Costs and benefits of multiple levels of models in MDA development

In Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) development, models of a distributed application are carefully defined so as to remain stable in face of changes in technology platforms. As we have argued previously in [1, 3], models in MDA can be organized into different levels of platformindependence. In this paper, we analyze the costs and benefits of maintaining separate levels of models with transformations between these levels. We argue that the number of levels of models and the degree of automation of transformations between these levels depend on a number of design goals to be balanced, including those of maximizing the efficiency of the design process and maximizing the reusability of models and transformations

Abstract Platform and Transformations for Model-Driven Service-Oriented Development

In this paper, we discuss the use of abstract platforms and transformation for designing applications according to the principles of the service-oriented architecture. We illustrate our approach by discussing the use of the service discovery pattern at a platform-independent design level. We show how a trader service can be specified at a high-level of abstraction and incorporated in an abstract platform for service-oriented development. Designers can then build platform-independent models of applications by composing application parts with this abstract platform. Application parts can use the trader service to publish and discover service offers. We discuss how the abstract platform can be realized into two target platforms, namely Web Services (with UDDI) and CORBA (with the OMG trader)

Spatial variability of soil properties and soil erodibility in the Alqueva reservoir watershed

The aim of this work is to investigate how the spatial variability of soil properties and soil erodibility (K factor) were affected by the changes in land use allowed by irrigation with water from a reservoir in a semiarid area. To this end, three areas representative of different land uses (agroforestry grassland, lucerne crop and olive orchard) were studied within a 900 ha farm. The interrelationships between variables were analyzed by multivariate techniques and extrapolated using geostatistics. The results confirmed differences between land uses for all properties analyzed, which was explained mainly by the existence of diverse management practices (tillage, fertilization and irrigation), vegetation cover and local soil characteristics. Soil organic matter, clay and nitrogen content decreased significantly, while the K factor increased with intensive cultivation. The HJ-Biplot methodology was used to represent the variation of soil erodibility properties grouped in land uses. Native grassland was the least correlated with the other land uses. The K factor demonstrated high correlation mainly with very fine sand and silt. The maps produced with geostatistics were crucial to understand the current spatial variability in the Alqueva region. Facing the intensification of land-use conversion, a sustainable management is needed to introduce protective measures to control soil erosion

Efeitos da aplicação de herbicida, manejo de solo e semeadura direta para a restauração de área savânica na Floresta Nacional de Brasília

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Ecologia, 2019.A restauração de campos e savanas é negligenciada em todo o mundo com o uso de práticas voltadas para ambientes florestais. Especialmente nos trópicos, faltam técnicas que também contemplem o estrato herbáceo para restaurar esses ecossistemas não-florestais. Realizamos um experimento para restaurar uma savana usando semeadura direta com alta densidade de sementes de árvores e subarbustos de crescimento rápido testando diferentes níveis de manejo do solo e herbicida para o controle de gramíneas exóticas no Brasil Central. Fizemos um desenho experimental fatorial que combinou três níveis de manejo do solo (três, seis ou nove gradagens) e três níveis de aplicação de herbicidas (nenhum, uma ou duas) após a semeadura, além do controle. Medimos a cobertura do solo por espécies nativas e exóticas e necromassa. Avaliamos a riqueza e o crescimento das árvores ao final da primeira e segunda estações chuvosas após a semeadura. O herbicida reduziu a cobertura de gramíneas exóticas, aumentando a cobertura vegetal nativa semeada. Espécies nativas semeadas em alta densidade de sementes foram eficazes em fornecer cobertura extensiva do solo, especialmente quando em baixa cobertura de gramíneas exóticas. Parcelas sem aplicação de herbicida apresentaram maior cobertura de plantas nativas no manejo mais intenso do solo. A maior riqueza de espécies arbóreas foi encontrada no nível moderado de manejo do solo (seis gradagens). Há grande variação para as respostas iniciais em áreas restauradas utilizando a semeadura direta em savanas neotropicais, o que evidencia a importância do desenvolvimento de estratégias que permitam o ganho de escala da restauração considerando o estrato herbáceo.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).Restoration of old-growth grasslands and savannas is worldwide neglected with the use of practices aimed at forest environments. Especially in the tropics, there is a lack of techniques that also contemplate the herbaceous layer to restore these non-forest ecosystems. We conducted an experiment to restore a savanna using direct seeding with high seed density of trees and fast-growing subshrubs testing different levels of soil management and herbicide for control of exotic grasses in a Neotropical savanna, in Central Brazil. We applied a factorial experimental design combining three levels of soil plowing (three, six or nine plowings) and three levels of herbicide application (none, one or two) after sowing, in addition to the control. We measured soil cover by native and exotic species and necromass. We evaluated trees richness and growth at the end of the first and second rainy seasons after sowing. Herbicide reduced the coverage of exotic grasses, boosting the native vegetation cover sowed. Native species sowed in high seed density were effective in providing extensive soil cover, especially under low exotic grass cover. Plots with no herbicide application presented greater native plants cover under more intense soil management. The greatest tree richness was found in the moderate soil management level (six plowings). There is great variation for the initial responses in restored areas using direct seeding in Neotropical savannas, which highlights the importance in developing strategies that allow upscaling restoration considering the herbaceous layer

