Visualizing Modules and Dependencies of OSGi-based Applications

The architecture of software it not tangible; but in different situations it is preferable to have it tangible. For example, while reviewing it against the intended design, introducing the software to others, or starting to develop on a new part. Basic aspects of a software architecture are the modules the software is constructed of and the dependencies between them. To comprehend these aspects is important especially for software using a technology such as OSGi, which key concept is modularization. In this paper, we describe interactive visualization tools that we developed to comprehend OSGi-based applications with their modules and dependencies. We focus on concepts to treat large number of modules and dependencies: navigation, filtering, and selection. We applied our solution for OSGi-based applications with hundreds of modules containing multiple submodules each. With the resulting visualizations, we can explore the modularization of the software architecture

Local Electrical Dyssynchrony during Atrial Fibrillation: Theoretical Considerations and Initial Catheter Ablation Results

Copyright: © 2016 Kuklik et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background Electrogram-based identification of the regions maintaining persistent Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a subject of ongoing debate. Here, we explore the concept of local electrical dyssynchrony to identify AF drivers. Methods and Results Local electrical dyssynchrony was calculated using mean phase coherence. High-density epicardial mapping along with mathematical model were used to explore the link between local dyssynchrony and properties of wave conduction. High-density mapping showed a positive correlation between the dyssynchrony and number of fibrillatory waves (R2 = 0.68, p<0.001). In the mathematical model, virtual ablation at high dyssynchrony regions resulted in conduction regularization. The clinical study consisted of eighteen patients undergoing catheter ablation of persistent AF. High-density maps of left atrial (LA) were constructed using a circular mapping catheter. After pulmonary vein isolation, regions with the top 10% of the highest dyssynchrony in LA were targeted during ablation and followed with ablation of complex atrial electrograms. Catheter ablation resulted in termination during ablation at high dyssynchrony regions in 7 (41%) patients. In another 4 (24%) patients, transient organization was observed. In 6 (35%) there was no clear effect. Long-term follow-up showed 65% AF freedom at 1 year and 22% at 2 years. Conclusions Local electrical dyssynchrony provides a reasonable estimator of regional AF complexity defined as the number of fibrillatory waves. Additionally, it points to regions of dynamical instability related with action potential alternans. However, despite those characteristics, its utility in guiding catheter ablation of AF is limited suggesting other factors are responsible for AF persistence

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Open Source Software Framework for Applications in Aeronautics and Space

The DLR developed the open source software framework RCE to support the collaborative and distributed work in the shipyard industry. From a technology side of view a software from the shipbuilding field has many requirements in common with aerospace software projects. Accordingly, RCE has become the basis for further projects within the DLR. Over the last years of usage a subset of frequently used software components could be derived and are provided by the RCE framework. In particular, the workflow engine, allowing the integration of different domain-specific tools from local and remote locations into one overall calculation has become important for various projects. We present RCE and show how its software components are reused in two aerospace applications

Towards Provenance Capturing of Quantified Self Data

Quantified Self or self-tracking is a growing movement where people are tracking data about themselves. Tracking the provenance of Quantified Self data is hard because usually many different devices, apps, and services are involved. Nevertheless receiving insights how the data has been acquired, how it has been processed, and who has stored and accessed it is crucial for people. We present concepts for tracking provenance in typical Quantified Self workflows. We use a provenance model based on PROV and show its feasibility with an example

Quantified Self: Android Apps for Self Tracking with Wearables and Health-Monitoring Devices

Quantified Self is about measuring, tracking, and analyzing data of our body and our daily life. The data can cover very different aspects, for example, food consumption, vital signs, mood, expenses, daily routines, environmental information, etc. Today, gathering data with wearable devices are very common, such as wristbands. The data is used to monitor or manage personal health and other environmental data. One goal of Quantified Self is to gain knowledge about oneself. This talk explains motivations for self tracking, showcases available (wearable) sensors, and demonstrates some Android apps. The main technical focus of the talk is on connecting wearables and other devices to Android apps. We explain and demonstrate how to access data of a couple of devices (such as activity trackers, wireless weight scales or other sensors). We describe the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), which is a IoT/messaging protocol for connecting small devices, that we use for delivering push notifications on sensor data updates. Based on the health and self tracking apps, that we developed for Android, and on our productive MQTT push notification service, we share our experiences and recommendations for other App developers

Scientific Data and Knowledge Management in Aerospace Engineering

In aerospace engineering, simulation is a key technology. Examples are pre-design studies, optimization, systems simulation, or mission simulations of aircrafts and space vehicles. These kinds of complex simulations need two distinct technologies. First, highly sophisticated simulation codes for each involved discipline (for example, codes for computational fluid dynamics, structural analysis, or flight mechanics) to simulate the various physical effects. Secondly, a simulation infrastructure and well-designed supporting tools to work effectively with all simulation codes. This paper focuses on the infrastructure and the supporting tools, especially for managing both the data resulting from large-scale simulation and the necessary knowledge for conducting complex simulation tasks. Examples of recent developments at the German Aerospace Center in the fields of data and knowledge management to support aerospace research by e-Science technologies are presented

Tool support for semi-automatic modularization of existing code bases

Many component based systems and frameworks require the integration of external codes, for example, providing numerical functionalities. These numerical codes can be either sequential or parallelized, written in languages such as C, Fortran, Python, or Java. Frameworks provide support for workflow management, data management, using distributed computing resources, or a graphical user interface. Today, modern systems are based on Eclipse and OSGi or similar technologies. For many frameworks, tight integration of pre-existing or third-party code requires manual source code changes to add the specific component interfaces to such code. As this is error-prone and time consuming, especially when large code bases must be integrated, tool support for these steps becomes useful, or even necessary. Tool support for automatic integration of existing code (in different languages) comprises several sub-problems such as code analysis, code transformation, generation of wrapper code, generation of proper user interfaces, and others. In this paper, we focus on the aspect of modularization of existing Java OSGi workflow systems and present a new Eclipse-based tool which provides end-user support for the migration of previously unmodularized software into modules or components

Embedding Existing Heterogeneous Monitoring Techniques into a Lightweight, Distributed Integration Platform

In the computer aided engineering field high performance computing clusters are essential for today’s work. In order to use them efficiently, monitoring systems are required. There are a lot of software systems for different monitoring purposes. The task of managing all of them at the same time usually becomes very complex, because they all have different administration requirements. In order to reduce the complexity and thus increase the manageability of high performance computing clusters for engineering applications, we propose a solution that bundles all monitoring activities into a single monitoring environment based upon an integration platform. As the base of the monitoring environment, the distributed integration platform RCE (Reconfigurable Computing Environment) is chosen. Thereby, many things like distribution or privilege management are already available. As it is a requirement to reuse existing monitoring techniques, two techniques are exemplarily examined, and a concept is developed how to embed them into the Reconfigurable Computing Environment. In this paper we describe the concept of an embedded monitoring environment for multiple purposes that reuses existing monitoring techniques

Visualizing and exploring OSGi-based Software architectures in augmented reality

This demo presents an immersive augmented reality solution for visualizing OSGi-based software architectures. By employing an island metaphor, we map abstract software entities to tangible real-world objects. Using advanced input modalities, such as voice and gesture control, our approach allows for interactive exploration and examination of complex software systems