CSM-424- Evolutionary Complexity: Investigations into Software Flexibility

Flexibility has been hailed as a desirable quality since the earliest days of software engineering. Classic and modern literature suggest that particular programming paradigms, architectural styles and design patterns are more “flexible” than others but stop short of suggesting objective criteria for measuring such claims. We suggest that flexibility can be measured by applying notions of measurement from computational complexity to the software evolution process. We define evolution complexity (EC) metrics, and demonstrate that— (a) EC can be used to establish informal claims on software flexibility; (b) EC can be constant ����or linear� in the size of the change; (c) EC can be used to choose the most flexible software design policy. We describe a small-scale experiment designed to test these claims

Квир-лингвистика: нужна ли она отечественной лингвистической гендерологии?

Статья посвящена квир-лингвистике как новому магистральному направлению развития современной парадигмы гендерных исследований. Подробно разбирается концептуальный аппарат этого направления. Описывается попытка изучения фрагментов языкового сознания носителей русского языка с учетом квир-фактора.Стаття присвячена квір-лінгвістиці як новому магістральному напрямку в розвитку сучасної парадигми гендерних досліджень. Докладно розбирається концептуальний апарат цього напрямку. Описується спроба вивчення фрагментів мовної свідомості носіїв російської мови з урахуванням квір-фактору.The article is targeted at a new discipline in the area of gender and language research – queer linguistics. The conceptual linguistic apparatus and terminology are discussed. The study of verbal responses obtained from Russian –speaking informants (gays and lesbians) as a linguistic construal of their world is analyzed

Methods and tools supporting urban resilience planning: experiences from Cork, Ireland

To prevent flood disasters, policymakers call for resilient cities which are better able to cope with flood hazards. However, actual adoption of resilience measures in urban planning is still limited, partly because it is not sufficiently clear how and to what extent resilience should and can be enhanced. To develop resilience strategies, information on the current resilience and on the effects of measures should be available. Since cities are complex systems, an assessment of resilience requires the input of different actors. To obtain and combine this input, a comprehensive approach which brings together many actors is required. Furthermore, resilience must be integrated in planning frameworks in order to enhance adoption by city policy makers. Tools which support and structure the contribution of different disciplines and actors will help to obtain information on the current resilience and to develop a shared vision on measures to enhance urban resilience. We illustrate our view with an example on Cork, Ireland

Refactoring preserves security

Refactoring allows changing a program without changing its behaviour from an observer’s point of view. To what extent does this invariant of behaviour also preserve security? We show that a program remains secure under refactoring. As a foundation, we use the Decentralized Label Model (DLM) for specifying secure information flows of programs and transition system models for their observable behaviour. On this basis, we provide a bisimulation based formal definition of refactoring and show its correspondence to the formal notion of information flow security (noninterference). This permits us to show security of refactoring patterns that have already been practically explored

Systematic review and meta-analysis: rapid diagnostic tests versus placental histology, microscopy and PCR for malaria in pregnant women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During pregnancy, malaria infection with <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>or <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>is related to adverse maternal health and poor birth outcomes. Diagnosis of malaria, during pregnancy, is complicated by the absence or low parasite densities in peripheral blood. Diagnostic methods, other than microscopy, are needed for detection of placental malaria. Therefore, the diagnostic accuracy of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), detecting antigen, and molecular techniques (PCR), detecting DNA, for the diagnosis of <it>Plasmodium </it>infections in pregnancy was systematically reviewed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science were searched for studies assessing the diagnostic accuracy of RDTs, PCR, microscopy of peripheral and placental blood and placental histology for the detection of malaria infection (all species) in pregnant women.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results of 49 studies were analysed in metandi (Stata), of which the majority described <it>P. falciparum </it>infections. Although both placental and peripheral blood microscopy cannot reliably replace histology as a reference standard for placental <it>P. falciparum </it>infection, many studies compared RDTs and PCR to these tests. The proportion of microscopy positives in placental blood (sensitivity) detected by peripheral blood microscopy, RDTs and PCR are respectively 72% [95% CI 62-80], 81% [95% CI 55-93] and 94% [95% CI 86-98]. The proportion of placental blood microscopy negative women that were negative in peripheral blood microscopy, RDTs and PCR (specificity) are 98% [95% CI 95-99], 94% [95% CI 76-99] and 77% [95% CI 71-82]. Based on the current data, it was not possible to determine if the false positives in RDTs and PCR are caused by sequestered parasites in the placenta that are not detected by placental microscopy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings suggest that RDTs and PCR may have good performance characteristics to serve as alternatives for the diagnosis of malaria in pregnancy, besides any other limitations and practical considerations concerning the use of these tests. Nevertheless, more studies with placental histology as reference test are urgently required to reliably determine the accuracy of RDTs and PCR for the diagnosis of placental malaria. <it>P. vivax</it>-infections have been neglected in diagnostic test accuracy studies of malaria in pregnancy.</p

Generic Model Refactorings

Many modeling languages share some common concepts and principles. For example, Java, MOF, and UML share some aspects of the concepts\ud of classes, methods, attributes, and inheritance. However, model\ud transformations such as refactorings specified for a given language\ud cannot be readily reused for another language because their related\ud metamodels may be structurally different. Our aim is to enable a\ud flexible reuse of model transformations across various metamodels.\ud Thus, in this paper, we present an approach allowing the specification\ud of generic model transformations, in particular refactorings, so\ud that they can be applied to different metamodels. Our approach relies\ud on two mechanisms: (1) an adaptation based mainly on the weaving\ud of aspects; (2) the notion of model typing, an extension of object\ud typing in the model-oriented context. We validated our approach by\ud performing some experiments that consisted of specifying three well\ud known refactorings (Encapsulate Field, Move Method, and Pull Up Method)\ud and applying each of them onto three different metamodels (Java,\ud MOF, and UML)

Negotiating daughterhood and strangerhood: retrospective accounts of serial migration

Most considerations of daughtering and mothering take for granted that the subjectivities of mothers and daughters are negotiated in contexts of physical proximity throughout daughters’ childhoods. Yet many mothers and daughters spend periods separated from each other, sometimes across national borders. Globally, an increasing number of children experience life in transnational families. This paper examines the retrospective narratives of four women who were serial migrants as children (whose parents migrated before they did) . It focuses on their accounts of the reunion with their mothers and how these fit with the ways in which they construct their mother-daughter relationships. We take a psychosocial approach by using a psychoanalytically-informed reading of these narratives to acknowledge the complexities of the attachments produced in the context of migration and to attend to the multi-layered psychodynamics of the resulting relationships. The paper argues that serial migration positioned many of the daughters in a conflictual emotional landscape from which they had to negotiate ‘strangerhood’ in the context of sadness at leaving people to whom they were attached in order to join their mothers (or parents). As a result, many were resistant to being positioned as daughters, doing daughtering and being mothered in their new homes