Understanding the motivations, challenges, and practices of software rejuvenation

The continuous evolution of programming languages has brought benefits and new challenges for software developers. In recent years, we have witnessed a rapid release of new versions of mainstream programming languages like Java. While these advancements promise better security, enhanced performance, and increased developers’ productivity, the constant release of new language versions has posed a particular challenge for practitioners: how to keep their systems up-to-date with new language releases. This thesis aims to understand the pains, motivations, and practices developers follow during rejuvenating efforts—a particular kind of software maintenance whose goal is to avoid obsolesce due to the evolution of programming languages. To this end, we are building and validating a theory using a mixed methods study. In the first study, we interviewed 23 software developers and used the Constructivist Grounded Theory Method to identify recurrent challenges and practices used in rejuvenation efforts. In the second study, we mined the software repositories of open-source projects written in C++ and JavaScript to identify the adoption of new language features and whether or not software developers conduct large rejuvenation efforts. The first study highlights the benefits of new feature adoption and rejuvenation, revealing developer methods and challenges. The second study emphasizes open-source adoption trends and patterns for modern features. In the third and final study, our goal is to share our theory on software rejuvenation with practitioners through the Focus Group method with industrial patterns.(undefined

Behavior notes and prey spectrum of three species of the bee-hunting wasp Trachypus Klug (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)

Trachypus Klug is a Neotropical genus of crabronid wasps comprising 31 ground-nesting species. Its species can be solitary or communal, and two diet ranges are known: they can forage on several bee subfamilies and wasps; or can be specialists on stingless bees. Natural history observations are scarce nowadays but are essential to contextualize ecological and evolutionary studies. Here we report new records and give biological notes for Trachypus elongatus (Fabricius, 1804), Trachypus taschenbergi Rubio-Espina, 1975, and Trachypus varius (Taschenberg, 1875). Observations and samplings were carried out twice a month, during one year in the city of Curitiba, southern Brazil. Besides field observations, circular statistics were used to analyze seasonality. All species nest in sloped soil and are solitary. Trachypus elongatus and T. taschenbergi were active during most of the year with marked seasonality in the late spring and early summer. Both species were observed hunting only stingless bees, with T. elongatus specialized on Trigona spinipes (Fabricius, 1793), and T. taschenbergi specialized on Paratrigona subnuda Moure, 1947 drones. Trachypus varius was observed only in January and one female was recorded foraging on a Paratrigona subnuda worker. Our observations provide additional data for understanding the biology of bee-hunting wasps, and this is the first study to bring information for T. taschenbergi and T. varius. Our data corroborate that some species of the genus Trachypus are specialized on stingless bees

The dialectics of capital: learning from Gran Chaco

The critical impact of humans on the biosphere has led scientists to coin the term Anthropocene. The global environmental changes associated with it are happening under the aegis of capitalism. A transition towards sustainability requires a critical scrutiny of capitalism. The social–ecological system (SES) approach conceptualises the relationship between the socio-economic subsystem and the biosphere. However, in its various operationalisations it either treats the former as a black box or it fails to capture dynamic aspects. We address these limits and develop a Dialectical Socio-Ecological System (D-SES) framework, which combines process ecology with historical materialism, to describe the emergence and persistence of capitalist dynamics. We draw on data collected through fieldwork and desk research and deploy our framework to study capital-intensive agriculture in the Chaco Salteño, an important agricultural frontier in South America, obtaining some general insights. We open up the socio-economic subsystem and break it down into a lower-level material/economic sphere and an upper-level cultural/institutional sphere. Capitalist dynamics emerge out of the peculiar relationships occurring both within and between these spheres. This configuration shows the typical signs of autocatalysis. It attracts resources and capital to expand itself (centripetality). It becomes more complex and organised over time, fine-tuning production modes, cultures, and institutions (directionality). It is subject to the laws of competition and profit maximisation, which emerge independently from the individual actors and processes making up the system (autonomy). Finally, it engenders frictions, reflecting class antagonism between the direct producers and the appropriators of wealth. These frictions can become leverage points for a system’s transformation.EEA SaltaFil: Ceddia, M. Graziano. University of Bern. Centre for Development and Environment; SuizaFil: Montani, Rodrigo. University of Bern. Centre for Development and Environment; SuizaFil: Montani, Rodrigo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Montani, Rodrigo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Mioni, Walter Fernando. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Salta; Argentina

