Supporting software maintenance with non-functional information

The paper highlights the role of non functional information (about efficiency, reliability and other software attributes) of software components in software maintenance, focusing in the component programming framework. Non functional information is encapsulated in modules bound to both definitions and implementations of software components and it is written as expressions in a classical programming language. It is shown with an example how this notation supports software maintenance, with the help of an algorithm which is able to select the best implementation of a software component in its context of use, meaning byPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

More class time, better achievement?

Spanish press has widely criticized the fact that students spend almost their whole day at school, a practice rooted in the common belief that higher instruction time enhances students’ learning. However, in spite of this high amount of instruction time that Spanish students are receiving, their results do not seem to outstand in comparison with other countries with similar or lower instruction time. In this context, this research intends to accomplish two main objectives: the first one is to check if the amount of instruction time received by 15 year-old Spanish students actually affects their academic achievement. The second one intends to analyse if this potential influence of instruction time may be affecting Spanish Autonomous Communities in different ways, as each one is responsible for setting instruction time in its own region. In order to accomplish these objectives, the methodology employed let us isolate the effect of instruction time from other covariates by using students’ fixed effects by subject, using PISA 2009 and 2012 data. Results have shown that there is not any effect of instruction time on academic achievement, being this conclusion extended to every Autonomous Community in Spain. Further checks have corroborated the robustness of these results and have also highlighted that the effect of instruction time is a question of quality more than quantity, as students’ engagement and the classroom climate during lessons may be causing differences in academic achievement, rather than the amount of instruction time per se.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The value of the fine structure constant over cosmological times

The optical spectra of objects classified as QSOs in the SDSS DR6 are analyzed with the aim of determining the value of the fine structure constant in the past and then check for possible changes in the constant over cosmological timescales. The analysis is done by measuring the position of the fine structure lines of the [OIII] doublet (4959 and 5008) in QSO nebular emission. From the sample of QSOs at redshifts z < 0.8 a subsample was selected on the basis of the amplitude and width of the [OIII] lines. Two different method were used to determine the position of the lines of the [OIII] doublet, both giving similar results. Using a clean sample containing 1568 of such spectra, a value of Delta alpha /alpha=(+2.4 +-2.5) x 10^{-5} (in the range of redshifts 0-0.8) was determined. The use of a larger number of spectra allows a factor ~5 improvement on previous constraints based on the same method. On the whole, we find no evidence of changes in alpha on such cosmological timescales. The mean variation compatible with our results is 1/ Delta alpha/alpha=(+0.7 +- 0.7) x 10^{-14} yr^{-1}. The analysis was extended to the [NeIII] and [SII] doublets, although their usefulness is limited due to the fact that all these doublets in QSOs tend to be fainter than [OIII], and that some of them are affected by systematics.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

Are early writers and readers more successful than their counterparts?

There exists an increasing number of scientific contributions focused on the influence of the attendance to early childhood and/or preprimary education on the future academic track of the students, which employ the quarter of birth of the student as a proxy for infants’ maturity. The present work goes a step further by employing information on the precise time when children begin to exhibit the basic competences (reading and writing), controlling by the effect of the quarter of birth, for andalusian students aged 10-11 and 14-15. This study uses descriptive analysis as starting point to specify multivariate estimates for the age at which the student began to read and write, together with students’ quarter of birth. Moreover, the effect of these variables on the likelihood of repeating a course has also been analyzed. Results show that the quarter of birth and the age when the student began to read and write affect students’ early academic achievement –primary education– and the likelihood of repeating, but this effect is weakened once non-repeaters reach age 14-15. In addition, students from households where parents have a low level of education present a late start in beginning to read and write and, thus, lower achievement than their older counterparts. This highlights the need to increase the investments in public early education for students living in this kind of families –by increasing the supply of public early education places and scholarships–, so they can develop these competences as soon as possible. This kind of interventions could have a relevant role in fostering higher social mobility.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech; Andalusian Regional Ministry of Innovation, Science and Employment [PAI group SEJ-532 and Excellence Project SEJ-2727]; the Research Plan of the University of Malaga (Capacity Building Programme I+D+i of Universities 2014-2015) and by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain [Research Project ECO2014-56397-P]

The influence of gender and social roles on academic achievement

The analysis of the influence of certain social aspects across countries on gender differences in educational achievement has gained a great relevance. In this research the main objective is to deepen into the knowledge of these cultural factors. In order to accomplish this aim, international data from many countries has been used, grouped into education system characteristics, child qualities supported socially, views and opinions on gender roles, and risk-aversion attitudes. The empirical analysis carried out has shown that it is necessary to foster entrepreneurship attitudes during students’ tertiary education, with special emphasis on girls, as they are more affected by gender stereotypes and risk-aversion in comparison to boys. In spite of the existence of unexplained gender differences, individual and country-level factors may have a different effect on the academic achievement of boys and girls.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Partial extinction did not diminish spontaneous recovery after 24-hour retention interval

