Automating SLA-Driven API Development with SLA4OAI

The OpenAPI Specification (OAS) is the de facto standard to describe RESTful APIs from a functional perspective. OAS has been a success due to its simple model and the wide ecosystem of tools supporting the SLA-Driven API development lifecycle. Unfortunately, the current OAS scope ignores crucial information for an API such as its Service Level Agreement (SLA). Therefore, in terms of description and management of non-functional information, the disadvantages of not having a standard include the vendor lock-in and prevent the ecosystem to grow and handle extra functional aspects. In this paper, we present SLA4OAI, pioneering in extending OAS not only allowing the specification of SLAs, but also supporting some stages of the SLA-Driven API lifecycle with an open-source ecosystem. Finally, we validate our proposal having modeled 5488 limitations in 148 plans of 35 real-world APIs and show an initial interest from the industry with 600 and 1900 downloads and installs of the SLA Instrumentation Library and the SLA Engine.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-70560-RMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RTI2018-101204-B-C21Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte FPU15/0298

Fostering SLA-Driven API Specifications

Software architecture tendencies are shifting to a microservice paradigm. In this context, RESTful APIs are being established the standard of integration. API designer often identifies two key issues to be competitive in such growing market. On the one hand, the generation of accurate documentation of the behavior and capabilities of the API to promote its usage; on the other hand, the design of a pricing plan that fits into the potential API user’s needs. Besides the increasing number of API modeling alternatives is emerging, there is a lack of proposals on the definition of flexible pricing plans usually contained in the Service Level Agreements (SLAs). In this paper we propose two different modeling techniques for the description of SLA in a RESTful API context: iAgree and SLA4OAI.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-70560-RJunta de Andalucía P12-TIC-1867Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2014-53986-RED

Environmental engagement of costumer in the tourism industry

This article contributes to a better understanding of tourists’ environmental concerns, assuming that distance from the place of residence is relevant. The analysis is conducted for EU-27 countries, combining micro-data, correspond to the Flash Eurobarometer 281 drawn from the European Commission and macro-data from different international sources. Since the environmental attitudes may vary across different cultures and societies, the individuals should be nested into countries. Therefore, it is inappropriate to analyze data using traditional regression analysis. Mixed model specifically may take into account such hierarchical data structure considering simultaneously individual and contextual variables. A general finding from the estimates indicated that significant variance exists within and among nations in the level of environmental support. This finding is congruent with the necessity of simultaneously assessing the effect of individual and country levels variables on environmental support across the European countries. Additionally, this paper demonstrates that people who are actively involved in protecting the environment at home do not maintain this type of behavior when they go on vacation, which may have negative environmental consequences on destinations, albeit involuntarily. The environmental concerns of tourists when travelling domestically were around 15% higher than those travelling abroad. Additionally, the random slope variance regarding destination choice parameter is statistically significant, which allows us to explore the underpinning behind the heterogeneous pattern across countries. Our results can be of great importance to minimize the negative environmental impacts when traveling, and represents an interesting starting point to reduce the environmentally unsustainable behaviors in the tourist field

ELeCTRA: Induced Usage Limitations Calculation in RESTful APIs

As software architecture design is evolving to microservice paradigms, RESTful APIs become the building blocks of applications. In such a scenario, a growing market of APIs is proliferating and developers face the challenges to take advantage of this reality. For example, third-party APIs typically define different usage limitations depending on the purchased Service Level Agreement (SLA) and, consequently, performing a manual analysis of external APIs and their impact in a microservice architecture is a complex and tedious task. In this demonstration paper, we present ELeCTRA, a tool to automate the analysis of induced usage limitations in an API, derived from its usage of external APIs. This tool takes the structural, conversational and SLA specifications of the API, generates a visual dependency graph and translates the problem into a constraint satisfaction optimization problem (CSOP) to obtain the optimal usage limitations.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-70560-RJunta de Andalucía P12–TIC–1867Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2014-53986-REDTMinisterio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte FPU15/0298

Prediction of factors that affect the knowledge and use higher education professors from spain make of ict resources to teach, evaluate and research: A study with research methods in educational technology

Due to the rise of new technologies, further development of digital competence by professors is necessary. The aim of this paper is to know the pedagogical digital competence of lecturers in Spain, focused on a model called PDC-TER: ICT resources to Teach, to Evaluate and to Research; as well as to predict those variables that affect the level of this competence through different regressions (Multiple Linear Regression, MLR). A study has been carried out in the Spanish territory, with a total of 867 lecturers. For it, an ex post facto non-probabilistic study based on the survey technique has been proposed. The results show that the professors have an average level of digital pedagogical competence, while in the 2.0 tools for teaching and research dimensions, it has a medium high level of competence, as well as a medium level in relation to the use of tools 2.0 for the evaluation. Furthermore, one of the variables predictive of the level of digital competence in the three dimensions of the PDC-TER model, is the number of research and innovation projects in which they have participated. These data highlight the need to improve the digital competence of professors in order to meet the demands of the qualified professions of the future, and therefore, prepare students for it

