Ant Build Maintenance with Formiga

A build system produces a set of deliverables from a software project\u27s source code and resources. Build maintenance refers to the changes made to the build system as a software project evolves over time. It has been shown to impose a significant overhead on overall development costs, in part because changes to source code often require parallel changes in the build system. However, little tool support exists to assist developers with build maintenance, particularly for those changes that must accompany changes to the source code. Formiga is a build maintenance and dependency discovery tool for the Ant build system. Formiga\u27s primary uses are to automate build changes as the source code is updated, to identify the build dependencies within a software project, and to assist with build refactoring. Formiga is implemented as an IDE plugin, which allows it to recognize when project resources are updated and automatically update the build system accordingly. This implementation also allows it to leverage existing metaphors used by developers to maintain source code, thus making it easier to use. A controlled experiment was conducted to assess Formiga\u27s ability to assist developers with build maintenance. Formiga was shown to signficantly reduce the time required to perform build maintenance while increasing the correctness with which it can be performed

Extracting Build Changes with BUILDDIFF

Build systems are an essential part of modern software engineering projects. As software projects change continuously, it is crucial to understand how the build system changes because neglecting its maintenance can lead to expensive build breakage. Recent studies have investigated the (co-)evolution of build configurations and reasons for build breakage, but they did this only on a coarse grained level. In this paper, we present BUILDDIFF, an approach to extract detailed build changes from MAVEN build files and classify them into 95 change types. In a manual evaluation of 400 build changing commits, we show that BUILDDIFF can extract and classify build changes with an average precision and recall of 0.96 and 0.98, respectively. We then present two studies using the build changes extracted from 30 open source Java projects to study the frequency and time of build changes. The results show that the top 10 most frequent change types account for 73% of the build changes. Among them, changes to version numbers and changes to dependencies of the projects occur most frequently. Furthermore, our results show that build changes occur frequently around releases. With these results, we provide the basis for further research, such as for analyzing the (co-)evolution of build files with other artifacts or improving effort estimation approaches. Furthermore, our detailed change information enables improvements of refactoring approaches for build configurations and improvements of models to identify error-prone build files.Comment: Accepted at the International Conference of Mining Software Repositories (MSR), 201

Version Control Integration of Build Maintenance Tools with Formiga

The task of build maintenance consists of creating, configuring, and updating the build system of a software engineering project. A project of sufficient size and scope is likely to have some sort of build system due to the complexity and time required to create a finished product. Build maintenance has been shown to greatly increase the cost of developing software due to the common need to modify a build system at the same time as the source code. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of tool support to assist developers with build maintenance. Formiga is a build maintenance and dependency discovery tool developed by Hardt. Formiga provides support for build refactoring, dependency identification, and automatic build updating based on modifications to source code. This thesis expands upon the original Formiga tool by investigating what kind of hurdles would be involved in integrating it with a production-quality version control system. An initial implementation of version control integration is built on top of the Formiga IDE plugin. It makes use of a mock version control system to keep track of file and file dependency history. This work, while not integrating with a production-quality version control system, lays a basis on which to perform that full integration in future iterations of Formiga

Variation in nesting behavior of the arboreal ant Camponotus sericeiventris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

This is the first record of nesting in the soil by the ant Camponotus sericeiventris (Guérin-Méneville, 1838), which has arboreal habit. The study was conducted in southeastern Brazil, in an ant colony located in a subterranean site. This study describes, for the first time, the ability of this arboreal species to vary its nesting site by the occupation of an unusual place in an urban environment; and this study demonstrates that this species is an interesting model for studies in urban environments

Nest Architecture and Animals Associated with Neoponera verenae (Forel) (Formicidae, Ponerinae)

The nests of ants Neoponera have chambers that can also be occupied by other species of organisms that can be tenants, visitors or prey. However, few studies have considered the assemblage of the associated species and described their composition. This study aimed to describe the architecture and catalog the visitors and prey species found in Neoponera verenae nests. Talcum powder was pumped inside eight nests to mark the chambers and tunnels. The nests were then excavated to describe the architecture and obtain measurements of chambers. The associated species encountered in the nests were collected and identified allowing us to obtain new records of visiting (Linepithema sp., cryptodesmid millipedes and Neotropacarus sp.) and prey taxa (membracids, apid bees and springtails) of N. verenae. Generally, nests had a single entrance hole and a depth of up to 42 cm. Nest chambers were found with three basic forms, elliptical, hangers and boot. Although studies show that this species can occupy abandoned nests of leaf-cutting ants, we found that the nests of N. verenae were more similar to those of Ectatomma ants. Indeed, we found one of the N. verenae nests was attached to a Ectatomma edentatum nest, leading us to suggest that N. verenae may occupy abandoned nests or displace other ants to occupy them

