The Essence of Software Engineering

This open access book includes contributions by leading researchers and industry thought leaders on various topics related to the essence of software engineering and their application in industrial projects. It offers a broad overview of research findings dealing with current practical software engineering issues and also pointers to potential future developments. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of adesso AG, adesso gathered some of the pioneers of software engineering including Manfred Broy, Ivar Jacobson and Carlo Ghezzi at a special symposium, where they presented their thoughts about latest software engineering research and which are part of this book. This way it offers readers a concise overview of the essence of software engineering, providing valuable insights into the latest methodological research findings and adesso’s experience applying these results in real-world projects

ATTENTION AND THE PARIETAL CORTEX: INVESTIGATIONS OF SPATIAL NEGLECT, OPTIC ATAXIA, AND THE INFLUENCE OF PRISM ADAPTATION ON ATTENTION

Some authors have argued that the primary function of the posterior parietal cortex is to control visual attention and awareness, whereas others have argued that the posterior parietal cortex is specialized for controlling actions. The purpose of the present thesis was to examine the influence of prism adaptation – a visuomotor adaptation technique – on visual attention deficits in patients with lesions of parietal cortex. Lesions to dorsal regions of the posterior parietal cortex lead to optic ataxia – a disorder in which visually guided reaching is disrupted. In contrast lesions to ventral (i.e. inferior) regions of the posterior parietal cortex of the right hemisphere lead to spatial neglect – a disorder in which patients are unaware of people or objects in contralesional (left) space. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the organization of the posterior parietal cortex, as well as an introduction to the disorders of spatial neglect and optic ataxia and the use of prism adaptation as a treatment for spatial neglect. Chapter 2 examined the influence of prism adaptation on attentional deficits in patients with right brain damage. Results demonstrated that prism adaptation reduced both the disengage deficit and the rightward attentional bias, two of the classic attentional deficits in neglect. Chapter 3 investigated the role of the dorsal posterior parietal cortex in controlling both reflexive and voluntary attention in two patients with optic ataxia. Lesions to the dorsal posterior parietal cortex led to both a disengage deficit and a rightward attentional bias, similar to patients with neglect, even though neither of the patients had any clinical symptoms of neglect. Contrary to previous work these results indicated that dorsal portions of the posterior parietal cortex – a region not commonly damaged in neglect – are important for controlling the orienting and reorienting of both reflexive and voluntary attention. Furthermore, these results indicated that optic ataxia is not purely a visuomotor disorder that is independent of any perceptual or attentional deficits as was previously assumed. Based on the results of Chapters 2 and 3 it was hypothesized that the beneficial effects of prism adaptation on attention may operate via the superior parietal lobe, a region which is typically undamaged in neglect, and is known to be important for controlling attention and action. Chapter 4 provided support for this hypothesis by demonstrating that a patient with lesions to the superior parietal lobe, who had the same attentional deficits as the right brain damaged patients tested in Chapter 2, failed to demonstrate any beneficial effects of prism adaptation on his attentional performance. Specifically, prism adaptation had no influence on his disengage deficit or his rightward attentional bias. Therefore, these data provide direct evidence that the beneficial effects of prisms on attention rely, at least in part, on the superior parietal lobe. Finally, Chapter 5 concludes with a summary of the research findings from the present thesis, and puts forward a new theory to conceptualize the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of prisms in patients with neglect

Neighbourhood-based social integration. The importance of the local context for different forms of resource transfer

Due to their lack of financial resources, poor residents of deprived neighbourhoods are very much reliant on support and assistance from their personal networks. Studies refer to the key importance of neighbourhood contacts transcending social boundaries to promote upward social mobility. Based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative findings, this paper looks at the importance of social mix within a person’s neighbourhood and immediate surroundings for transferring different kinds of resources. The results show that even residents of deprived neighbourhoods can call on a well-developed support network to deal with everyday problems. The contribution also shows that network contacts to people endowed with more resources are no guarantee for the upward social mobility of the less well endowed. Indeed, it would seem that ‘getting-ahead’ resources are also accessible via their homogeneous networks. Much more to the point, the immediate surroundings turn out to be an important spatial context for contacts and resource transfers, especially for families with children.Peer reviewe

Ansätze zur Entwicklung von Workflow-basierten Anwendungssystemen:eine vergleichende Darstellung

Workflow-Management-Systeme werden entscheidende Impulse für die Gestaltung von Informationssystemen der nächsten Generation geben. Ähnlich wie Datenbank-Systeme heute werden Workflow-Systeme zukünftig als Basistechnologie in komplexen Informationssystemen verwendet werden. Sie ermöglichen eine geschäftsprozeßnahe Darstellung der betrieblichen Ablauflogik und die explizite und zentrale Abbildung dieser Geschäftsprozeßlogik mittels spezialisierter Softwarekomponenten im Gegensatz zu der heute üblichen impliziten Codierung der Prozeßlogik in Applikationen. Ansätze zur Entwicklung von Workflow-basierten Anwendungen sind somit von großem Interesse. Anhand eines Vorgehens-Meta-Modells stellt der Beitrag zunächst wichtige in der Literatur vorgeschlagene Vorgehensmodelle zur Entwicklung von Workflow-Anwendungen einheitlich und klassifizierend dar. Darauf aufbauend erfolgt eine vergleichende Einordnung der verschiedenen Ansätze anhand von Kriterien, die basierend auf dem Meta-Modell hergeleitet werden.<br/

