypted format. Once connected with a base station, the memory chip will transfer its recorded information to the system for keeping the information in a log book. The information helps to automate the initial setup process and ease the registration of the endoscopes during the operation. The information relating to the product ID at the base station and the condition of usage is also stored into the memory chip in module 342. More importantly the number or accumulated duration of usages for the disposable assembly is also recorded so that it could automatically cease to function when the preset limit is reached. Depending on specific applications, the medical endoscope may require either Basic Insulation with Protective Earth, or Double (Reinforced galvanic) Insulation to provide protection against the electric shock.
[0046]FIG. 4 shows the Basic Insulation design with Protective Earth. In this case the cable shieldings of 447 and 449 are directly connected to a metallic instrument enclosure 455 of the image processing unit 460 and a power conditioning unit 464. Meanwhile, a three-prong power cord 468 is used, in which the ground blade Protective Earth 456 is attached to any exposed conductive part, including instrument enclosure 455. The AC power cords 466 and 470 are attached to a power conditioning unit 464, which may include a medical grade isolation transformer, an uninterrupted power supply and DC power supplies. The power conditioning unit 464 provides basic insulation, a limit to leakage current and a regulated DC power for the whole system as desired to meet a satisfactory regulatory requirement. The DC power needed by the disposable unit is supplied through wire 446.
[0047]The digital data from the imaging sensors and other 1/0 communication are transmitted through wires 448 to the image processing/display unit 460. Inside the unit 460, the two channels of registered stereo video signal are processed separately and sent to a stereoscopic display device, from which a live stereoscopic video image of the object scene is displayed. The power for unit 460 is supplied through the power cord 462 from the power conditioning unit 464.
[0048]The endoscopic imaging system may be designed so that the endoscope itself is disposable. As shown in FIG. 4, the portion of system outlined by the dot lines could be attached and detached from the main system with proper electrical protection.
[0049]In the Double Insulation design, as shown in FIG. 5, a galvanic isolation device 557 is used to allow signals (data) to travel between the 1/0 conditioning module 542 and image processing unit 560 and meanwhile to prevent a direct flow of electric current between the module 542 and the unit 560. Preferably, certified opto-couplers are used for the reinforced isolation in module 557. A DC/DC converter 552 with high voltage isolation can also be used to prevent direct flow of DC current into the endoscope. The cable shielding 547 and 549 are isolated from the conductive enclosure 555 in proposed design.
[0050]The three-prong power cord 568 is used where the ground blade Protective Earth 556 is attached to any exposed conductive part, including instrument enclosure 555. The AC power cords 566 and 570 are attached to a power conditioning unit 564, which may include a medical grade isolation transformer, an uninterrupted power supply and DC power supplies. The power conditioning unit 564 provides basic insulation, set a limit to leakage current and also regulate DC power for the whole system so that the satisfactory regulatory requirement is met. The DC power needed by the disposable part of the endoscope is supplied through wire 554, then DC/DC converter 552 and wire 546.
[0051]The digital signals from the imaging sensors and other I/O ports of the disposable part of the endoscope are transmitted through wires 548, then galvanic isolator 557 and wire 558 to the image processing/display unit 560. Inside the unit 560, the two channels of registered stereo video signals are processed separately and sent to a stereoscopic display device, from which live stereo video of the endoscopic scene is displayed. The power for unit 560 is supplied through the power cord 562 from the power conditioning unit 564. The endoscopic imaging system may be designed so that endoscope itself is disposable.
[0052]As shown in FIG. 5, the portion of system outlined by the dotted lines could be attached and detached from the main system with proper electrical protection. The electric contacts in the disposable endoscope outlined in FIG. 5 will have Double insulation from the main power system.
[0053]The proposed digital endoscope is designed to be illuminated by solid lighting source, including LEDs, laser diodes, superluminescent light emitting diodes (SLEDs), etc. Although a light homogenization device 118 is used in the design illustrated in FIG. 1, depending on the type of light source being used, the homogenizer 118 may not be needed. As shown in the FIG. 6, the illumination light from the solid light source 626 may be directly coupled into the fiber cable 616, where the light source 626 can consist of a single or multiple light emitters, with single or multiple wavelengths, or phosphor over emitter with single wavelength. FIG. 6 shows a direct coupling by either making a direct contact between fiber cable and light source (FIG. 6(a)) or using a condensing lens 629 (FIG. 6(b)). FIG. 7 illustrates another design, in which an optical beam combiner 727 is used to combine light beams from at least two light sources (726a and 726b) with different wavelengths, to form an equivalent light source of multiple wavelengths. The two light source 726a and 726b can both emit light with multiple but different wavelengths, or one can emit light with single narrow wavelength while the other with broad or multiple wavelengths. The light beam can be coupled into the fiber cable directly through a condensing optical lens 729, and/or into a light homogenization device 718 and then be projected into the fiber cable 716 for better performance.
[0054]The solid state light source in the proposed endoscope can be driven in the form of pulse width modulation (PWM) with a relatively high repetition rate and constant peak electric current, in order to maintain stable color output. The apparent intensity of the light source can be adjusted by changing the duty cycle of the pulse modulation. Since the repetition rate is much higher than what a human eye could perceive, the light from the light source appears continuous. The light output from the solid state light source could also be further switched at the frame rate of the imaging sensor and turned on only when the shutters for the two imaging sensors are open, behaving like a constant strobe light.
[0055]By shortening the duration of light pulse and increasing the pulsed light intensity, the strobe light helps reduce the blurring of the images caused by the motion of the endoscope.
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Crude oil is getting a boost on trade deal hopes as well as a week of optimism that global central b...
Vale Needs to Dry Off
04/27/2012 4:31 pm EST
Focus: STOCKS
The Brazilian iron-ore king, which took a beating on declining demand from Europe and terrible weather at home, could reverse its misfortunes in the second half…but concerns linger, writes MoneyShow's Jim Jubak, also of Jubak's Picks.
I'd like to blame the weather. And there is no doubt that weather in Brazil's rainy season hurt Vale's (VALE) first-quarter earnings, reported on April 25.
But when the drop is the third consecutive downward move in quarterly earnings, I think you can be pretty sure something more serious is going on. (Vale is a member of my long-term Jubak Picks 50 portfolio.)
What's most important, though, to investors who have made money on Vale in the past and have been looking to see when they might be able to make money on Vale in the future is that all these quarterly declines in earnings are setting up a potentially good second half for the stock.
