A systematic approach for component-based software development

Component-based software development enables the construction of software artefacts by assembling prefabricated, configurable and independently evolving building blocks, called software components. This paper presents an approach for the development of component-based software artefacts. This approach consists of splitting the software development process according to four abstraction levels, viz., enterprise, system, component and object, and three different views, viz., structural, behavioural and interactional. The use of different abstraction levels and views allows a better control of the development process

Contributing or Free-Riding? A Theory of Endogenous Lobby Formation

We consider a two-stage public goods provision game: In the first stage, players simultaneously decide if they will join a contribution group or not. In the second stage, players in the contribution group simultaneously offer contribution schemes in order to influence the government’s choice on the level of provision of public goods. Using perfectly coalition-proof Nash equilibrium (Bernheim, Peleg and Whinston, 1987 JET), we show that the set of equilibrium outcomes is equivalent to an "intuitive" hybrid solution concept, the free-riding-proof core, which is always nonempty but does not necessarily achieve global efficiency. It is not necessarily true that an equilibrium lobby group is formed by the players with highest willingness-to-pay, nor is it a consecutive group with respect to their willingnesses-to-pay. We also show that the equilibrium level of public goods provision shrinks to zero as the economy is replicated.Common Agency, Public Good, Free Rider, Core, Lobby, Coalition Formation, Coalition-proof Nash Equilibrium

A Virtual Reality Laboratory for Blended Learning Education: Design, Implementation and Evaluation

Launched during the pandemic, the EU-funded JANUS project aimed to ensure the continuity of student workshops at universities using a virtual reality (VR) robotics laboratory. With the return to normality, the project has been redesigned to capitalise on the positive outcomes of the experience. The VR lab provides safe and unrestricted access to the labs and experiments with the machines, reducing the consequences of student mistakes and improving the user experience by allowing the experiment to be repeated from different angles, some of which are impossible to access in the real lab. In addition, integration with an interactive learning platform called “ViLLE” allows for continuous assessment of the learning experience. Self-evaluation of the material taught and learned can be integrated with the execution of the exercises that pave the way for Kaizen. Two VR workshops for the blended learning of robotics were developed during the JANUS project. Their evaluation reported favourable responses from the students whose learning performance was indirectly measured

Can the glass transition be explained without a growing static length scale?

It was recently discovered that SWAP, a Monte Carlo algorithm that involves the exchange of pairs of particles of differing diameters, can dramatically accelerate the equilibration of simulated supercooled liquids in regimes where the normal dynamics is glassy. This spectacular effect was subsequently interpreted as direct evidence against a static, cooperative explanation of the glass transition such as the one offered by the random first-order transition (RFOT) theory. We review several empirical facts that support the opposite view, namely, that a local mechanism cannot explain the glass transition phenomenology. We explain the speedup induced by SWAP within the framework of the RFOT theory. We suggest that the efficiency of SWAP stems from a postponed onset of glassy dynamics, which allows the efficient exploration of configuration space even in the regime where the physical dynamics is dominated by activated events across free-energy barriers. We describe this effect in terms of `crumbling metastability' and use the example of nucleation to illustrate the possibility of circumventing free-energy barriers of thermodynamic origin by a change of the local dynamical rules.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; v2: improved discussions and clarification

A case study in online formal/informal learning: was it collaborative or cooperative learning?

Developing skills in communication and collaboration is essential in modern design education, in order to prepare students for the realities of design practice, where projects involve multidisciplinary teams, often working remotely. This paper presents a learning activity that focusses on developing communication and collaboration skills of undergraduate design students working remotely and vocational learners based in a community makerspace. Participants were drawn from these formal and informal educational settings and engaged in a design-make project framed in the context of distributed manufacturing. They were given designer or maker roles and worked at distance from each other, communicating using asynchronous online tools. Analysis of the collected data has identified a diversity of working practice across the participants, and highlighted the difficulties that result from getting students to work collaboratively, when not collocated. This paper presents and analysis of participants’ communications, with a view to identify whether they were learning collaboratively, or cooperatively. It was found that engaging participants in joint problem solving is not enough to facilitate collaboration. Instead effective collaboration depends on symmetry within the roles of participants and willingness to share expertise through dialogue. Designing learning activities to overcome the challenges that these factors raise is a difficult task, and the research reported here provides some valuable insight

Factors affecting student adjustment as they transition from primary to secondary school: a longitudinal investigation

