195 research outputs found
An Empirical Study of a Repeatable Method for Reengineering Procedural Software Systems to Object- Oriented Systems
This paper describes a repeatable method for reengineering a procedural
system to an object-oriented system. The method uses coupling metrics to assist a domain
expert in identifying candidate objects. An application of the method to a simple program
is given, and the effectiveness of the various coupling metrics are discussed. We perform
a detailed comparison of our repeatable method with an ad hoc, manual reengineering
effort based on the same procedural program. The repeatable method was found to be
effective for identifying objects. It produced code that was much smaller, more efficient,
and passed more regression tests than the ad hoc method. Analysis of object-oriented
metrics indicated both simpler code and less variability among classes for the repeatable
method
VIRGO sensitivity to binary coalescences and the Population III black hole binaries
We analyze the properties of VIRGO detector with the aim of studying its
ability to search for coalescing black hole binaries. We focus on the remnants
of the Population III stars, which currently should be massive black holes
(), some of them bound in binary systems. The
coalescence of such binaries due to emission of gravitational waves may be
currently observable. We use a binary population synthesis to model the
evolution of Population III binaries. We calculate the signal to noise ratios
of gravitational waves emitted by the system in each of the coalescence phase:
inspiral, merger and ringdown, and provide simple formulae for the signal to
noise ratio as a function of masses of the binaries. We estimate the detection
rates for the VIRGO interferometer and also compare them with the estimates for
the current LIGO. We show that these expected rates are similar to, or larger
than the expected rates from coalescences of Population I and II compact object
binaries.Comment: sumbitted to A&
Kinetics of biodegradation of diethylketone by Arthrobacter viscosus
The performance of an Arthrobacter
viscosus culture to remove diethylketone from aqueous
solutions was evaluated. The effect of initial
concentration of diethylketone on the growth of the
bacteria was evaluated for the range of concentration
between 0 and 4.8 g/l, aiming to evaluate a possible
toxicological effect. The maximum specific growth
rate achieved is 0.221 h-1 at 1.6 g/l of initial
diethylketone concentration, suggesting that for
higher concentrations an inhibitory effect on the
growth occurs. The removal percentages obtained
were approximately 88%, for all the initial concentrations
tested. The kinetic parameters were estimated
using four growth kinetic models for biodegradation
of organic compounds available in the literature. The
experimental data found is well fitted by the Haldane
model (R2 = 1) as compared to Monod model
(R2 = 0.99), Powell (R2 = 0.82) and Loung model
(R2 = 0.95). The biodegradation of diethylketone
using concentrated biomass was studied for an initial
diethylketone concentration ranging from 0.8–3.9 g/l
in a batch with recirculation mode of operation. The
biodegradation rate found followed the pseudo-second
order kinetics and the resulting kinetic parameters
are reported. The removal percentages obtained
were approximately 100%, for all the initial concentrations
tested, suggesting that the increment on the
biomass concentration allows better results in terms
of removal of diethylketone. This study showed that
these bacteria are very effective for the removal of
diethylketone from aqueous solutions.The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support of this project by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), Ministerio da Ciencia e Tecnologia, Portugal and Fundo Social Europeu (FSE). Cristina Quintelas thanks FCT for a Post-Doc grant
Performance Analysis of Spillover-Partitioning Call Admission Control in Mobile Wireless Networks
Women's Education Level, Maternal Health Facilities, Abortion Legislation and Maternal Deaths: A Natural Experiment in Chile from 1957 to 2007
The aim of this study was to assess the main factors related to maternal mortality reduction in large time series available in Chile in context of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).Time series of maternal mortality ratio (MMR) from official data (National Institute of Statistics, 1957-2007) along with parallel time series of education years, income per capita, fertility rate (TFR), birth order, clean water, sanitary sewer, and delivery by skilled attendants were analysed using autoregressive models (ARIMA). Historical changes on the mortality trend including the effect of different educational and maternal health policies implemented in 1965, and legislation that prohibited abortion in 1989 were assessed utilizing segmented regression techniques.During the 50-year study period, the MMR decreased from 293.7 to 18.2/100,000 live births, a decrease of 93.8%. Women's education level modulated the effects of TFR, birth order, delivery by skilled attendants, clean water, and sanitary sewer access. In the fully adjusted model, for every additional year of maternal education there was a corresponding decrease in the MMR of 29.3/100,000 live births. A rapid phase of decline between 1965 and 1981 (-13.29/100,000 live births each year) and a slow phase between 1981 and 2007 (-1.59/100,000 live births each year) were identified. After abortion was prohibited, the MMR decreased from 41.3 to 12.7 per 100,000 live births (-69.2%). The slope of the MMR did not appear to be altered by the change in abortion law.Increasing education level appears to favourably impact the downward trend in the MMR, modulating other key factors such as access and utilization of maternal health facilities, changes in women's reproductive behaviour and improvements of the sanitary system. Consequently, different MDGs can act synergistically to improve maternal health. The reduction in the MMR is not related to the legal status of abortion
Metagenomic Analysis of Respiratory Tract DNA Viral Communities in Cystic Fibrosis and Non-Cystic Fibrosis Individuals
The human respiratory tract is constantly exposed to a wide variety of viruses, microbes and inorganic particulates from environmental air, water and food. Physical characteristics of inhaled particles and airway mucosal immunity determine which viruses and microbes will persist in the airways. Here we present the first metagenomic study of DNA viral communities in the airways of diseased and non-diseased individuals. We obtained sequences from sputum DNA viral communities in 5 individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 5 individuals without the disease. Overall, diversity of viruses in the airways was low, with an average richness of 175 distinct viral genotypes. The majority of viral diversity was uncharacterized. CF phage communities were highly similar to each other, whereas Non-CF individuals had more distinct phage communities, which may reflect organisms in inhaled air. CF eukaryotic viral communities were dominated by a few viruses, including human herpesviruses and retroviruses. Functional metagenomics showed that all Non-CF viromes were similar, and that CF viromes were enriched in aromatic amino acid metabolism. The CF metagenomes occupied two different metabolic states, probably reflecting different disease states. There was one outlying CF virome which was characterized by an over-representation of Guanosine-5′-triphosphate,3′-diphosphate pyrophosphatase, an enzyme involved in the bacterial stringent response. Unique environments like the CF airway can drive functional adaptations, leading to shifts in metabolic profiles. These results have important clinical implications for CF, indicating that therapeutic measures may be more effective if used to change the respiratory environment, as opposed to shifting the taxonomic composition of resident microbiota
Men’s attitudes on gender equality and their contraceptive use in Uttar Pradesh India
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