Ants as storytellers in Mediterranean riverscapes

Doutoramento em Restauro e Gestão Fluviais / Instituto Superior de Agronomia / Faculdade de Arquitectura / Instituto Superior Técnico. Universidade de LisboaRiverscapes support high levels of biodiversity, but are increasingly threatened by global change drivers. Ants are among the most diverse and successful insects on earth and have the ability to respond well to environmental changes. There is a lack of knowledge on the factors that drive ant biodiversity in Mediterranean riverscapes. This thesis aims at studying ant communities in Mediterranean riverscapes, and understand how they respond to disturbance (e.g., land use and invasive species) and to structural attributes of the riverine landscape (e.g., patch typology, spatial configuration and habitat quality), in terms of their richness, abundance and ability to provide ecosystem services. For these purposes, we selected crop and non-crop habitats of the riverine mosaic of three main study areas: a) riparian corridors of Catalonia, Spain; b) riparian corridors and floodplain areas of central Portugal; and c) irrigated cropland of southern Portugal. Ant communities showed to be very sensitive to human-disturbance reflecting a broader perspective of the local ecological status. Based on ants’ responses to different stressors and landscapes elements, we found that land use was the main driver influencing ant communities. However, this might be dependent on the combined factors inherent to the overall disturbance of a particular land use. The Ecological Infrastructure (EI) of less disturbed systems, associated to a reduced abundance of invasive species, showed the highest capacity to provide ant-mediated services. In agricultural areas, ant species are likely recruited from ant communities of the neighbouring EI. Moreover, we found that the Argentine ant may negatively impact native ant communities, particularly in disturbed areas. This thesis has contributed to increment knowledge about ants in riverscapes by providing a biological assessment tool that takes full advantage of ants’ ability to indicate human-disturbance and by providing new insights on the role of EI in ant-diversity conservation in agroecosystems.N/

Does Atta laevigata (Smith, 1858) act as Solanum lycocarpum seed dispersers?

Ants can act as seed dispersers, modifying their distribution, affecting the reproductive success and the vegetation spatial structure. The leaf-cutting ants function, as dispersers of non-myrmecochorous plants, is little known. This work aimed to evaluate descriptively the Atta laevigata interaction with Solanum lycocarpum diaspores. The observations were carried out, throughout 10 days, in a secondary fragment of Semidecidual Seasonal Forest in Ivinhema, MS. To determine the removal rate, 500 seeds were taken from ripe fruits, dried, labeled and distributed in groups ranged from five to 50 seeds, totaling 100 seeds per foraging trail. Groups of 30 seeds with pulp were also distributed every 1.0 m on the trails. Individuals of different sizes presented different interactions to the fruits and seeds, smaller workers carried pulp or seeds separately, medium workers carried seeds with pulp or cleaned them before carry to the nest and the largest workers carried the seeds to the nest. Atta laevigata acted primarily as predators, with few seeds discarded. Their actions may interfere in the native vegetation regeneration, with a significant role in removing S. lycocarpum seeds, a pioneer species, and in population control for this species by the severe predation of seeds. However, the remaining1.6% intact seeds allows germination, with the A. laevigata acting as a seed dispersers over short distances for this species, favoring the S. lycocarpum dispersion

Fire ants: where do they live and what do they eat?