Transition from primary to secondary school occurs during the developmental period of early adolescence. Mixed findings exist across the literature on the effects of transition on student adjustment outcomes. This has led to an understanding amongst researchers and educators that the effects of transition are not uniform. Treating young adolescents as a homogeneous group might be extremely misleading.Much of the transition literature in early adolescence has been concentrated on typically developing students. Students with disabilities /chronic ill health conditions and at a social disadvantage have been excluded in cohort and longitudinal investigations. Thus, gaps exists in the understanding of factors that may promote or limit positive school adjustment, especially for those with social or health related issues, some of which have been addressed in this study.The overall aim of this study was to determine the personal and contextual factors that affect adjustment outcomes of all mainstream students including those with disabilities and chronic illness and students at a social disadvantage, as they transition from primary to secondary school in Western Australia. Six study objectives were described, in order to address the aim. Student adjustment in this study was operationalised in terms of academic, emotional-behavioural, social, and participatory dimensions. Therefore, the following outcomes were included: academic competence; emotional and behavioural difficulties; sense of self-worth; school belonging; loneliness and social dissatisfaction; and participation in school extra-curricular activities (e.g., social-leisure, civic, and creative pursuits).A longitudinal study design was used. Two cohorts of participants (those making the transition from primary to secondary school during the academic year 2006/2007, and 2007/2008) were followed. At pre-transition, data from 395 students from a representative range of 45 feeder primary schools were retrieved. Post-transition data from two hundred and sixty six participants from 81 secondary schools across metropolitan and regional Western Australia were collected. Cross-informant data from stakeholders (i.e., parents, teachers and students) were retrieved using psychometrically robust measures.A social-ecological and developmental systems theoretical framework guided the research, which recognized the interdependence of individual characteristics within changing personal, family, school, and peer-group contexts (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998; Brooks-Gunn, Peterson, & Eichorn, 1985; J. S. Coleman & Hendry, 1999). Assumptions about key influencing factors identified in the literature to influence student adjustment in school were tested, using a series of hierarchical linear regression models. The findings of the study confirm four main issues:1. At multivariate level, students‟ gender, health status, and the SES-level of their household influenced adjustment outcomes to a varying degree, depending on: the adjustment outcome under review; the timing of the analysis (i.e., whether it was before or after transition, or longitudinal); and the associated personal and contextual factors considered in each analysis;2. Combinations of personal and contextual factors were found to predict student adjustment outcomes in primary school;3. Longitudinally, primary level combinations of factors had reduced predictive power in explaining secondary school adjustment outcomes; and4. Models that took into account the contribution of previous adjustment in primary school, the replica primary school model (primary school model with corresponding secondary level factors) and factors unique to secondary school, best explained adjustment outcomes in secondary school.Most of the personal and contextual predictors of adjustment can be modified to promote adjustment. Future longitudinal research that tracks mainstream students along the educational continuum is required to identify whether there are any additional personal and contextual factors that take on prominence in the later years of school

Counterculture in “Escola do Porto” (1968-1974)

