A Model-Based Approach for the Management of Electronic Invoices

The globalized market pushes companies to expand their business boundaries to a whole new level. In order to efficiently support this environment, business transactions must be executed over the Internet. However, there are several factors complicating this process, such as the current state of electronic invoices. Electronic invoice adoption is not widespread because of the current format fragmentation originated by national regulations. In this paper we present an approach based on Model-Driven Engineering techniques and abstractions for supporting the core functions of invoice management systems. We compare our solution with the traditional implementations and try to analyze the advantages MDE can bring to this specific domain

An automated Model-based Testing Approach in Software Product Lines Using a Variability Language.

This paper presents the application of an automated testing approach for Software Product Lines (SPL) driven by its state-machine and variability models. Context: Model-based testing provides a technique for automatic generation of test cases using models. Introduction of a variability model in this technique can achieve testing automation in SPL. Method: We use UML and CVL (Common Variability Language) models as input, and JUnit test cases are derived from these models. This approach has been implemented using the UML2 Eclipse Modeling platform and the CVL-Tool. Validation: A model checking tool prototype has been developed and a case study has been performed. Conclusions: Preliminary experiments have proved that our approach can find structural errors in the SPL under test. In our future work we will introduce Object Constraint Language (OCL) constraints attached to the input UML mode

Conexiones inestables, imprevistas y pérdidas: expandiendo la arena política en la cooperación para el desarrollo y comunidades indígenas en el Chaco paraguayo

The article is a reflection on the definition of the political arena in the Paraguayan context and beyond. In particular, it provides a close look on the way in which this arena gets stretched and blurred in the space of encounter between indigenous communities and development institutions in two specific case studies. The first is the case of the maskoy communities of Alto Paraguay, where the absence of “developmental” forms of indigenous organizations parallels a strong re-enactment of collective ceremonies that are not considered political by non-indigenous observers but they certainly are if we try to reformulate “the political” according to other ontological premises. In the second case, the Sanapaná and Enxet community of Xakmok Kásek works with an advocacy ngo to reclaim a part of their ancestral land before the Paraguayan Parliament through an expropriation law project against the landowner who holds the land title. At reaching point of discussion of the law project, the community ask the ngo an additional support to hold a shamans’ meeting to act upon the lawmakers. The example show once more that politics that not reduces its realm to the actions of humans alone. Both cases also altogether demonstrate the feeble developmental attempts to separate “human” from “nature” and the limitations of advocacy ngo endeavours to fully understand politics as cosmopraxis. Thus, the indigenous challenges to the “modern” limits of the political arena, which provokes tensions and misunderstandings, ask to slow down reasoning and re-imagine a configuration for future alliances and political practicesEste trabajo es una reflexión sobre la arena política en el contexto paraguayo y más allá de ella. En particular, permite una mirada más cercana al modo como este campo es desplegado y, a la vez, borrado en el espacio de encuentro entre comunidades indígenas e instituciones de desarrollo. Se parte,  para ello, de dos casos de estudio. El primero es el de las comunidades maskoy del Alto Paraguay, en donde la ausencia de formas “desarrollistas” de organizaciones indígenas se complementa con una fuerte revalorización de ceremonias colectivas que, aun no siendo consideradas políticas por los no-indígenas, ciertamente lo son si se reformulan desde una distinta perspectiva ontológica. El segundo es el caso de la comunidad sanapaná y enxet de Xakmok Kásek, en el cual se trabaja con una organización no gubernamental que ofrece apoyo jurídico-político a la comunidad para reclamar parte de sus tierras ancestrales ante el Parlamento paraguayo, a través de un proyecto de ley de expropiación que afecta a un ganadero que posee el título de las mismas. Al acercarse el momento de discusión del proyecto de ley en plenario, la comunidad pide a la organización un apoyo adicional para realizar una reunión de chamanes, de modo a estos que actúen sobre los legisladores. El ejemplo muestra, de nuevo, que el campo de la política no se reduce meramente a las acciones de los humanos. Ambos casos, en conjunto, demuestran los fútiles intentos desarrollistas para separar lo “humano” de la “naturaleza” y la dificultad de las organizaciones de apoyo para comprender a cabalidad la política como una cosmopraxis indígena. De este modo, los desafíos puestos por los indígenas a los límites “modernos” de la arena política provocan tensiones y malentendidos, y reclaman un análisis detenido, así como una reconceptualización e imaginación para futuras alianzas y prácticas políticas

In Defense of Cross-Encoders for Zero-Shot Retrieval

Bi-encoders and cross-encoders are widely used in many state-of-the-art retrieval pipelines. In this work we study the generalization ability of these two types of architectures on a wide range of parameter count on both in-domain and out-of-domain scenarios. We find that the number of parameters and early query-document interactions of cross-encoders play a significant role in the generalization ability of retrieval models. Our experiments show that increasing model size results in marginal gains on in-domain test sets, but much larger gains in new domains never seen during fine-tuning. Furthermore, we show that cross-encoders largely outperform bi-encoders of similar size in several tasks. In the BEIR benchmark, our largest cross-encoder surpasses a state-of-the-art bi-encoder by more than 4 average points. Finally, we show that using bi-encoders as first-stage retrievers provides no gains in comparison to a simpler retriever such as BM25 on out-of-domain tasks. The code is available at https://github.com/guilhermemr04/scaling-zero-shot-retrieval.gitComment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2206.0287