Vale reported net income of $3.83 billion for the quarter. That was down 44% from the record $6.83 billion in net income for the first quarter of 2011. Net income was also down 18% from the fourth quarter of 2011.
Part of the problem was indeed the wet weather. Wet iron ore sells for less than dry ore, and Brazil's heavy seasonal rains reduce production too. Iron-ore production did fall 2.2% in the quarter. Vale's production costs rose 2% because the company hired more workers to do dredging and maintenance on its mines.
But the bigger problem was falling iron-ore prices because of lower demand from Europe. In the quarter, Vale sold iron ore at an average of $109.26 a metric ton, 13% less than in the first quarter of 2011.
Average prices for nickel and copper, metals where Vale has been expanding production to diversify from iron ore, fell 27% and 19%, respectively, from the first quarter of 2011. (Vale is the world's biggest producer of iron ore and the second biggest producer of nickel.)
In the quarter Vale sold 47% of its iron ore and pellets to Chinese customers, up from 41% in the first quarter of 2011. European customers bought just 16% of Vale's iron ore, down from 20% in the first quarter of 2011. Vale shipped 65.2 million tons of iron ore and pellets in the quarter, a 4.2% decline from the first quarter of 2011.
For the full 2012 year, Wall Street is looking for Vale's earnings per share to fall by 13.7%.
But the bulk of the damage is concentrated in the first half of the year, when Vale is facing really, really tough year-to-year comparisons. In 2011, earnings per share in the first two quarters of the year were $1.29 and $1.21, respectively. That's quite a bit better than the 74 cents the company just announced, or the 84 cents projected for the second quarter.
But in the second half of 2011, the company earned $1.82 a share, and right now analysts are projecting $2.01 for Vale in the second half of 2012. If Vale can deliver what Wall Street projects, the second half will see an end to year-to-year earnings declines.
That is a big if, of course. But commodity traders are calling for a stronger second half of 2012 for copper and iron ore.
According to the traders, it's too soon to get in now, since they expect the declines in prices for copper and iron ore in 2012 so far to continue for a while. Commodity hedge funds, for example, are still betting on further price drops. But after the summer might be a good time to enter.
In the case of Vale, I'd say sometime after second-quarter earnings get reported in July might be a time for thinking about an entry. A reasonable 12-month target price is $30 a share in my opinion. Vale's New York ADR (American Depositary Receipt) traded at $22.30 at 3:10 p.m. New York time on April 27.
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Dock to Dock Delivery:
$45 Best Value on the Lake!
We arrive right at your private dock or a public space nearest to you,
Allow your family the convenience of Dock to Dock delivery!
Delivery Details:
- $45 includes delivery and pickup. (waived for rentals of 3 days or more).
- Your boat leaves our port with a full tank,
- The customer is responsible for all gas of their boat from port to delivery location and back to port.
- We have both a northern port and southern port. In every case we try to minimize your gas bill by decreasing distances of deliveries and pick ups.
- Though you should expect gas charges to include the distance from Harrison, With a high, regularity we are able to decrease the bill through creative scheduling and the use of our northern port.
- Working cell phone
- Delivery Address, and/or clear understanding of delivery location.
- All rental accessories and life jacket sizes must be disclosed prior to us leaving port.
- Predetermined Estimated Time of Arrival, and consistent communication of updated ETA.
Keep in mind:
- Your delivery staff maybe delayed as a result of the previous renters tardiness, cleanliness or maintenance requirements – conditions beyond our control.
- We have an extremely prompt staff, if there is a delay you should expect an updated ETA via cell text. Provide a working cell number at the time of booking.
- The staff member delivering to you must be retrieved and or dropped off. The value of additional staff, secondary watercraft and gas consumption to perform this service far exceeds the fee to you the customer.
- To perform this service our staff arrive often before daylight and retire long after dark. Our uniform mission statement is to safeguard and enhance your experience on Lake Coeur d Alene. Honor them as they will honor you.
Kayak or Paddleboard Delivery
We travel all parts of the Lake Coeur d Alene each day delivering powerboats. This allows us to provide a unique service in delivering kayaks and paddleboards. However this service is only cost effective when coupled with other rental deliveries. Therefore it is conditional. We are happy to try to arrange deliveries within our existing schedule.
Conditions of kayak and paddleboard delivery
- Full or Multi-day rentals only
- Fee of $45
- We reserve the right to refuse delivery if we are not traveling in your area that day. This service only exists as a convenience created by our powerboat deliveries.


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Main Content
Talks at edUi 2011
The Googlization of Everything
Siva Vaidhyanathan 34 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 5:00 AM
With an official mission to "organize the world's information," and an unofficial motto of "don't be evil," Google has become the de-facto tool on which we all rely to navigate the sea of ideas, thoughts, products, people, and connections that the Web has to offer. But every time you ask a q…
Web Building Blocks: Core Concepts for HTML and CSS
HTML and CSS serve as the essential content and design foundation for everything from the simplest web page to the most sophisticated web application. While many understand the basics of HTML syntax, a deeper understanding of the conceptual principles that guide these standards helps design…
Rip Into Your Site with jQuery
Jason Woodward 14 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 6:15 AM
Watch the deconstruction and transformation of a website using only client-side manipulation in JavaScript, using the jQuery library. Learn some of the rich user experiences you can add with jQuery, with an eye towards using it to work around limitations in your CMS or existing site architec…
There's More Than One Way to Present IA
The nightmare: In an information architecture presentation, clients are slack-jawed and staring blankly. While explaining why their content matters, one person snores. Despite the presentation of a brilliant taxonomy, another keels over. They don't get that this architecture will save their …
Plug It In: Writing Better WordPress Plugins
Curtiss Grymala 31 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 6:15 AM
Writing a WordPress plugin can be extremely simple, but it takes a little more work to write a good WordPress plugin. Learn five simple tips to make your WordPress plugin future-proof, work on more WordPress installations, and more easily extendable.
