Automated analysis of feature models: Quo vadis?

Feature models have been used since the 90's to describe software product lines as a way of reusing common parts in a family of software systems. In 2010, a systematic literature review was published summarizing the advances and settling the basis of the area of Automated Analysis of Feature Models (AAFM). From then on, different studies have applied the AAFM in different domains. In this paper, we provide an overview of the evolution of this field since 2010 by performing a systematic mapping study considering 423 primary sources. We found six different variability facets where the AAFM is being applied that define the tendencies: product configuration and derivation; testing and evolution; reverse engineering; multi-model variability-analysis; variability modelling and variability-intensive systems. We also confirmed that there is a lack of industrial evidence in most of the cases. Finally, we present where and when the papers have been published and who are the authors and institutions that are contributing to the field. We observed that the maturity is proven by the increment in the number of journals published along the years as well as the diversity of conferences and workshops where papers are published. We also suggest some synergies with other areas such as cloud or mobile computing among others that can motivate further research in the future.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-70560-RJunta de Andalucía TIC-186

Natural food additives: Quo vadis?

In a time where the public is more aware and interested with what they eat, natural additives have been gaining interest both from the food industries and the consumers. Some studies show that consumers prefer food prepared with natural additives rather than chemical ones, due to health reasons. Although quite promising, natural additives still face some drawbacks and limitations as well as conflicting information. In this manuscript, the most important natural additives are overviewed, as well as their use, benefits and risks. The future of these molecules along with new types of additives are also summarized.The authors are grateful to the PRODER project No. 46577-PlantLact., and the Foundation for Science and Technology (FTC, Portugal) for financial support to the research centre CIMO (Pest-OE/AGR/UI0690/2014)

INTELLIGENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS, QUO VADIS?

ABSTRACT Based on its most popular incarnations, Intelligen

Multikonferenz Wirtschaftsinformatik (MKWI) 2016: Technische Universität Ilmenau, 09. - 11. März 2016; Band III

Übersicht der Teilkonferenzen Band III • Service Systems Engineering • Sicherheit, Compliance und Verfügbarkeit von Geschäftsprozessen • Smart Services: Kundeninduzierte Kombination komplexer Dienstleistungen • Strategisches IT-Management • Student Track • Telekommunikations- und Internetwirtschaft • Unternehmenssoftware – quo vadis? • Von der Digitalen Fabrik zu Industrie 4.0 – Methoden und Werkzeuge für die Planung und Steuerung von intelligenten Produktions- und Logistiksystemen • Wissensmanagemen

Sexual Offences Courts in South Africa: Quo vadis?

Since the establishment of the first Sexual Offences Court in Wynberg in 1993, various developments have taken place that include, but are not limited to, the following: several investigations into these courts were undertaken; the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit (SOCA Unit) was established; a blueprint for Sexual Offences Courts was drafted and later refined; and, by 2007, the number of Sexual Offences Courts had increased to 59. These courts have performed exceptionally well compared with general regional courts and conviction rates rose to 70 per cent on average. Despite the obvious success of these courts, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development declared a moratorium on the establishment of additional Sexual Offences Courts pending the outcome of an evaluation of existing Sexual Offences Courts. In this article, a synopsis of the development of Sexual Offences Courts is given and the subsequent evaluation commissioned by the Minister is assessed and is supplemented with recommendations to enhance efforts to combat sexual offences through the Sexual Offences Courts

Climate Policy Beyond Kyoto: Quo Vadis? A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis Based on Expert Judgements

Despite of the apparent failure of the Kyoto Protocol with respect to environmental effectiveness, it has established a broad international mechanism that might be able to provide a global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions during a second commitment period. In this paper we investigate the likely future of post-Kyoto policies. Our primary objective is to identify policy-relevant abatement scenarios and to quantify the associated economic implications across major world regions. Based on a cross-impact analysis we first evaluate an expert poll to select the most likely post-Kyoto climate policy scenarios. We then use a computable general equilibrium model to assess the economic implications of these key scenarios. We find that post-Kyoto agreements are likely to cover only small reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions with abatement duties predominantly assigned to the industrialized countries while developing countries do not make any commitments, but can sell emission abatement to the industrialized world. Equity rules to allocate abatement duties are mainly based on the sovereignty principle or ability-to-pay. Global adjustment costs arising from post-Kyoto policies are very moderate but fuel exporting countries are likely to face quite considerable costs because of adverse terms-of-trade effects on fossil fuel markets. --climate policy,cross-impact analysis,computable general equilibrium modeling

Quo vadis blood protein adductomics?

Chemicals are measured regularly in air, food, the environment, and the workplace. Biomonitoring of chemicals in biological fluids is a tool to determine the individual exposure. Blood protein adducts of xenobiotics are a marker of both exposure and the biologically effective dose. Urinary metabolites and blood metabolites are short term exposure markers. Stable hemoglobin adducts are exposure markers of up to 120~days. Blood protein adducts are formed with many xenobiotics at different sites of the blood proteins. Newer methods apply the techniques developed in the field of proteomics. Larger adducted peptides with 20 amino acids are used for quantitation. Unfortunately, at present the methods do not reach the limits of detection obtained with the methods looking at single amino acid adducts or at chemically cleaved adducts. Therefore, to progress in the field new approaches are needed