InPars-v2: Large Language Models as Efficient Dataset Generators for Information Retrieval

Recently, InPars introduced a method to efficiently use large language models (LLMs) in information retrieval tasks: via few-shot examples, an LLM is induced to generate relevant queries for documents. These synthetic query-document pairs can then be used to train a retriever. However, InPars and, more recently, Promptagator, rely on proprietary LLMs such as GPT-3 and FLAN to generate such datasets. In this work we introduce InPars-v2, a dataset generator that uses open-source LLMs and existing powerful rerankers to select synthetic query-document pairs for training. A simple BM25 retrieval pipeline followed by a monoT5 reranker finetuned on InPars-v2 data achieves new state-of-the-art results on the BEIR benchmark. To allow researchers to further improve our method, we open source the code, synthetic data, and finetuned models: https://github.com/zetaalphavector/inPars/tree/master/tp

No Parameter Left Behind: How Distillation and Model Size Affect Zero-Shot Retrieval

Recent work has shown that small distilled language models are strong competitors to models that are orders of magnitude larger and slower in a wide range of information retrieval tasks. This has made distilled and dense models, due to latency constraints, the go-to choice for deployment in real-world retrieval applications. In this work, we question this practice by showing that the number of parameters and early query-document interaction play a significant role in the generalization ability of retrieval models. Our experiments show that increasing model size results in marginal gains on in-domain test sets, but much larger gains in new domains never seen during fine-tuning. Furthermore, we show that rerankers largely outperform dense ones of similar size in several tasks. Our largest reranker reaches the state of the art in 12 of the 18 datasets of the Benchmark-IR (BEIR) and surpasses the previous state of the art by 3 average points. Finally, we confirm that in-domain effectiveness is not a good indicator of zero-shot effectiveness. Code is available at https://github.com/guilhermemr04/scaling-zero-shot-retrieval.gi

Control and synchronization algorithms for a grid-connected photovoltaic system under harmonic distortions, frequency variations and unbalances

In this paper, an implementation of the control and the synchronization algorithms for a Voltage Source Inverter used as the power conditioner for Photovoltaic renewable energy in a grid-connected structure is carried out. Its main purpose is to show, in a simple manner, the design and combined operation of the control and synchronization algorithms for attaining the proper behaviour of the Grid Inverter when the 3-phase utility grid is disturbed by voltage unbalances, frequency variations and harmonic distortions, according to power quality standards. In order to obtain a high efficiency of the system during perturbations, a Proportional Resonant controller with a Harmonic Compensator structure is designed for the control algorithm, whereas a Dual Second Order Generalized Integrator Frequency-Locked Loop (DSOGI-FLL) is used as the synchronization algorithm. In order to validate both the control and the synchronization algorithms, some simulations using MATLAB/SIMULINK from The MathWorks, Inc. are shown firstly, and secondly, some real-time digital simulations are carried out.This work has been supported by a grant from La Fundación Séneca, Agencia de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Región de Murcia, Spain, as a part of the Project Ref.11948/PI/09, entitled “Design and construction of a hardware/software prototype for the synchronization and monitoring of renewable agents in a Distributed Generation System” (Alexis. B. Rey-Boué), and a scholarship towards the PhD degree from the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Spain, with the Santander Bank support (N. F. Guerrero-Rodríguez)

Comparison of English Comprehension among Students from Different Backgrounds using a Narrative-Centered Digital Game

This paper reports the continuation of the field testing of a narrative-centered digital game for English comprehension called Learning Likha: Rangers to the Rescue (LLRR) with a two-fold goal: first, identify the differences in terms of usage, attitudes towards, and perceptions of the English language between students from southern Philippines and the National Capital Region, and second, to determine how the LLRR in-game performance, post-test comprehension scores, engagement, and motivation of students differ between the groups. The participants who are grade school students from a province in southern Philippines answered questionnaires about their attitude towards and perception of English, played LLRR, answered the English comprehension post-test, and assessed their engagement and motivation using the adapted game-based learning engagement (GBLE) and intrinsic motivation inventory (IMI) questionnaires, respectively. Responses and interaction logs were compared to the data collected from NCR. Findings showed no significant difference between the groups in terms of the usage of English whether at home or with friends. However, NCR-based students were more receptive in terms of their perception and attitude towards the language, had better LLRR in-game performance, and obtained higher English comprehension post-test ratings. These findings are consistent with the results of the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) in 2018 where students from the southern regions have lower English reading literacy compared to those from NCR. In terms of GBLE and IMI responses, the gap is consistent as self-reports of participants from the south indicated lower behavior and emotion engagement, enjoyment, effort exerted, and perceived competence while playing LLRR