Content Strategy: Smart, Useful, and Paper-trained
Margot Bloomstein 44 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 7:15 AM
Is content strategy the dog your team's been begging you to adopt? Better yet, is it the dog that followed you home, and now you wonder if you can keep him? Go ahead, let him sleep at the foot of your bed. Whether you work in a team of one or in a large marketing group, in a university, muse…
5 Ways to Make Use of Your Google Analytics
Charlie Morris 10 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 7:15 AM
Web traffic tracking is ubiquitous, but actually making use of all those web stats is less so. A recent survey found that over 90% of departments and service units in a large public university track web traffic data, but about 75% of that same group never actually use the stats they track or…
Hoarders, Library Website Edition: A Data-Driven Website Redesign in 120 Days
Tara Coleman 7 Recommendations Harish K. Maringanti 7 Recommendations jopitts 7 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 7:15 AM
Learn how one library team attempted to conquer ten years of old pages, outdated design, and poor usability to implement a site redesign within a single summer. Starting with the "keep, modify or archive" clutter clearing tactic, learn how we took charge of site and web "behavior." There wil…
HTML5 Does All That… AND I Can Haz Cheeseburger? You bet!
Christopher Schmitt 21 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 7:15 AM
Although the specification is still being written, HTML5 can be implemented on your website today. Get an overview of the new HTML elements and their semantics, learn how to incorporate audio and video without Flash, get acquainted with new JavaScript APIs (like geolocation), and more.
IE9: Power, Performance and Standards
Frank La Vigne 5 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 8:30 AM
It used to be easy for a browser maker: add your own features and developers will write code targeted to your browser. Things aren't so simple anymore. Proprietary enhancements led to chaos, confusion, and incompatibility. Proprietary features are out. Standards compliance is in. But in a w…
Kicking Off Your Content Strategy
Margot Bloomstein 44 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 9:45 AM
Are you ready to dig into content strategy? Let's gain some practical, hands-on experience together. Take a few sample organizations through the paces in a website redesign engagement. First, we'll discuss how to prioritize communication goals and develop a message architecture with a hands-…
Progressive Prototyping
Todd Zaki Warfel 26 Recommendations Matt Ventre 19 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 9:45 AM
Spend half-a-day with designers Todd Zaki Warfel and Matt Ventre in this hands-on action-packed workshop. They'll ease you into prototyping with some handy tricks for paper prototyping dynamic interactions like progressive reveal and just about any interaction you can dream up. Then they'll …
Designing Mobile Experiences
Brian Fling 15 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 9:45 AM
Great mobile design doesn't start in Photoshop, it starts by understanding the users, the goals, the intended devices and a million other tiny variables. Who better to solve these problems than the designer? In this workshop led by Brian Fling, author of O'Reilly's Mobile Design and Develop…
Practical HTML5
Christopher Schmitt 21 RecommendationsOctober 13, 2011 9:45 AM
Even though the specification is still being written, HTML5 can be implemented for your website today. This workshop is focused on real world solutions; attendees will learn about the new HTML elements and their semantics, HTML5 form elements, incorporating audio and video without Flash, new…
Personas at Work: Effectively Communicating Your Research
caroljsmith 18 RecommendationsOctober 14, 2011 5:00 AM
Personas can be powerful mnemonics for large amounts of data that would otherwise be buried in spreadsheets and reports. Being able to share and use personas effectively in the workplace can increase productivity and reduce development time. This session will provide tips on making personas …
Visualize Data with Google Fusion Tables
Peter Hedlund 9 RecommendationsOctober 14, 2011 5:00 AM
Using Google Fusion Tables it's possible to collaborate with others to create engaging maps, charts, and timelines, no programming required. This session will provide a step-by-step overview of the process and possibilities.
Lessons From WolfWalk: Interface Design For Tablets
In 2010 NCSU Libraries released WolfWalk, a location-aware, mobile tour of campus history, as a native iPhone app and a web app. It was designed specifically with smartphones in mind. In June 2011 they released a new version with expanded content, but designed to be a joy to use on the iPad.…
Tame your CSS3 with Sass
CSS3 is great…except for all of the vendor prefixes, and having to write the same styles over and over again. Enter Sass, the CSS meta-language that can solve these CSS3 woes. Sass makes it easy to add complex CSS3 styles. Style sheets become more flexible than ever with variables and mix-in…
Field Research for User Experience
Danielle Cooley 4 RecommendationsOctober 14, 2011 6:00 AM
Learn how to conduct field research to inform the requirements, information design, and interaction design of a product.
Progressive Prototyping (Condensed)
Todd Zaki Warfel 26 Recommendations Matt Ventre 19 RecommendationsOctober 14, 2011 6:00 AM
Author and designer Todd Zaki Warfel will show how prototyping with HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery is easier than you think. Whether you're an HTML novice or presentation-layer pro, you'll walk away with a number of practical tips and techniques for prototyping with HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery. You'll le…
Six Rules for Designing Amazing Mobile Apps
Brian Fling 15 RecommendationsOctober 14, 2011 6:00 AM
Building a mobile app isn't easy. Regardless of chosen platform or technology creating a memorable mobile experience has some pretty intense challenges throughout. However if you can get it right it can have some incredible rewards. After spending ten years building mobile apps for some of t…
The New Web Typography
Jason Cranford Teague 41 RecommendationsOctober 14, 2011 6:00 AM
2010 was the year of web typography—the year new technologies came online that will forever change the way information appears online. As the dust settles from the advances of web fonts and CSS3, a new style of web typography is emerging, one that reflects print origins, but is also experime…
Content First
Jeffrey Zeldman 25 RecommendationsOctober 14, 2011 7:15 AM
When "everyone is a designer," what does it mean to be a web/UX designer/developer? The rules of design engagement are changing. You may no longer be in control of the user's visual experience. Succeeding in today's web is more challenging than it has been in years. Yet challenges are opport…
A Beginner's Guide to Creating Custom Themes in WordPress
As WordPress becomes increasingly popular as a CMS for websites of all sizes, there is an increased need for custom themes. These can run the gamut from simple style edits to changing the architecture and usability of a site. Thanks to WordPress's excellent documentation, nearly any webmaste…
Unmoderated Remote Usability Testing: Good or Evil?
There has been a surge in the number of tools that are available to conduct unmoderated (a.k.a. "automated" or "asynchronous") remote usability testing. This surge is changing the user experience industry, forcing us to take a closer look at the benefits and drawbacks of unmoderated testing …


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Agile Business Transformation
From MIKE2.0 Methodology
-> You are here: Agile Business Transformation
Today most organisations that even want to stay and operate with minimal profits in a market need to constantly change, evolve and improve in response to external market changes. To be a competitive market organisation or a market leader, an organisation needs to be in front of the market changes and with its own transforming changes become the cause of the market changes and set the rules of the game. Therefore, competitive market organisations need to innovate and change strategic directions quickly, with IT is at the core of most strategic operationalisations (implementations). The importance of constant organisational change and the importance of its supporting IT change is clear.
