The Agile Manifesto emphasizes individuals and interactions over processes and tools, valuing working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan. These principles guide Agile teams in prioritizing people and adaptability in software development.

Composite indexes combine multiple columns into a single index, allowing for efficient retrieval based on multiple criteria. Therefore, option 2, "Multiple," accurately describes composite indexes.

A process is an independent entity that has its own address space and resources, while a thread is a lightweight entity that exists within a process and shares the same address space and resources with other threads in that process. This difference in independence and resource sharing is crucial for understanding how processes and threads operate within an operating system.

Third Normal Form (3NF) ensures that each non-key attribute is dependent only on the primary key, which helps in eliminating transitive dependencies and achieving a more organized database structure.

Option 1 suggests using interfaces to define contracts, ensuring a consistent interface for module interactions, which facilitates code reusability and maintainability. This approach allows different team members to work on modules independently while adhering to a predefined interface, promoting code consistency and reducing dependencies between modules. Interfaces also enhance flexibility by enabling polymorphic behavior and easy integration of new modules into the system without affecting existing functionalities.

A switch's basic function in a network is to forward data packets to specific devices based on their MAC addresses. Unlike hubs, which broadcast data to all connected devices, switches maintain a MAC address table to determine where to send incoming packets. This improves network efficiency by reducing unnecessary traffic and collisions. Switches operate at Layer 2 (Data Link Layer) of the OSI model.

SQL indexes are used to improve data retrieval speed by creating a sorted reference to data in a table. This reduces the time required to search and fetch specific records, especially in large datasets. Indexes don't impact storage space significantly but rather optimize data access, ensuring faster query performance. Indexes also contribute to enhancing data security by facilitating efficient data retrieval for authorized users.

The correct option is Implementation. This phase is where the actual coding takes place based on the design specifications developed in the previous phases. Developers write, compile, and debug the code to ensure it meets the defined requirements. Additionally, testing activities are initiated during this phase to identify and fix defects early in the development process. Once the implementation phase is complete, the software is ready for testing and quality assurance processes before deployment.

The Banker's algorithm is a resource allocation and deadlock avoidance technique used in operating systems. It works by keeping track of the available resources and the maximum resources that each process may request. The algorithm then simulates resource allocation to avoid deadlock by only granting resource requests that can be satisfied without leading to a circular wait condition. By ensuring that the system remains in a safe state (i.e., no deadlock can occur), the Banker's algorithm helps in efficient resource utilization and preventing situations where processes hold resources indefinitely, leading to system deadlock.

Analyzing the query execution plan involves examining how the database engine executes the query, including the order of operations, use of indexes, and resource consumption. Checking server hardware involves ensuring that the server has sufficient resources like CPU, RAM, and disk I/O for optimal performance. Optimizing the database schema includes normalization, indexing, and proper data types. Implementing caching mechanisms can reduce the need for repeated querying by storing frequently accessed data temporarily. These steps collectively help identify and address the performance bottleneck in a database query.