Early aspects: aspect-oriented requirements engineering and architecture design

This paper reports on the third Early Aspects: Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering and Architecture Design Workshop, which has been held in Lancaster, UK, on March 21, 2004. The workshop included a presentation session and working sessions in which the particular topics on early aspects were discussed. The primary goal of the workshop was to focus on challenges to defining methodical software development processes for aspects from early on in the software life cycle and explore the potential of proposed methods and techniques to scale up to industrial applications

Discovery of distant high luminosity infrared galaxies

We have developed a method for selecting the most luminous galaxies detected by IRAS based on their extreme values of R, the ratio of 60 micron and B-band luminosity. These objects have optical counterparts that are close to or below the limits of Schmidt surveys. We have tested our method on a 1079 deg^2 region of sky, where we have selected a sample of IRAS sources with 60 micron flux densities greater than 0.2 Jy, corresponding to a redshift limit z~1 for objects with far-IR luminosities of 10^{13} L_sun. Optical identifications for these were obtained from the UK Schmidt Telescope plates, using the likelihood ratio method. Optical spectroscopy has been carried out to reliably identify and measure the redshifts of six objects with very faint optical counterparts, which are the only objects with R>100 in the sample. One object is a hyperluminous infrared galaxy (HyLIG) at z=0.834. Of the remaining, fainter objects, five are ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs) with a mean redshift of 0.45, higher than the highest known redshift of any non-hyperluminous ULIG prior to this study. High excitation lines reveal the presence of an active nucleus in the HyLIG, just as in the other known infrared-selected HyLIGs. In contrast, no high excitation lines are found in the non-hyperluminous ULIGs. We discuss the implications of our results for the number density of HyLIGs at z<1 and for the evolution of the infrared galaxy population out to this redshift, and show that substantial evolution is indicated. Our selection method is robust against the presence of gravitational lensing if the optical and infrared magnification factors are similar, and we suggest a way of using it to select candidate gravitationally lensed infrared galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, accepted for publication in A&

B-type natriuretic peptide-guided treatment for heart failure

Background Heart failure is a condition in which the heart does not pump enough blood to meet all the needs of the body. Symptoms of heart failure include breathlessness, fatigue and fluid retention. Outcomes for patients with heart failure are highly variable; however on average, these patients have a poor prognosis. Prognosis can be improved with early diagnosis and appropriate use of medical treatment, use of devices and transplantation. Patients with heart failure are high users of healthcare resources, not only due to drug and device treatments, but due to high costs of hospitalisation care. B‐type natriuretic peptide levels are already used as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of heart failure, but could offer to clinicians a possible tool to guide drug treatment. This could optimise drug management in heart failure patients whilst allaying concerns over potential side effects due to drug intolerance. Objectives To assess whether treatment guided by serial BNP or NT‐proBNP (collectively referred to as NP) monitoring improves outcomes compared with treatment guided by clinical assessment alone. Search methods Searches were conducted up to 15 March 2016 in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in the Cochrane Library; MEDLINE (OVID), Embase (OVID), the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) and the NHS Economic Evaluation Database in the Cochrane Library. Searches were also conducted in the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Conference Proceedings Citation Index on Web of Science (Thomson Reuters), World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry and ClinicalTrials.gov. We applied no date or language restrictions. Selection criteria We included randomised controlled trials of NP‐guided treatment of heart failure versus treatment guided by clinical assessment alone with no restriction on follow‐up. Adults treated for heart failure, in both in‐hospital and out‐of‐hospital settings, and trials reporting a clinical outcome were included. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently selected studies for inclusion, extracted data and evaluated risk of bias. Risk ratios (RR) were calculated for dichotomous data, and pooled mean differences (MD) (with 95% confidence intervals (CI)) were calculated for continuous data. We contacted trial authors to obtain missing data. Using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach, we assessed the quality of the evidence and GRADE profiler (GRADEPRO) was used to import data from Review Manager to create a 'Summary of findings' table. Main results We included 18 randomised controlled trials with 3660 participants (range of mean age: 57 to 80 years) comparing NP‐guided treatment with clinical assessment alone. The evidence for all‐cause mortality using NP‐guided treatment showed uncertainty (RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.01; patients = 3169; studies = 15; low quality of the evidence), and for heart failure mortality (RR 0.84, 95% CI 0.54 to 1.30; patients = 853; studies = 6; low quality of evidence). The evidence suggested heart failure admission was reduced by NP‐guided treatment (38% versus 26%, RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.80; patients = 1928; studies = 10; low quality of evidence), but the evidence showed uncertainty for all‐cause admission (57% versus 53%, RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.03; patients = 1142; studies = 6; low quality of evidence). Six studies reported on adverse events, however the results could not be pooled (patients = 1144; low quality of evidence). Only four studies provided cost of treatment results, three of these studies reported a lower cost for NP‐guided treatment, whilst one reported a higher cost (results were not pooled; patients = 931, low quality of evidence). The evidence showed uncertainty for quality of life data (MD ‐0.03, 95% CI ‐1.18 to 1.13; patients = 1812; studies = 8; very low quality of evidence). We completed a 'Risk of bias' assessment for all studies. The impact of risk of bias from lack of blinding of outcome assessment and high attrition levels was examined by restricting analyses to only low 'Risk of bias' studies. Authors' conclusions In patients with heart failure low‐quality evidence showed a reduction in heart failure admission with NP‐guided treatment while low‐quality evidence showed uncertainty in the effect of NP‐guided treatment for all‐cause mortality, heart failure mortality, and all‐cause admission. Uncertainty in the effect was further shown by very low‐quality evidence for patient's quality of life. The evidence for adverse events and cost of treatment was low quality and we were unable to pool results.</p