The question then is, how will an organisation's business software support the strategy if the organisation follows a rigid waterfall type software process that has a delivery cycle of a year or typically more? In that time the business environment would have changed again and not be even recognisable (e.g. consider the effect of the current "credit crunch") and then all the effort on the project started will have been wasted.
If there is agility at the strategic level in the organisation, then the software development function needs to find a way to respond to this change and deliver benefits sooner rather than later. Developing software is certainly not like constructing buildings which need long analysis phases. The way to deliver benefits sooners is by using the agile software development methodology and undergoing an ABT.
There are a few agile software development methodologies such as Extreme Programming and Scrum. All these share the values of the Agile Manifesto and have many common practies. The key with all of them is that agile is not a prescriptive but an adaptive methodology that involves many feedback mechanisms that allow for continuous adaptable, process improvement and cost reduction.
This article will effectivelly describe the ABT, which involves the description and analysis of the main transforming agile practices, the people required to lead ABT and change management. These agile practices of the ABT are common in most agile software development methodologies and in author's opinion, are the key to a successful ABT.
The structure of this article is as following: section 2 analyses the benefits of agile while contrasting the waterfall type software developments to the agile way; section 3 analyses the main transforming practices; section 4 looks at the people required for the ABT; section 5 considers the change management aspects and finally in section 7 the article is summarised.
This article approaches agile from a process and business perspective. The analysis, quality assurance and development practices of agile teams such as pair-programming, test-driven development, continuous integration, automated testing, domain-driven design and others are in other articles on Mike2.0.
The Benefits of the Agile Business Transformation
The ABT is the process of transforming the business from having a waterfall type development approach to having an agile one. The author is not suggesting the waterfall type approach, used in many engineering disciplines like civil and electrical engineering is bad as such, the author however is of the opinion that the waterfall type approach is good but not for developing business software.
A waterfall development approach compromises of one-off, discrete and sequential project phases (analysis – development – testing – deployment). These phases usually don't overlap only involve communication between teams that execute the different phases during next phase handover periods. Waterfall usually has a lengthy analysis phase which often paralyses the development process as so much detailed analysis was done that the development teams need a long time to comprehend the analysis artefacts. What's also an issue is that in software development problems don't come up in the design until implementation starts and a lot of analysis already done needs to be redone and many… many… documents need to be changed too! And maybe the business also came back after a few months when the analysis was finally complete with changes as their competitors have done something to which they have to respond… all these changes create sunk costs and overheads. Many organisations will not fit in this perhaps extreme waterfall description but many might not be far from it.
The development phase of a waterfall project is similarly, like the analysis phase, very costly when things change and the software code is not agile.
On the other hand the agile development approach has an initial short analysis phase typically of 1-4 weeks (depending on complexity and size of the domain) and accepts that any longer periods of analysis are not very useful as things will change so the analysis done will become waste in the future. The initial analysis in the agile approach is done to cover the breath of the scope and detailed analysis is done later. The software is then delivered in short iterations which involve overlapping analysis – development – testing – deployment phases which are continuous and there is no handover between functional streams but they all work together till the end of the project. As soon as new changes and higher priority requirements come about (e.g. in response to competitors) they are analysed "just in time" and scheduled to be developed in the next or even current iteration. Of course such agility also needs a different approach to implementing code – that is left for other article on Mike2.0; but since not a lot of upfront analysis was done, there were very little sunk costs and the business is getting now higher value for money. The illustration in the diagram below visually shows the differences between the two approaches.
The top group of blocks on the diagram show how the different work streams (analysis – development – testing – deployment) work in the agile development approach and the long blocks below show how they work in the waterfall way. From the diagram above note that the 6 blocks of "A" equate to the "W-A" block and the same relation persists for all the other functional blocks. The diagram above also hypothetically shows that all work streams in the development process take the same time for the purpose of simplicity in illustration. Notice how long the business needs to wait in the waterfall approach to see any benefits. If each block from the diagram above is equated the same cost then the diagram shows that both will incur the same cost but this is not the case as will be analysed in this article. Cost in the agile approach is not only reduced due to lower cost of change (as mentioned) but also due to its focus on continuous improvement and incorporation of some lean principles from the Toyota Production System.
Further contrast between the methodologies is probably better explained elsewhere but what was summarised is enough to allow one to derive the following benefits for an organisation developing software in the agile way (and these are the benefits of the ABT) :
The Practices of the Agile Business Transformation
The six main agile practices that can transform the business to becoming "more welcoming to change" (lower cost of change), more lean and hence more competitive are: developing software iteratively, using user stories to capture business requirements, using story walls for team feedback on progress and mid-iteration constraints, having regular stand-ups and actionable team retrospectives to allow for continuous improvement from the productivity perspective, showcasing the achievements to the business on frequent basis and developing software features in priority order.
The practices together with the people of the ABT i.e. the agile champion are the two key aspects of success of the ABT. Professionals, who have worked with agile methodologies, have lead the agile functional streams during projects, can adapt the practices to different environments and thoroughly understand why agile works are to whom the author will refer to as the "agile champions" in this article. These people are the key to the ABT and the people change is discussed in the chapter to follow. The agile champions together with the practices will change mindset and then benefits of the transformation will be realized. The people in the ABT process are the essential ingredient to success and agile values "individuals and interactions over processes and tools" (http://agilemanifesto.org/).
Agile champions have hence accumulated the tacit knowledge that can't easily be conveyed as it is tacit and implicit. Therefore the practices that will be explained are the explicit knowledge and full benefits might not reached without the agile champions at least initially in process of the ABT.
Iterations are full development cycles (analysis-development-testing-deployment) of typically between a week and a month in duration. The agile practice, delivery in iterations, has the objective to deliver the software by producing many fully working versions of the final system but with only a subset of features at a time.
Usually the bigger and more capable the development team, the shorter the iterations, as the length of the iteration should be defined by the value it delivers to the business i.e. the iteration should deliver significant business benefits. For example, if there are only two developers developing code and in a week they can create layout changes on the data entry screen, then the iteration should be longer than a week as the business benefit delivered with layout changes might not be significant enough – what is of significant value is what the business says it is and it should also have a financial figure attached to it.
