Variability Features: Extending Sustainability Decision Maps via an Industrial Case Study

Over the years, various thinking frameworks have been developed to address sustainability as a quality property of software-intensive systems. Notwithstanding, which quality concerns should be selected in practice that have a significant impact on sustainability remains a challenge.In this experience report, we propose the notion of variability features, i.e., specific software features which are implemented in a number of possible alternative variants, each with a potentially different impact on sustainability. We extended sustainability decision maps to incorporate these variability features into an already existing thinking framework.Our findings were derived from a qualitative case study and evaluated in an industrial context. Data was collected by analysing a real-world application and conducting working sessions together with expert interviews.The variability features allowed us to identify and evaluate alternative usage scenarios of one real-world software-intensive system, enabling data-driven sustainability choices and suggestions for professional practices. By providing concrete measurements, we can support software architects at design time, and decision makers towards achieving sustainability goals

Beispielhafte Anwendung des Verfahrens BASINFORM am Wasserkörper Emsbach (Hessen) zur Aufstellung von Maßnahmenprogrammen nach Wasserrahmenrichtlinie

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Corynebacterium lipophiloflavum sp. nov. isolated from a patient with bacterial vaginosis

A unique coryneform bacterium was isolated from a patient with bacterial vaginosis. Chemotaxonomical investigations demonstrated that the unknown bacterium belonged to the genus Corynebacterium. The yellow-pigmented, slightly lipophilic, oxidative, urea-hydrolyzing bacterium could be phenotypically readily differentiated from the other members of the genus Corynebacterium. Comparative 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed that the bacterium represented a new subline within the genus Corynebacterium for which the name Corynebacterium lipophiloflavum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CCUG 37336 (DSM 44291

Solar forcing for CMIP6 (v3.2)

Abstract. This paper describes the recommended solar forcing dataset for CMIP6 and highlights changes with respect to CMIP5. The solar forcing is provided for radiative properties, namely total solar irradiance (TSI), solar spectral irradiance (SSI), and the F10.7 index as well as particle forcing, including geomagnetic indices Ap and Kp, and ionization rates to account for effects of solar protons, electrons, and galactic cosmic rays. This is the first time that a recommendation for solar-driven particle forcing has been provided for a CMIP exercise. The solar forcing datasets are provided at daily and monthly resolution separately for the CMIP6 preindustrial control, historical (1850–2014), and future (2015–2300) simulations. For the preindustrial control simulation, both constant and time-varying solar forcing components are provided, with the latter including variability on 11-year and shorter timescales but no long-term changes. For the future, we provide a realistic scenario of what solar behavior could be, as well as an additional extreme Maunder-minimum-like sensitivity scenario. This paper describes the forcing datasets and also provides detailed recommendations as to their implementation in current climate models

Reachability in Dynamical Systems with Rounding

We consider reachability in dynamical systems with discrete linear updates, but with fixed digital precision, i.e., such that values of the system are rounded at each step. Given a matrix $M \in \mathbb{Q}^{d \times d}$, an initial vector $x\in\mathbb{Q}^{d}$, a granularity $g\in \mathbb{Q}_+$ and a rounding operation $[\cdot]$ projecting a vector of $\mathbb{Q}^{d}$ onto another vector whose every entry is a multiple of $g$, we are interested in the behaviour of the orbit $\mathcal{O}={}$, i.e., the trajectory of a linear dynamical system in which the state is rounded after each step. For arbitrary rounding functions with bounded effect, we show that the complexity of deciding point-to-point reachability---whether a given target $y \in\mathbb{Q}^{d}$ belongs to $\mathcal{O}$---is PSPACE-complete for hyperbolic systems (when no eigenvalue of $M$ has modulus one). We also establish decidability without any restrictions on eigenvalues for several natural classes of rounding functions.Comment: To appear at FSTTCS'2