An Association to Improve Evaluation of Development Aid

This paper argues that development aid could be greatly improved if the management of development programs and projects could be governed by an effective orientation to cost-effectiveness. This in turn could substantially be achieved by changes the paper proposes to aid evaluation—through a particular kind of association—and a few lesser management reforms

Springing Ahead with Momentum!

An update from the AFN President about activities the board and membership are involved with, and upcoming events.&nbsp

Reply to Hellmut Eggers’ Comments on “An Association to Improve Evaluation of Development Aid”

I would like to thank Hellmut Eggers for his thoughtful comments on my paper. I hope we can collaborate on the project we both hold dear, improving evaluation of development aid! I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to reply to his comments

Evaluating the Cost Effectiveness of Heifer International Country Programs

Background: In the 1950s and &lsquo;60s cost effectiveness was the primary focus of evaluation of international development aid, but in recent decades this has been increasingly neglected. The most recent decade saw great interest in impact evaluation, but the step from impacts to cost effectiveness was often neglected. This article explains how a multi-year evaluation of a major international NGO that was designed to estimate country program impacts was expanded to include estimates of cost effectiveness.&nbsp; &nbsp; Purpose: The article explains the importance and illustrates the practicability of evaluation for cost effectiveness. It describes the evaluation&rsquo;s methodology and presents its major finding, that Heifer International is highly cost effective in improving the income, assets and nutrition of poor households in Albania, Nepal and Uganda. &nbsp; Setting: The article focuses mainly on the 2011 evaluation of the Heifer International country program in Uganda.&nbsp; &nbsp; Intervention: The evaluations focused on usually three to five year projects of usually a few dozen to a few hundred households, but the evaluation itself did not conduct interventions (beyond its interviews). To add evaluation of cost effectiveness, the focus was changed from the project to the household level and evaluators estimated changes in income, assets and nutrition due to the project. Estimates of income impacts were then used as the primary basis for estimating the cost effectiveness of the respective country program (although assets and nutrition were also considered). &nbsp; Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected through two and a half to three week country program evaluations by two or three evaluators and their translators. Group and household interviews were based on questionnaires, but they also required evaluators to pursue lines of inquiry to logical conclusions. Quantitative and qualitative factors were considered as a basis for impact estimates on scales from zero to five in the original evaluation and in terms of economic values for income and assets. Analysis was carried out largely with Excel spreadsheets. &nbsp; Findings: Due to Heifer International&rsquo;s expenditure of about $7 million over six years, about 8,500 Ugandan families are likely to experience income gains exceeding$8.5 million a year on an ongoing basis and asset gains of about $17 million. About 5,500 of their children are likely to avoid stunting due to nutritional shortfalls. For each$1 expenditure by country programs in Albania, Nepal and Uganda, households can be expected to gain about $2.35,$1.19 and $1.25 in the respective country programs on an ongoing basis once the projects reach the maturity profile of those included in the evaluation

Suburban and Rural Gang Presence: Preempting Violence in Response to This Shifting Threat for Hospitals

The threat of gang violence spilling over into healthcare settings has become a reality in communities of all sizes. In particular, many people still perceive suburban and rural areas as being havens from significant organized crime when they may actually be places where criminal gang activity and violence is less detectable from law enforcement. &nbsp;Additionally, lesser populated regions of the nation often have small and sometimes underfunded police departments, which can make those communities vulnerable and attractive to criminals trying to avoid larger cities with more sophisticated gang units. To deal with the potential for gang violence in the hospital setting, there is a need to understand the basics of the gang culture, related behaviors, and the continuing gang threat. The keys to a successful campaign against gang violence in a hospital setting are training and education of security and clinical staff, including coordination and cooperation with law enforcement, and proper reporting procedures and protocols

Electrical Characteristics of the Mars Electrostatic Precipitator

NASA's next generation Mars missions will include chemical processing plants to convert the Martian atmosphere into consumable products needed to support astronaut activities. The thin, mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars is estimated to have 5-10 particles/cu. cm which have a radius of 1.6-2.27 microns on average. These dust particles could potentially foul the chemical process or reduce the purity of the products. Electrostatic precipitation is one possible solution to remove dust particles from the ingested Mars atmosphere. The Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center has developed an electrostatic precipitator testbed to understand the intricacies of corona discharges in dusty flows simulating Mars atmospheric conditions. Current-voltage trends have been established for a number of precipitator flow conditions. Corona onset voltage and streamer onset voltage trends versus pressure are also established