Here below is the analysis of the advantages and the disadvantages of developing software with iterations.
Main Benefits of Iterations
- Provide rapid feedback on true team progress, code development, testing, team dynamics and how well business requirements were captured and communicated - issues can be identified almost immediately and acted upon.
- Allow early realisation of business benefits as with every iteration completed software features can be released to live systems or to update software products so revenue can start flowing in or productivity benefits achieved quickly.
- Iterations support process, code and other innovation as with iterations one can try a new idea and the iteration will provide quick feedback on its value – hence the "fail quickly principle applies". Innovations are the source of competitive advantages and many times of sustainable ones.
- Minimise sunk costs associated with unpredictability of business software requirements as there is a need for having stable requirements only for the duration of the current iteration and just a visionary roadmap for the future instead of the full requirements specification. As explained earlier, if requirements are changed the sunk costs are low. Other code change costs are also low because of the way agile teams develop code (outside the scope of this document).
- Allow identification of business needs as opposed to wants – since working software is delivered quickly, the end-users, after using it, can provide feedback on their real needs. To elaborate on this important point – the business who demand software features usually know what they want at the start of the project but since new software is being build, the business stakeholders and users might not be sure what they really need since it is hard to imagine what one needs, especially the details, until one has used or tried to use it.
Possible Drawbacks of Iterations
- Iterations can be a substantial overhead if the deployment cost are large, as with iterations deployment to live systems is very frequent.
- There is a need for continuous involvement of the software customer and the user as during a current iteration the business requirements or changes to requirements for the next iteration have to be detailed (just in time analysis).
User Stories
User stories are an agile practice used for capturing business requirements and serve as a reminder for conversations to happen allowing for just in time analysis. User stories are normally written on cards to facilitate their collaborative creation by the business stakeholders and the business analysts. What follows in this section is a brief description of what the user story's contents, the process of how they are created and broken down from high level to low level user stories to allow for just in time analysis, and finally the advantages and disadvantages of using them to note business requirements.
The user story itself has two parts: the user story's description and the acceptance criteria by which the business will accept this requirement as being met. The acceptance criteria can be seen as a "soft" contract of what should be developed. It's "soft" because it can always be changed if the change gives the business more value. Guides to writing acceptance criteria, user stories and creating story trees (to manage the analysis structure) are described in other articles on Mike2.0. Acceptance criteria are no more than assertive statements in the form of Pre Condition – Action – Post Condition. Here below is an example of the user story description:As an Investment Banker<Who>, I want to have a dashboard showing all my investment positions <What>, So that I can see the changes in my positions at one place <Why>.This description should say "who" the requirement is for, "what" is this requirement and "why" is the requirement beneficial (i.e. what value does it create).
The simple description gives the development team and everyone a lot of information to think about and most importantly will prompt conversations and from constructive conversations creative solutions to problems will arise. "Who" tells everyone who is the main beneficiary of the feature and this is important as the team must always keep in mind the end user in order to deliver quality features. The key here is that the developers usually spend many hours developing the feature, and so many hours of thought while keeping the end user in mind means that they could come up with creative alternative and less costly ways if the know exactly for who get feature is and why it is needed.The "what" part of the user story is self explanatory; it is a statement of what the user or business stakeholder wants and it should be written in business (domain) language. It shouldn't include implementation specifics; e.g. the want shouldn't be "I want a popup to warn me of deletion" as maybe a popup might not be the best or cheapest way to satisfy the "why" which is a "warning of deletion" and the people who know the best how to satisfy the wants are the developers and user interface specialists.
Finally the "why" is perhaps the most important part of the user story as when the why is missing or attention is not put in specifying exactly why the requirement is needed then the development team will be confused and ask themselves the familiar question: "but why does the business need this?" When the development team is expecting a "why" but there is no justification ("why") of the feature, this will prompt a conversation with the business and hence it might be discovered that feature might not be needed. Further, business analysts that notice the business not clearly able to convey why something is needed should question the business value of the feature. And finally, of course, what might have been a good set of requirements before two weeks when the user story was written
Further, the user stories are lightweight, easy to create and discard and hence enable just in time analysis. At a start of the project user stories are created to capture requirements at a high level and later when the software development is planned the user stories are used to capture lower (implementation) level business requirements. In fact, just before the development iteration begins the agile analyst team will take the high level user stories and analyse them to create the low level user stories, but until then the user stories capture a reminder for the conversation to happen – hence this is a just in time analysis process. Not doing just in time analysis creates a larger inventory of work items not being used to create revenue yet and further the inventory might loose all of its value if the requirements change and invalidate them (i.e. if the market changes).
The diagram below shows a hierarchy of business's needs – starting from the project's objectives, to high level user stories (breakdown of the objective) and the low level user stories which can be implemented. From the diagram, the stories in the yellow ellipse shows the initial project scope, the purple and the pink ellipses shows the stories developed in iterations 1 and 2, and the remaining blue boxes are stories to be developed. Notice there is very little upfront analysis - very few "tree level 3 stories". Low level user stories or iteration level user stories are developed and analysis is done when needed – just in time for development. Notice the clear link between the objective and user stories that are being delivered. The stories that are analysed and hence developed first are the highest priority stories first – in agile the scope is not defined because requirements are always changing but the team is always working on the highest priority features.
Main Benefits of User Stories
- Put the business in the driving seat – the user story is focused around the business needs and the whole user story is written in business language so it's easy for the business to enter the relevant conversations and make decisions.
- Act as a reminder for a conversation - and prompt conversations because of the format of the description (who-what-why) and also since the acceptance criteria are never captured to full completeness in order to allow creative input during the development.
- Enable just in time analysis – user stories are reminders for a conversation to happen, hence once written as high level user stories (breakdown of business objectives), they are not analysed further until needed but capture enough detail for a useful conversation. This avoids unnecessary upfront analysis of features that might never be developed if the requirements change.
Possible Drawbacks of User Stories
- Possible dependencies - It can be sometimes complex to partition business requirements into independent low level user stories and dependencies will be introduced. These dependencies can cause iteration planning difficulties and cause lower priority stories to have to be delivered first.