Grasping the non-conscious: Preserved grip scaling to unseen objects for immediate but not delayed grasping following a unilateral lesion to primary visual cortex

AbstractPatients with damage to primary visual cortex can sometimes direct actions towards ‘unseen’ targets located in areas of the visual field that are deemed ‘blind’ on the basis of static perimetry tests. Here, we show that a patient with a complete right homonymous hemianopia after a V1 lesion remains sensitive to the width of objects presented in her blind field but only when reaching out to grasp them in ‘real-time’. A subsequent fMRI experiment revealed spared extra-geniculostriate pathways, which may mediate her preserved abilities. Taken together, the results support the view that visually guided movements can be mediated by pathways that do not support visual consciousness

Automatic correction of hand pointing in stereoscopic depth

In order to examine whether stereoscopic depth information could drive fast automatic correction of hand pointing, an experiment was designed in a 3D visual environment in which participants were asked to point to a target at different stereoscopic depths as quickly and accurately as possible within a limited time window (≤300 ms). The experiment consisted of two tasks: "depthGO" in which participants were asked to point to the new target position if the target jumped, and "depthSTOP" in which participants were instructed to abort their ongoing movements after the target jumped. The depth jump was designed to occur in 20% of the trials in both tasks. Results showed that fast automatic correction of hand movements could be driven by stereoscopic depth to occur in as early as 190 ms.This work was supported by the Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (60970062 and 61173116) and the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China (20110072110014)

One nanometer thin carbon nanosheets with tunable conductivity and stiffness

We present a new route for the fabrication of ultrathin (~1 nm) carbon films and membranes, whose electrical behavior can be tuned from insulating to conducting. Self-assembled monolayers of biphenyls are cross-linked by electrons, detached from the surfaces and subsequently pyrolized. Above 1000K, the cross-linked aromatic monolayer forms a mechanically stable graphitic phase. The transition is accompanied by a drop of the sheet resistivity from ~10^8 to ~10^2 kOhm/sq and a mechanical stiffening of the nanomembranes from ~10 to ~50 GPa. The technical applicability of the nanosheets is demonstrated by incorporating them into a microscopic pressure sensorComment: 36 pages, 14 figure

Soziale Integration im Quartier: Förderung von Netzwerken und Begegnungen in zwei benachteiligten Sozialräumen Dortmunds

Angesichts der zunehmenden sozialräumlichen Polarisierung in vielen Städten stellt sich die Frage, inwieweit von Armut geprägte Gebiete eine zusätzlich benachteiligende Wirkung auf die soziale Lage ihrer Bewohner_innen haben. Basierend auf einem Zusammenspiel quantitativer und qualitativer Methoden wird im Rahmen des vorliegenden Forschungsvorhabens in zwei unterschiedlichen Quartieren in der Stadt Dortmund analysiert, inwieweit Haushalte in sozial benachteiligten Quartieren Zugang zu Unterstützungsleistungen durch soziale Kontakte erhalten und welchen Einfluss die soziale Zusammensetzung der unmittelbaren Wohnumgebung auf den Zugang zu Ressourcen hat. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass auch einkommensarme Bewohner_innen benachteiligter Quartiere auf ein recht gut ausgeprägtes Unterstützungsnetzwerk für die Alltagsorganisation zurückgreifen können. Es wird jedoch deutlich, dass Netzwerkkontakte zu ressourcenstärkeren Haushalten nicht automatisch die soziale Aufwärtsmobilität ressourcenschwacher Bewohner_innen befördern. Das Quartier bzw. die unmittelbare Wohnumgebung stellt sich als wichtiger räumlicher Kontext für Kontakte und Ressourcentransfer heraus. Hier werden durch lose Kontakte auch über alltagspraktische Unterstützungen hinaus wichtige Ressourcen vermittelt.In light of the increasing socio-spatial polarisation in many cities the question arises to what extent living in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods has an additional negative effect on the residents‘ social status. Based on mixed methods approach, the research project seeks to analyse to what extent poor households in socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods have access to support networks. The project looks at the importance of social mix within a person's neighbourhood and his/her immediate surroundings for transferring different kinds of resources. The results show that even poor residents of deprived neighbourhoods can call on a welldeveloped support network for dealing with everyday problems. However, the analysis also illustrates that network contacts to people endowed with more resources are no guaranteed way of promoting the upward social mobility of those less well endowed. Much more to the point, their immediate surroundings turn out to be an important spatial context for contacts and resource transfers, in which also loose contacts can provide resources going beyond just 'getting-by’ resources