Exploring the effect of UML modeling on software quality

Modeling ones design is generally considered good practice in the process of software development. Numerous payoffs are attributed to this practice, in-cluding increased software quality and easier software maintenance. However, empirical studies validating these payoffs are scarce. This validation should nevertheless be considered very important, since models do not represent any value by themselves. Therefore, only when payoffs have been shown to exist, should a company be willing to invest time and resources into creating these models. The de facto standard for communicating a system’s design is the Unified Modeling Language (UML). In this study we explore the relation between the level of detail of a system’s UML diagrams – specifically class, sequence and state diagrams – and the defect density and average defect repair time of the resulting implementation. We did this by performing two case studies, both in an industrial setting, applying different approaches for each of them. For both approaches definitions were formulated on how to record UML level of detail measures of the mentioned diagram types. While the first ap-proach used qualitative rankings, the second applied design metrics to quantify this detail level. Defect samples were manually inspected to try to relate each defect to parts of the UML models. During this process the defects were also typed, so that analyses could be performed using both the entire set of defects and specific defect types when required. To facilitate this defect typing task, defect taxonomies were compiled from the ones found in scientific literature and further tailored to the needs of this study. The results from our case studies show evidence supporting the suggested payoffs: the availability of UML models lowers defect density and average re-pair time. However, some questions regarding validity of this evidence remain.

Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 3D printing Special Interest Group (SIG): Guidelines for medical 3D printing and appropriateness for clinical scenarios

Este número da revista Cadernos de Estudos Sociais estava em organização quando fomos colhidos pela morte do sociólogo Ernesto Laclau. Seu falecimento em 13 de abril de 2014 surpreendeu a todos, e particularmente ao editor Joanildo Burity, que foi seu orientando de doutorado na University of Essex, Inglaterra, e que recentemente o trouxe à Fundação Joaquim Nabuco para uma palestra, permitindo que muitos pudessem dialogar com um dos grandes intelectuais latinoamericanos contemporâneos. Assim, buscamos fazer uma homenagem ao sociólogo argentino publicando uma entrevista inédita concedida durante a sua passagem pelo Recife, em 2013, encerrando essa revista com uma sessão especial sobre a sua trajetória

DeSyRe: on-Demand System Reliability

The DeSyRe project builds on-demand adaptive and reliable Systems-on-Chips (SoCs). As fabrication technology scales down, chips are becoming less reliable, thereby incurring increased power and performance costs for fault tolerance. To make matters worse, power density is becoming a significant limiting factor in SoC design, in general. In the face of such changes in the technological landscape, current solutions for fault tolerance are expected to introduce excessive overheads in future systems. Moreover, attempting to design and manufacture a totally defect and fault-free system, would impact heavily, even prohibitively, the design, manufacturing, and testing costs, as well as the system performance and power consumption. In this context, DeSyRe delivers a new generation of systems that are reliable by design at well-balanced power, performance, and design costs. In our attempt to reduce the overheads of fault-tolerance, only a small fraction of the chip is built to be fault-free. This fault-free part is then employed to manage the remaining fault-prone resources of the SoC. The DeSyRe framework is applied to two medical systems with high safety requirements (measured using the IEC 61508 functional safety standard) and tight power and performance constraints

Development of the Integrated Model of the Automotive Product Quality Assessment

Issues on building an integrated model of the automotive product quality assessment are studied herein basing on widely applicable methods and models of the quality assessment. A conceptual model of the automotive product quality system meeting customer requirements has been developed. Typical characteristics of modern industrial production are an increase in the production dynamism that determines the product properties; a continuous increase in the volume of information required for decision-making, an increased role of knowledge and high technologies implementing absolutely new scientific and technical ideas. To solve the problem of increasing the automotive product quality, a conceptual structural and hierarchical model is offered to ensure its quality as a closed system with feedback between the regulatory, manufacturing, and information modules, responsible for formation of the product quality at all stages of its life cycle. The three module model of the system of the industrial product quality assurance is considered to be universal and to give the opportunity to explore processes of any complexity while solving theoretical and practical problems of the quality assessment and prediction for products for various purposes, including automotive

Modeling cancer genomic data in yeast reveals selection against ATM function during tumorigenesis

The DNA damage response (DDR) comprises multiple functions that collectively preserve genomic integrity and suppress tumorigenesis. The Mre11 complex and ATM govern a major axis of the DDR and several lines of evidence implicate that axis in tumor suppression. Components of the Mre11 complex are mutated in approximately five percent of human cancers. Inherited mutations of complex members cause severe chromosome instability syndromes, such as Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome, which is associated with strong predisposition to malignancy. And in mice, Mre11 complex mutations are markedly more susceptible to oncogene- induced carcinogenesis. The complex is integral to all modes of DNA double strand break (DSB) repair and is required for the activation of ATM to effect DNA damage signaling. To understand which functions of the Mre11 complex are important for tumor suppression, we undertook mining of cancer genomic data from the clinical sequencing program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which includes the Mre11 complex among the 468 genes assessed. Twenty five mutations in MRE11 and RAD50 were modeled in S. cerevisiae and in vitro. The mutations were chosen based on recurrence and conservation between human and yeast. We found that a significant fraction of tumor-borne RAD50 and MRE11 mutations exhibited separation of function phenotypes wherein Tel1/ATM activation was severely impaired while DNA repair functions were mildly or not affected. At the molecular level, the gene products of RAD50 mutations exhibited defects in ATP binding and hydrolysis. The data reflect the importance of Rad50 ATPase activity for Tel1/ATM activation and suggest that inactivation of ATM signaling confers an advantage to burgeoning tumor cells

Application Of Fuzzy Mathematics Methods To Processing Geometric Parameters Of Degradation Of Building Structures

The aim of research is formalization of the expert experience, which is used in processing geometric parameters of building structure degradation, using fuzzy mathematics. Materials that are used to specify fuzzy models are contained in expert assessments and scientific and technical reports on the technical condition of buildings. The information contained in the reports and assessments is presented in text form and is accompanied by a large number of photographs and diagrams. Model specification methods, based on the analysis of such information on the technical state of structures with damages and defects of various types, primarily lead to difficulties associated with the presentation of knowledge and require the formalization of expert knowledge and experience in the form of fuzzy rules. Approbation and adaptation of the rules is carried out in the process of further research taking into account the influence of random loads and fields. The scientific novelty of the work is expanding of the knowledge base due to the geometric parameters of structural degradation, on the basis of which a fuzzy conclusion about their technical state in the systems of fuzzy product rules at different stages of the object's life cycle is realized. The results of the work are presented in the form of a formalized description of the geometric parameters of degradation. The knowledge presented in the work is intended for the development of technical documentation that is used at the pre-project stage of building reconstruction, but the gained experience is the source of information on the basis of which a constructive solution is selected in the design process of analogical objects. In addition, the knowledge gained from the analysis of expert assessments of the state of various designs is necessary for development of automated expert evaluation processing systems. The use of such evaluation systems will significantly reduce the risks of the human factor associated with the errors in the specification of models for predicting the processes of structural failure at various stages of ensuring the reliability and safety of buildings