Story Walls
A story wall is a way of openly tracking and managing the progress of the user stories in an iteration. The story wall can either be drawn on a physical whiteboard and stories stuck and moved along it or it can be an electronic version when the team members are geographically distributed. Details of exactly what story wall columns, or story states, should be used on the story wall is up to the team to decide. The story wall diagram below is an illustration of a story wall showing the progress status of the team at a particular point in time in the iteration. The red rectangular blocks are user stories.
Stories that are planned to be developed in the iteration are in the first column in the diagram above and these are stories that are analysed to sufficient level of detail for implementation. Nothing is complete until the business is happy and says the user story is complete, therefore each user story requires a business "sign-off", hence the column.
Apart from communicating to the whole team the story progress, the story wall can show the lack of resource capacities of sub-teams involved (testers-analysts-developers) and this can quickly illuminate both permanent resource constraints and the effects of temporary constraints (e.g. one person from a particular team ill for a day). Permanent resource constraint problems can be minimised by careful work project planning, however even then productivity of individuals will depend on their experience and many other factors. Hence due to factors that can't be accurately accounted for in planning, resource constraints could persist but these will be obvious from the piling up of user stories on the story wall in particular columns reflecting some sub-team as a constraint. Further, the story wall, allows for visual manifestation of temporary constraints (e.g. how someone's day off maybe from work affects the team's overall workflow rate). From the story wall above one potential constraint could hypothetically be that the business is not available for sign-off of the stories completely developed and tested; hence the team should investigate this hypothetical constraint and act on it.
Main Benefits of Story Walls
- Allow for quick resource constraints identification - these constraints will be acted upon and waste eliminated, and as a new constraint becomes obvious then that one will be acted upon too and efficiency will constantly be improved (Goldratt & Cox, 2004). Resources can be moved around to help with the temporary constraints e.g. developers can help with some testing.
Possible Drawbacks of Story Walls
There are no possible drawbacks of using the story walls known to the author.
Retrospectives and Stand-ups
In some projects managers impose a software development process but in author's opinion, an opinion shared by many with whom he has worked before, is that the process should mainly be "grown from bottom up" i.e. the team, lead by agile champions, should pick the process and practices that work best for the current project team and are also economically efficient. The process and hence the practices used shouldn't and usually can't be completely tuned before the project begins and once the project begins one should expect to have to adapt the practices or select completely new practices that work best given the team. This is the most important aspect of the agile software development ideology - agile is an adaptive methodology and not a prescriptive one.
Quantitative feedback (efficiency metrics) on project's progress and process will be made clear by the iteration metrics that the project managers record, but the qualitative feedback on the process is fed back through the team retrospectives and stand-ups and hence this is why this qualitative feedback practice is so important and complementary. This open feedback is necessary to prompt adaptation of the process and practices.
Team retrospectives are informal but structured team meetings that should happen at the end of every iteration allowing enough time for the practices chosen at the beginning of the iteration to take effect. The whole team should be involved in the retrospective, including managers, analysts, quality assurance analysts and all the developers themselves. The business stakeholders are also encouraged to participate as the communication with the business in an agile team is taking place all the time hence the business stakeholder's feedback is important.
During a retrospective the team should talk about and note what has went well, less well, what puzzles the team (e.g. some decision) and create an action list of how to improve going forward. Ideas on improvements are discussed openly with the whole team and can then later be checked for economic impact as well before introduced. If the environment is not safe then retrospectives are not very useful, the idea is that anyone can openly say what they think and contribute constructively.
Daily stand-ups complement the retrospectives. Whereas a retrospective is a weekly, biweekly or monthly activity (depending on the duration of the iteration), the daily stand-ups provide an opportunity for much quicker feedback, on daily basis. Daily stand-ups should involve the whole team standing by the story wall and each member should say what they have done yesterday, what they plan to do today and any difficulties they experienced. Development difficulties should be mentioned as other team members could be experts in that area and can help or do the task in entirety - e.g. a developer is having problems with javascript but another is an expert who is working on something different, they can switch if the switching costs are low or advice can be given. Also any other problems noted with the process or practice should be mentioned during stand-ups so that this feedback can be acted upon.
Main Benefits of Retrospectives and Stand-ups
- Provide qualitative feedback on the project – some of these issues can sometimes burn the project if not known earlier. E.g. the analysts realise that the business is not clear in what they really want and cannot decide on the priorities.
Possible Drawbacks of Retrospectives and Stand-ups
- Need to be managed – as conversations during these two feedback practices shouldn't go off topic and outputs must be captured and be acted upon.
Showcasing is the agile practice where the development teams show and demonstrate to the business what they have done in the last iteration. This demonstration is usually not targeted at the users of the system since they will in every iteration get to use the new features and are aware of the progress but showcasing is aimed at demonstrations to the higher level business stakeholders.
Showcasing creates a strong sense of ownership in the developers of their work and they will not be thinking they are developing for "some business users somewhere". The development team will also feel a strong sense of accomplishment also by meeting the business needs and feeling the business's gratitude for what was delivered and the value it created. Showcasing will also form important bonds that will enable more free flowing communication between the business departments or teams and the development teams, this lack of communication leads to poorly specified or understood business requirements and can cause projects to fail.
Showcasing will also create buy in from business line managers and this is extremely important in the ABT and also in any change projects. In classical waterfall projects the higher level business stakeholders wait for so long for the functionality to be delivered that all they know of during the project is the costs and see no benefits for a long time.
Main Benefits of Showcasing
- Creates business buy-in with higher level business stakeholders – as they get to see the regular benefits they are getting for their money.
Possible Drawbacks of Showcasing
- Can be a significant overhead – as many senior executives will need to take time off to see the showcase and also many project team members will be taken away from project work, the costs of running a showcase can be significant. It should go ahead but maybe the senior executives can rotate on visits to the showcase.
Priority Driven Development
The priority driven development practice ensures that the project team is always working on the highest priority features identified by the business. The highest priority features normally should be the ones that deliver the highest business value. There should be no technical-only developments done unless they deliver higher business value than all other software features remaining.
Ensuring that the team is always developing the highest priority software features (or user stories) is essential so that the customer and the business gets the most out of their money spend and hence are satisfied with the deliverable. Since the software features are deployed to live systems iteratively, revenue could potentially be able to come in early and this will reduce the payback period and a capital expenditure project can become a self-sustainable one and be a revenue generator. Further, in case for some reason the project runs out of budget due to external market factors, the team will have delivered the highest value software with the budget they had.