Ants are social insects that build sophisticated nests that work in complex ways and can consist of up to hundreds of inner chambers used for offspring care. Solenopsis saevissima (Smith, 1855) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) plays a relevant role in public health because of reactions to its sting and its action as vectors of infectious agents by stinging. In the present study, we aimed at a global recent review of all works that contain records of Solenopsis nesting sites in the last years. In addition, these ants are relevant in forensic entomology because of the interference they cause in the decomposition process and another aim of this study was to describe an evaluation of S. saevissima feeding selection behavior against different food stimuli: decomposing meat with and without eggs and larvae of the Califoridae species Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819) aiming to unveil scientific advances, analyze the information and point out incipient areas of research in studies in this area, thus allowing to advance the knowledge about the behavior of individuals of this genus and their particularities. The literature review was performed on the Web of Science and Scopus platforms of all works published since 1945 up to January 2020. We retrieved information from the articles found and sorted about: year of study, place of registration, species found and substrate used for nesting. We found 43 articles containing records of the nesting sites of Solenopsis ants. The articles were published in 24 scientific journals and in total we registered 10 species in the studies found. Ants preferred to nest in natural environments and the main areas of development of the studies found were the United States, Brazil and Argentina respectively, in addition, the species most reported in the works was Solenopsis invicta Buren (1972). In the selection experiment, observations were made from March 2018 to October 2019. The work analyzed the possible selection behavior of fire ants against decaying meat combinations with C. albiceps eggs x decaying meat without eggs and decaying meat with C. albiceps larvae x decaying meat without larvae. There was no food selection by the fire ants in the tests performed (p <0.05), but we could observe a correlation between flow and temperature. Our results reinforced the relationship between metabolic maintenance and temperature in these individuals beyond their omnivorous habit.As formigas são insetos sociais que constroem ninhos sofisticados que funcionam de maneira complexa e podem ser constituídos por até centenas de câmaras internas utilizadas para o cuidado com a prole. A espécie Solenopsis saevissima (Smith, 1855) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) desempenha um papel relevante na saúde pública, por conta de reações à sua ferroada e sua ação como vetores de agentes infecciosos pela ferroada. No presente estudo, objetivamos uma revisão recente global de todos os trabalhos que contém registros dos sítios de nidificação de Solenopsis nos últimos anos. Além disso, essas formigas são relevantes na entomologia forense, pelas interferências que causam no processo de decomposição. Outro objetivo deste trabalho foi descrever uma avaliação do comportamento de seleção alimentar de S. saevissima frente a diferentes estímulos alimentares em decomposição e com presença de ovos e larvas de califorídeos da espécie Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819) visando desvendar avanços científicos, analisar as informações e apontar áreas incipientes de pesquisa em estudos nessa área, permitindo dessa forma avançar nos conhecimentos sobre o comportamento dos indivíduos desse gênero e suas particularidades. A revisão bibliográfica foi feita nas plataformas Web of Science e Scopus de todos os trabalhos publicados do ano de de 1945 até o mês de Janeiro de 2020. Recuperamos informações dos artigos encontrados e triados sobre: ano do estudo, local do registro, espécies encontradas e substrato utilizado para nidificação. Encontramos 43 artigos que contém registros dos sítios de nidificação de formigas do gênero Solenopsis. As publicações foram veiculadas em 24 periódicos científicos e no total, registramos 10 espécies nos estudos encontrados. As formigas preferiram nidificar nos ambientes naturais e as principais áreas de desenvolvimento dos estudos encontradas foram Estados Unidos, Brasil e Argentina respectivamente, além disso, a espécie mais relatada nos trabalhos foi Solenopsis invicta Buren (1972). Já no experimento de seleção, as observações foram feitas de Março de 2018 a Outubro de 2019. O trabalho analisou o possível comportamento de seleção de formigas lava-pés frente as combinações de carne em decomposição com ovos de C. albiceps x carne em decomposição sem ovos e carne em decomposição com larvas de C. albiceps larva x carne em decomposição sem larvas. Não houve seleção alimentar pelas formigas de fogo nos testes realizados ( p<0,05), Mas pudemos observar uma correlação entre fluxo e temperatura. Nossos resultados reforçaram a relação entre manutenção metabólica e temperatura nesses indivíduos além de seu hábito onívoro

Automated migration of build scripts using dynamic analysis and search-based refactoring

The efficiency of a build system is an important factor for developer productivity. As a result, developer teams have been increasingly adopting new build systems that allow higher build parallelization. However, migrating the existing legacy build scripts to new build systems is a tedious and error-prone process. Unfortunately, there is insufficient support for automated migration of build scripts, making the migration more problematic. We propose the first dynamic approach for automated migration of build scripts to new build systems. Our approach works in two phases. First, from a set of execution traces, we synthesize build scripts that accurately capture the intent of the original build. The synthesized build scripts are typically long and hard to maintain. Second, we apply refactorings that raise the abstraction level of the synthesized scripts (e.g., introduce functions for similar fragments). As different refactoring sequences may lead to different build scripts, we use a search-based approach that explores various sequences to identify the best (e.g., shortest) build script. We optimize search-based refactoring with partial-order reduction to faster explore refactoring sequences. We implemented the proposed two phase migration approach in a tool called METAMORPHOSIS that has been recently used at Microsoft