Encouraging A Gender Perspective in Science Education: A Learning Experience for Pre-Service Early Childhood Education Teachers

This work describes and evaluates a learning experience whose aim was to encourage pre-service early childhood education teachers to consider aspects of gender in science education and to begin acquiring the skills needed to design teaching strategies that promote children’s awareness of these aspects. Participants were 56 pre-service teachers whose task was to design workshops on science topics in which women scientists have made key contributions. At the outset, some of the participants showed little inclination to consider aspects of gender in the science classroom, and others did not contemplate that science and gender could be addressed in an integrated way. It was also apparent that the pre-service teachers lacked the skills needed to design activities that encompassed both scientific content and aspects of gender. Overall, the subsequent learning experience appears to have had a positive impact, although we suggest certain refinements that could lead to more satisfactory outcomes

Encouraging a Gender Perspective in Science Education: A Learning Experience for Pre-Service Early Childhood Education Teachers

Gender bias in science should be made visible to the pre-service teachers and those pre-service teachers should be given tools to implicitly counter that gender bias. One way to do this may be by simply including more female scientists together with male scientists in the teaching approaches, rather than the norm of predominantly including males. This work describes and evaluates a learning experience in which the aim was to encourage pre-service early childhood education teachers to consider aspects of gender in science education and to begin acquiring the skills needed to design teaching strategies that promote these aspects. Participants were 56 pre-service teachers whose task was to design workshops on science topics in which women scientists have made key contributions. At the outset, some of the participants showed little inclination to consider aspects of gender in the science classroom, and others did not contemplate that science and gender could be addressed in an integrated way. It was also apparent that the pre-service teachers lacked the skills needed to design activities that encompassed both scientific content and aspects of gender. Overall, the subsequent learning experience appears to have had a positive impact, although we suggest certain refinements that could lead to more satisfactory outcomes

Appreciation of the acquisition of professional skills in the Practicum through the student learning contract: Degree of Pedagogy case

En este trabajo se aborda la evaluación de una experiencia innovadora de adquisición y desarrollo de competencias profesionales en el prácticum, teniendo como referente el contrato de aprendizaje. La experiencia implica la construcción de un proyecto consensuado con los centros de prácticas, donde se definen las competencias que van a ponerse en juego en los distintos escenarios prácticos. Se enfoca la experiencia innovadora desde un estudio descriptivo-exploratorio a través de un método mixto secuencial, donde el método cuantitativo ha precedido a la utilización de un método cualitativo. Nos hemos basado en un diseño de investigación evaluativa de estudio de caso (estudios de Pedagogía UAB). Los resultados obtenidos indican que los estudiantes tienen una valoración de activación y desarrollo de las competencias de su perfil profesional bastante aceptable en las competencias genérico-transversales, con similar valoración para cada una de ellas y manteniéndose constante a lo largo de los tres cursos analizados. No obstante, también se verifica que la valoración respecto de las competencias específicas es desigual, situándose en un nivel medio. Se concluye que estas diferencias son debidas fundamentalmente a la tipología de prácticum y los tipos de centros que posibilitan una u otra posible activación-desarrollo competencial. Igualmente se concluye que existe un desequilibrio entre lo que se activa-desarrolla y se debería activar en las competencias específicas. Por tanto, se evidencia la necesidad de incrementar la activación de las competencias específicas en todas sus funciones (evaluación, diseño, desarrollo, gestión e investigación-innovación)The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an innovative experience in the acquisition and development of professional competences in the practicum, taking the learning contract as reference. It needs a draft decision agreed by the work-practice centres, where the competences to be analysed in different case scenarios are to be defined. The innovative experience is focused from a descriptive exploratory study through a mixed sequential approach, where the quantitative approach precedes the qualitative one. It has been based on a case study (UAB Pedagogy studies). The results show that the students have a quite acceptable activation assessment and development of their professional profile competences regarding the generic-transversal competences, with a similar assessment for each of those competences keeping stable during the three analysed years. However, it can also be verified that the assessment of the specific competences is uneven, in a medium level. It concludes that those differences are mainly due to the type of practicum and the type of centres, which enable different possible activation and development of competences. It also concludes that there is no balance between what is activated and developed, and what should be activated in the specific competencies. Therefore, there is evidence of the need to increase the activation of specific competences in all their functions (evaluation, design, development, management and research-innovation

El desarrollo y la gestión de competencias profesionales : una mirada desde la formación

El artículo plantea el papel de la formación en los procesos de gestión de las competencias profesionales. Para ello, se parte de un análisis situacional y conceptual de las competencias profesionales relacionándolas con las capacidades y con el contexto, destacando dos dimensiones fundamentales: la personal y la social de las competencias. Reparando en la gestión y presentando los elementos clave en el tratamiento de las competencias, se destaca el papel de la formación en el desarrollo y en la gestión de las competencias profesionales especificando aspectos clave para su desarroll