Priority driven development therefore means that:
1) The business should decide on the priority of all the software features to be developed - therefore prioritisation sessions should be held for the business to decide on priorities of both high level user stories and later on the low level user stories as when higher level stories are broken down there could be low level stories that are not as important,
2) The team delivering the software is always working on the highest priority features - therefore the user stories that go into an iteration should be managed to be the highest priority stories available.
Regarding the first point, the business should make a decision based on the benefits of the feature will give them and the cost of development of that feature. Exceptions to this rule are when a software feature is a technical necessity or when some features must be delivered before to enable the delivery of other features. Finally, all technical features must be also prioritised by the businesses based on the cost/benefit trade-off.
Main Benefits of Priority Driven Development
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I&M Senior Writer
Police are getting reports from island residents who have received a disturbing late-night phone call from a man calling himself "Michael" during the past few evenings.
So far police have received nearly a dozen reports about the phone calls, and said the man is calling from a private number.
A woman who received one of the phone calls said the man called around 2:20 a.m. saying he needed someone to talk to and asking her if she ever felt like that. The woman described the phone call as "nerve-wracking"
Police are currently investigating the situation, and are advising anyone who receives one of the calls to hang up and call police.
Detective Lieutenant Jerry Adams said those who have reported the incidents to police stated it did not sound like a kid making the phone calls.
Police chief Bill Pittman said he did not believe the calls have any connection to the recent sexual assaults in the mid-island area.
"I don't think there's any connection between this and the sexual assaults at all," Pittman said. "That's not consistent."
For more on this story, check out the Oct. 23 Inquirer and Mirror.


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Caught this bass today on a crankbait 11 in a half pounds
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Hi all!! I am developing a web application using the facebook api and want to include a link into a post, but just inside the area of the three links "like, comment, share". [ATTACH]15625[/ATTACH]
I mean, I would like the link to be besides "Like", "Share", or "Comment".
I tried this code but with no success:
var wallPost = {
access_token: myaccesstoken,
message: message,
That code post a wallpost with a link inside the post, not inside the three main Links.
Thank you very much!!


text:
*Judy Niemeyer Potpourri Workshop-class 1 of 5
Time: 5:30pm to 9:00pm
Teacher: Karen Bryant
Fee: $37.50
Class Fee: $15.00 per month
(50% due at sign-up=$37.50. Remaining balance due midway thru classes.)
Is there a Judy Niemeyer project that you want to do, but we haven't scheduled a class for it yet?
This class is for you! Karen will guide you every step of the way. Some gals tell me they are
afraid to start…..don't be…..if you can sew on a solid line, use a rotary cutter and ruler… you can
make a Judy Niemeyer quilt, wallhanging or tablerunner. Choose the pattern you want to do and sign up!
Class Dates: 1/3, 2/7, 3/7, 4/4, 5/2


text:
|stock photo courtesy of Women's Day Magazine
I don't often cook on Sundays, opting instead for sammies (sandwiches) or leftovers. Today was another story. Not only did I get TONS of extra produce in my Bountiful Baskets selection this week, I also got the hostess pack which in itself seemed like a full second basket! So, this family of five that usually goes thru a basket a week, now has a TON more! I'm excited for the challenge to make even more fresh family friendly meals ... all before anything goes bad! Bring it on!
I found this recipe when I was trying to kill time at one of my many doctor visits. I liked a lot of the recipes in there, so took a snapshot of the magazine front and just recently remembered to pick it up at my local library. Boy am I glad I remembered.
Not only was this recipe FAST and EASY, it's delicious, too! Perfect! I worried that my kids wouldn't like the spinach in the stew, but my drama-filled 7 year-old happily ate the spinach singing "I'm Popeye the Sailor Girl! Toot Toot!". No lie! My 4 year-old gobbled up the sausage. All in all, it was a smashing hit! Everyone gave two thumbs up. Mom and Dad had seconds and there were ZERO leftovers! Success!!!
You can definitely change this up easily adding a twist of variety using different sausage varieties as I did, or by using a different shaped pasta. Use what you have on hand...that's the beauty of this recipe! It's incredibly VERSATILE!
{sausage, bean and spinach stew}1 Tbsp olive oil
12 oz ground sausage
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 32-oz container low-sodium chicken broth (A MUST! otherwise too salty with the sausage)
Water-amount depends on how soupy you want it
4 oz ditalini pasta or other soup pasta (about 1 cup)
1 15.5-oz can cannellini or other white beans, rinsed
Black pepper
1 10-oz bag spinach, thick stems removed (I used one bunch and would have preferred two)
1 oz Parmesan, grated (about 1/4 cup)
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse fat off and return to pan.
- Add the garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute (do not let it brown). Add the 1/2 c. broth and simmer, scraping up any brown bits, for 1 minute.
- Add the 32oz. broth and pasta and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the pasta is just tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the beans and 1/4 tsp pepper and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add extra water and the spinach, stirring gently until it begins to wilt. Serve with the Parmesan.


text:
MAPLE RIDGE Circle, Chase WI 54171-9507 Sold for $43,000 on 12/29/2017
Features of MAPLE RIDGE Circle, Chase, WI 54171-9507
- Lots for Sale
- Status: Sold
- Mailing City: Sobieski
- County: Oconto
- Subdivision: Maple Ridge Estates
- School Dist: Pulaski Community
- High School: Pulaski
- Property Taxes: $628
- Property Tax Year: 2016
- Listing Company: Mark D Olejniczak Realty, Inc.
Property Description for MAPLE RIDGE Circle, Chase, WI 54171-9507
MAPLE RIDGE Circle, Chase, WI 54171-9507 - Build your dream home on this beautiful site!! 3.9 partial wooded acres in Maple Ridge Estates Subdivision in the Town of Chase. Pulaski Schools. Enjoy the serenity of nature with all the wildlife, birds and countryside. Only a short drive to the city. Gas & electric to the site. Land Use Restrictions: Zoned 1st Residential
Land Features
- Waterfront/Access: N
|MLS Number
|New Status
|Previous Status
|Activity Date
|New List Price
|Previous List Price
|Sold Price
|Active-Without Bump
|Jan 4 2018 12:11PM
|Active-Without Bump
|Nov 30 2017 10:11AM
|Nov 10 2017 5:10PM
Estimated Monthly Payment
Make An Appointment
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Receive more detailed information on this propertyAsk a Question
Community Homes Near MAPLE RIDGE Circle
|Chase Real Estate
|54171 Real Estate
|Chase Vacant Land Real Estate
|54171 Vacant Land Real Estate
|Chase Foreclosures
|54171 Foreclosures
|Chase Single-Family Homes
|54171 Single-Family Homes
|Chase Condominiums
The information which is contained on pages with property data is obtained from a number of different sources and which has not been independently verified or confirmed by the various real estate brokers and agents who have been and are involved in this transaction. If any particular measurement or data element is important or material to buyer, Buyer assumes all responsibility and liability to research, verify and confirm said data element and measurement. Shorewest Realtors is not making any warranties or representations concerning any of these properties. Shorewest Realtors shall not be held responsible for any discrepancy and will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of this site.