Versão bilingue francês/inglês em livro a publicarLors de son discours de remerciement à l’occasion de la remise de la médaille de L’Académie d’Architecture de France (Paris, 2010) Eduardo Souto de Moura décrivit ses premières années du cours d’architecture à l’École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Porto (au début des années 70), comme un cours centré sur les sciences sociales (sociologie, anthropologie, structuralisme…) et fortement influencé par l’idéologie marxiste. Dans ce contexte, l’enseignement de l’architecture était considéré comme une synthèse des disciplines analytiques, et le dessin (dans le sens de projet mais aussi de langage) était méprisé ou encore considéré comme réactionnaire. L’architecture était pour beaucoup associée à une pratique bourgeoise représentative du pouvoir en place et contre-révolutionnaire. Le Portugal vivait alors ce qu’on a appelé la “Primavera Marcelista” (1968-1970) , durant la transition désirée et difficile entre l’Estado Novo (le régime autoritaire de Salazar pendant presque cinq décennies) et la Révolution démocratique d’avril 1974, menée par le Mouvement des Forces Armées. Bien que le régime de censure fût toujours en place dans ces années qui précédèrent la révolution, celui-ci n’empêcha pas la publication des premières éditions portugaises de La Désobéissance civile de Henry David Thoreau (1972) ou de La Société du spectacle de Guy Debord (1972) (cette dernière étant considérée comme trop dense et trop philosophique et par conséquent inoffensive pour les masse) . Sous l’influence de Mai 68, l’ambiance était à la contestation étudiante, aux revendications pour la restructuration de l’université et pour la démocratisation de l’enseignement et, sans réserve, le régime et la guerre dans les ex-colonies étaient contestés. Cette révolte connut son apogée en avril 1969 à l’Université de Coimbra, engendrant une crise académique sans précédent (manifestations, étudiants exclus, emprisonnés, écoles fermées et important boycotte des examens). Dans les couloirs des universités, circulait la traduction polycopiée de De la misère en milieu étudiant (Mustapha Khayati, 1966). Le Cours d’Architecture de Porto vécut aussi une période marquée par la contestation étudiante, qui parviendra à revendiquer, bien que pour une courte période (1970-73), un “régime expérimental” de l’enseignement basé sur un système paritaire entre professeurs et étudiants au niveau de la gestion mais aussi de l´évaluation. Ce “régime expérimental” fut caractérisé par l’absence de structure basée sur les années scolaires en faveur de l’organisation thématique des cours. Il reposait sur l’évaluation continue et les absences n’étaient pas prises en compte. Loin d’être considéré comme consensuel, il était décrit de la manière suivante dans un pamphlet distribué aux nouveaux étudiants à la rentrée de 1973 : “en architecture il n’y a pas d’absences, presque pas de cours, pas de professeurs, pas de matières. En cours on discute avec les professeurs qui existent” . Décrite comme une période chaotique, l’enseignement s’est fait entre la politique et la pratique, entre la table du café et la planche à dessin dans l’atelier du professeur.In his acceptance speech on the occasion of the attribution of a medal by L’Academie d’Architecture de France (Paris, 2010), Eduardo Souto de Moura described the first years of the course of Architecture at the School of Fine Arts of Porto (early 1970’s), as being based on social sciences (sociology, anthropology, structuralism…), heavily influenced by a Marxist ideology. In such a context, the teaching of architecture was perceived as a synthesis of analytical disciplines, and drawing (as design project as well as a language) was undervalued or seen as reactionary. For many, it was nothing but a bourgeois practice which represented the ruling powers. Portugal was going through the so-called “Primavera Marcelista” (1968-1970) , the long wanted and hard transition from Estado Novo (New State) (Salazar’s almost five decades long authoritarian regime) to the democratic Revolution in April 1974, led by the MFA (Armed Forces Movement). Even though there was still censorship in the years preceding the Revolution, there was no attempt to prevent the publication of the first Portuguese editions of “Civil Disobedience”, by Henri David Thoreau (1972), or Guy Debord’s “The Society of Spectacle” (1972) (in this case because it was considered too dense, philosophical and, hence, harmless for the masses) . Under the influence of May 1968, there was a vibe of contestation starred by students, who fought for the restructuring of the university and the democratisation of education, and, quite brazenly, against the regime and war on the former colonies. This rebellion was at its peak in April 1969 at the University of Coimbra, where it generated an unprecedented academic crisis (demonstrations, students being suspended, arrested, schools being closed and a blatant boycott of exams). The photocopied translation of “On the poverty of Student Life” (Mustapha Khayati, 1966) circulated in the corridors of the university. The Course of Architecture in Porto went through a similar period of student contestation, having been able to claim, even if briefly (1970-73), an educational “experimental regime” based on a teacher-student as equals system both at management and assessment level. This “experimental regime” was characterised by the lack of a structure based on school years, rather on behalf of a theme-based course organisation. There was continuous assessment and no register of absences. Far from being consensual, it was described as follows in a leaflet handed out to newcomers during the school year of 1973-74: “in architecture, there are no absences, not many classes, no teachers, no subject matters. During classes you talk to the available teachers”. Described as a chaotic period, teaching happened between politics and practice, at the café table and the drawing board at the teacher’s office.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Frame construction in post-15M discourses

[Abstract] This paper offers an analysis of ideological discourse from a constructivist perspective, according to which reality is interpreted as the socially constructed product of different agents interacting on an individual, subjective basis in a particular socio-political context, and in relation to a specific social action. This theoretical and methodological approach also highlights the importance of the relationship between the field of discourse analysis and those of rhetoric and argumentation (and semiotics, where the discourse is multimodal), and complexity studies. The paper uses data from an ethnographic study of a social collective created a year before the 15M movement: the Cooperativa Integral Catalana (‘Catalan Integral Cooperative’), an eco-social economic initiative based on a new form of self-managed cooperativism