The role of the RM-ODP computational viewpoint concepts in the MDA approach

An MDA design approach should be able to accommodate designs at different levels of platform-independence. We have proposed a design approach previously (in [2]), which allows these levels to be identified. An important feature of this approach is the notion of abstract platform. An abstract platform is determined by the platform characteristics that are relevant for applications at a certain level of platform-independence, and must be established by considering various design goals. In this paper, we define a framework that makes it possible to use RM-ODP concepts in our MDA design approach. This framework allows a recursive application of the computational viewpoint at different levels of platform-independence. This is obtained by equating the RM-ODP notion of infrastructure to our notion of abstract platform

The role of the service concept in model-driven applications development

This paper identifies two paradigms that have influenced the design of distributed applications: the middleware-centred and the protocol-centred paradigm, and proposes a combined use of these two paradigms. This combined use incorporates major benefits from both paradigms: the ability to reuse middleware infrastructures and the ability to treat distributed coordination aspects as a separate object of design through the use of the service concept. A careful consideration of the service concept, and its recursive application, allows us to define an appropriate and precise notion of platform-independence that suits the needs of model-driven middleware application development

Musiquence – Design, Implementation and Validation of a Customizable Music and Reminiscence Cognitive Stimulation Platform for People with Dementia

Dementia is a neurodegenerative disease that affects millions of individuals worldwide and is challenging to diagnose as symptoms may only perceivable decades later. The disease leads to a gradual loss of memory, learning, orientation, language, and comprehension skills, which compromises activities of daily living. Health-related costs caused by dementia will continue to increase over the next few years; between the years 2005 and 2009, an increase of 34% (from $315 to$422 billion worldwide) was observed in treating dementia-related issues. Pharmaceutical approaches have been developed to treat dementia symptoms; unfortunately, the risk of side effects is high. For this reason, nonpharmaceutical methods such as music and reminiscence therapies have gained acceptance as patients with dementia positively respond to such approaches even at later stages of the disease. Nevertheless, further research is needed to understand how music and reminiscence therapy should be used and to quantify their impact on individuals with dementia. The development of serious games has gained attention as an alternative approach to stimulate patients. However, the clinical impact that serious games have on individuals with dementia is still unclear. In this dissertation, we contribute with new knowledge regarding the usage of music and reminiscence approaches in people with dementia through a theoretical model. Based on Baddeley’s working memory model, our model aims to explain how the therapeutic properties of music and reminiscence can have a beneficial effect. To test our model, we developed a novel interactive platform called Musiquence, in which healthcare professionals can create music and reminiscence based cognitive activities to stimulate people with dementia. In this dissertation, we present the results from several studies about the usage and effects that music and reminiscence have on such a population. We performed two studies using Musiquence to study the feasibility of a novel learning method based on musical feedback to aid people with dementia during task performance in virtual reality settings. Results show that participants relied more on music-based feedback during the task performance of virtual reality activities than in other forms of feedback. Also, data suggest that the music-based feedback system can improve task performance, compensating for some dementia-related deficits. We also used Musiquence in a longitudinal one-month-long pilot study to assess its efficacy when used for a cognitive stimulation intervention in dementia patients. The results of the study are promising. The 3 participants showed improvements in terms of general cognition, quality of life, mood, and verbal fluency

“It’s a visceral connection”

Agroecosystems are valued by the provision of utilitarian services that satisfy human needs and by their non-utilitarian ascribed ecological, sociocultural or intrinsic values. Nowadays, a delicate situation of decrease of population and the fragile generational renewal comprises the risk of loss of cultural landscapes in many European rural communities. Farm animals play an important role in these systems as ecosystem service providers, particularly autochthonous breeds, which play a special role in biodiversity conservation and in the preservation of unique cultural identities of communities. However, animal farming is a particularly susceptible agricultural sector when it comes to the aging process, as young farmers are less interested in it. Focusing on a depopulated rural region in the northeast of Portugal, the purpose of this study was to explore the processes that drove young animal farmers to breed autochthonous animals, and the extent to which their motivations are influenced by the identification of their role in the provision of ecosystem services, and/or by the characteristics of the human-animal interactions established. The results showed the importance of family legacies as motivating factor, and, in contrast, when that is not present, the hampering factors related with difficult access to land mainly due to social factors and bureaucratic constraints of the young farmer’s project support measures. It seems that to raise autochthonous animals is only economically doable due to agricultural pluriactivity and/or by maintaining other non-farming primary jobs. However, cultural services related to human-animal relations, like the preference for certain aesthetic features of a breed, the acquired social status and identity as a breeder, the pleasure for the act of caring and the connection with natural phenomena, played a relevant role in the processes of choosing to raise these animals. These emotional drivers showed to have a great importance in the choice and permanence of young farmers in farming autochthonous breeds in a less favoured region. Development plans aimed at reversing depopulation and ageing rural communities, while maintaining the cultural landscape, may benefit from considering these aspects in their structure and action programme