Fear extinction is not permanent but it may suffer from different forms of relapse. One strategy potentially useful to diminish relapse is the partial extinction treatment, according to which, extinction may be potentiated if a gradual and sparse number of CS-US pairings are introduced within the extinction treatment. The present study, using a differential fear conditioning paradigm, tries to evaluate the efficacy of partial extinction to reduce a specific form of relapse, spontaneous recovery, after a 24 h. retention interval. The results showed that partial extinction did not diminish spontaneous recovery when compared with standard extinction. From a theoretical point of view, the pattern of results found was more consistent with the idea that extinction entails the acquisition of new knowledge than with the idea that there are conditions in which extinction entails the erasure of the original acquisitionUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Results of research: impact of the socio-educational intervention in women with situation of prostitution in Seville

Colección ReSed. Es un artículo de ReSed Nº 3, perteneciente al monográfico Crisis Social, Educación y Desarrollo Profesional. Coordinación del Monográfico: Dra. Montserrat Vargas Vergara Dirección de ReSed: Dra. A-Beatriz Pérez-GonzálezEl objetivo de nuestro trabajo, es ofrecer los resultados de la investigación realizada recientemente en la ciudad de Sevilla, sobre la repercusión de la intervención socioeducativa en mujeres que ejercen la actividad de la prostitución. Realizamos la elaboración de un marco teórico y el diseño y desarrollo del procedimiento metodológico. Para conseguir los objetivos de nuestro estudio necesitamos averiguar los diferentes aspectos relacionados con la experiencia formativa, influencia de la intervención socioeducativa en la mejora, personal, psicológica, social, llegando en algunos casos a la mejora laboral. Creemos necesario conocer aspectos sobre el aprendizaje de estos grupos desfavorecidos, sus necesidades educativas y sociales, averiguar que procesos de aprendizaje, así como contenidos, les ayudan a mejorar sus actuales condiciones de vida, superar la discriminación de género, la desigualdad, el estigma creado social e históricamente y lograr el empoderamiento

Anarchism in Cordoba: worker’s fight, antecedents, and formation of the National Confederation of Labour (1900-1931)

La Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, CNT, aparecía en el congreso que Solidaridad Obrera realizó entre el 30 de octubre y el 1 de noviembre de 1910 en el Círculo de Bellas Artes de Barcelona. Es por tanto la celebración de este centenario el que no has llevado a intentar ofrecer una visión general de los principales momentos por los que pasaron los grupos anarquistas cordobeses dispersos por la provincia y carentes de una organización efectiva. Esta circunstancia quedó resuelta con la formación en el congreso anarquista de Córdoba, en abril de 1913, de la Federación Nacional de Agricultores, FNA, mientras que en 1919 se incluían en la CNT. Desde entonces las formaciones anarquistas cordobesas ya participan plenamente en la Confederación durante los años veinte, terminando nuestro análisis con la caída de la monarquía en abril de 1931. Durante estos primeros treinta años del siglo XX, el anarquismo cordobés dio cumplida muestra de su importancia dentro del conjunto nacional, siendo desde el principio una provincia en que el componente libertario se dejó sentir con especial trascendencia, y siendo su concurso en el «trienio bolchevique» uno de los episodios más relevantes. Pagaron un alto precio, dado que por su vocación de lucha, anticapitalismo y por su deseo de implantar una sociedad nueva, fueron reprimidos con fuerza, como ningún otro componente, durante todo el período estudiado.The National Confederation of Labour (CNT) was born at the Workers’ Solidarity Conference, which took place from October 30th to November 1st in 1910 at the Fine Art Circle in Barcelona. It is therefore the celebration of this centenary that prompted us to offer a general vision of the most defining moments that Cordovan anarchist groups scattered around the province and lacking an effective organization went through. This circumstance changed when in April 1913 the National Farmer Federation was formed during the Anarchist Congress at Córdoba. By 1919 they were part of the CNT. From then onwards, Cordovan anarchists took part in the Confederation, a period that we will analyse until the fall of the monarchy in 1931. During these first thirty years of the XX Century, Cordovan anarchism showed its importance within Spain, being from the very beginning a province with a capital libertarian movement, and being its part during the Bolshevik Triennium a most important one. They did pay a high price for it, since their combative and anticapitalist views and their aim to create a new type of society, were repressed with a violence unmatched by any other during the period under study

La decisión moral: principios universales, reglas generales y casos particulares.

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