REALTOR *MLS* Equal Housing Opportunity


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Tuesday, 9 August 2016
Have Your Exclusive Coffee With Your Furry
Our foods and beverages are served..
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Christmas is fast approaching. We all know that Christmas is the time we celebrated annually to remember the birth of Jesus Christ. This is where our family gathers together and celebrates together, Sharing gift to our love ones, and even for the unfortunate one. It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.ReplyDelete
Just want to share with you my made to order mug which you can customize or personalize your own designs. Which you can give this to your love ones as a simple gift that make the happy and unforgettable moment.
Discount Store to someone special, or treat yourself to a design that brings you joy or makes you laugh. Create your own photo mug, shop our collection of the funniest joke mugs, personalize your mug with a monogram, or express yourself with one of our 10 million designs. You can visit us at www.gearbubble.com/gbstore/discountstore which is Available in 11-ounce or 15-ounce. Dimensions: 11-ounce: 3.8" h x 3.2" diameter 15-ounce:4.5" high x 3.4" diameter. Microwave and dishwasher safe. Strong, high-grade ceramic construction. So don't wait to order yours! Visit us at www.gearbubble.com/gbstore/discountstore
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text: I've lost count of how many times I bump into things...is this a 'normal' part of fibro? I'm not a large person but my hips seems to find the kitchen doorframe every time i walk through. I keep stubbing my toe or knocking into things. I wouldn't mind so much but the resulting pain is awful...thought I'd broken my toe the other day and took a few hours for the pain to subside.


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27 January 2015
FANTASTIC FOUR | Official Teaser Trailer #1
Check out the trailer breakdown.
Official synopsis:
A contemporary re-imagining of Marvel's original and longest-running superhero team, centers on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.
Cast: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell
In Theaters - August 7, 2015
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tdr0769_Guests coming from oversea? The number of attendance of Tokyo Disney Resort in individual region and the ratio
Tokyo Disney Resort is always crowded with many guests regardless of weekdays or weekends.
Since Tokyo Disney Resort became two park system, which is Tokyo Disneyland and Sea more guests coming to visit and the popularity never gets less.
Moreover the number of attendance increased more from 2013, which is the year Tokyo Disney Resort celebrated 30th anniversary and the 2 parks total number of attendance became more than 30 million of guests and this became a regular thing.
Anyway, such number of people coming to visit Tokyo Disney Resort, but when looking at it by individual region then how the ratio changes?
【Year】【Number of attendance】 【Guests individual region】
(Total of 2 park) Kanto Chubu,Koushinetsu Kinki Tohoku Other region in Japan Oversea
2010 25,366,000 guests 66.4% 11.9% 7.6% 3.6% 7.2% 3.3%
2011 25,347,000 guests 70.2% 11.2% 6.8% 4.1% 6.4% 1.3%
2012 27,503,000 guests 67.5% 11.1% 7.3% 4.2% 7.3% 2.6%
2013 31,298,000 guests 64.6% 11.6% 7.6% 4.0% 8.3% 3.9%
2014 31,377,000 guests 66.2% 11.0% 7.0% 3.8% 7.0% 5.0%
As expected guests from Kanto area is overwhelmingly showing huge number.
Even number of guests increase other than guests from oversea it doesn't really change.
On the other hand, ratio of guests from oversea decreased in 2011 due to nuclear accident, but the number recovered in 2013, which is the year Tokyo Disneyland celebrated the 30th anniversary and in 2014, which is the year the number of attendance achieved more than ever the ratio of guests from oversea increased till 5%.
5% doesn't seem big, but when calculating with number of attendance of 2014 it becomes "1,568,850 guests", so you can see how huge that number is.
It is quite surprising that more than 1.5 million of oversea guests coming to visit Tokyo Disneyland per year.
It is exciting to see how the ratio changes from now on.
tdr0768_Dream collaboration with Bandai became true! Mickey unites by becoming robot?


text:
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The three I have already keep me busy enough, but I was asked by a friend to make her a Twin card so here it is...
Now you ask what have I been doing in my absence, well plenty over the Easter School Holidays I painted our three bedrooms, ripped up all the old carpet and got some nice new flooring, Yeah! Big job Hubby was busy Harvesting so it was just a double act of me and my brush, but it was so worth it.
It took me three weeks yeah yeah I know I would never cut it on the block.
Then it took me a week just to sort the place back out again.
Any way kids back at school and Uni, Place all sorted and back to normal, hopefully some more free time to create and blog again.
So see you soon.
6 comments:
- Patrice said...
OMG this is adorable! Totally love it - not enough to have twins though lol.
So do we get to see piccies of all your hard work? Good for you getting all that painting done, not my favourite job at all.
- May 10, 2012 at 2:29 PM
- Christine Blain said...
Oh, this is VERY cute, Tam! Love those papers, and the image is super-cute. I laughed at your comment about not cutting it on The Block; sounds like you've been working super-hard on freshening up your home. Love newly painted walls, and new flooring. Enjoy!
- May 10, 2012 at 2:33 PM
- Robyn said...
What a cute card! Love that dancing monkey! Would love to see some pics of your renovating !! Sounds great!
- May 10, 2012 at 4:03 PM
- Christine said...
well, after all your worrying about this twin card, you have certainly done a magnificent job, its an awesome card. P.S. (I survived dentist, Just!)
- May 10, 2012 at 5:02 PM
- Fiona Platzer said...
WOW this is super cute, love your colouring.
- May 13, 2012 at 11:20 AM
- A Crafty Cat said...
owwwwww love it
- May 20, 2012 at 11:17 PM