Centro de Coaching Educativo y Nivelación Académica Mentor

La estructura de la educación tradicional contempla construcción de saberes a través de un trabajo conjunto entre la familia y las instituciones educativas cuyo ideal común es la formación de seres humanos integrales. Sin embargo, según los datos obtenidos en la investigación y entrevistas a especialistas en educación, este proceso de formación integral se puede ver afectado por diversos factores como la falta de enseñanza personalizada en los colegios, un mal ambiente de trabajo en casa, la falta de supervisión por parte de adultos y la práctica inadecuada de hábitos de estudio, siendo esta última el principal factor que les permitirá estar preparados para los retos posteriores como la vida universitaria y laboral. Ante la presencia de estos factores que afectan el rendimiento académico y la necesidad de preparar a los adolescentes para el futuro, se detectó la oportunidad de negocio de crear un centro de after school que brinde el servicio de refuerzo académico a jóvenes entre 12 y 17 años, teniendo como propuesta de valor central inculcar hábitos de estudio apoyados en metodologías de “coaching educativo”. MENTOR ofrecerá clases de refuerzo escolar en cursos de ciencias, clases personalizadas con docentes altamente calificados, junto con un trabajo de coaching educativo a cargo de un psicólogo educativo; la propuesta es una alternativa novedosa e integral que combina los beneficios de reforzamiento académico con un seguimiento psicológico basado en técnicas de coaching educativo, con el objetivo de brindar al alumno herramientas que le permitan concretar sus proyectos y metas. Consideramos como segmento objetivo a los alumnos de primero a cuarto de secundaria de los principales colegios particulares del NSE A y B de Lima Metropolitana. Nuestro servicio generará valor a través de la atención personalizada, seguimiento y apoyo a cada uno de nuestros alumnos, con una comunicación permanente a los padres de familia a fin de que conozcan la evolución de sus hijos

Gamificação significativa na educação : uma proposta de ferramenta com enfoque no aspecto motivacional do aluno

Orientador : Marcos Alexandre CastilhoCoorientador : Alexander Robert KutzkeDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática. Defesa : Curitiba, 15/02/2018Inclui referênciasÁrea de concentração : Ciência da ComputaçãoResumo:Abstract

Liderazgo directivo e involucramiento organizacional de los docentes en una institución educativa pública de un distrito de Lambayeque

Este estudio buscó determinar la relación entre las variables liderazgo directivo y el involucramiento organizacional. Para fundamentar con la parte metodológica se consideró trabajar con el enfoque cuantitativo, una investigación de tipo básica con diseño correlacional. Asimismo, se han construidos los cuestionarios de las variables respectivas obteniendo un alfa de Cronbach de 0,972 muy confiable. En cuanto a la población la constituyeron 42 docentes incluyendo al investigador y un docente jerárquico por tal razón la muestra estuvo conformada por 40 docentes de la institución educativa pública. Se concluye que existe una correlación de Spearman positiva y muy alta con un coeficiente de correlación de 0,952. Asimismo, se denota un sig. bilateral menor a 0,05 de manera que nos permite inferir que se comprueba la hipótesis alterna y rechazamos la hipótesis nula. En consecuencia, se puede decir que a mejor liderazgo directivo mayor involucramiento organizacional. Del mismo modo, se logró establecer una correlación entre el liderazgo directivo y las dimensiones toma de decisiones, crecimiento profesional, Status, Autoeficacia y autonomía. También se identificaron que la dimensión Involucramiento y liderazgo se encuentran en los niveles alto y muy alto

Boosting water oxidation through in situ electroconversion of manganese gallide: an intermetallic precursor approach

For the first time, the manganese gallide (MnGa4) served as an intermetallic precursor, which upon in situ electroconversion in alkaline media produced high‐performance and long‐term‐stable MnOx‐based electrocatalysts for water oxidation. Unexpectedly, its electrocorrosion (with the concomitant loss of Ga) leads simultaneously to three crystalline types of MnOx minerals with distinct structures and induced defects: birnessite δ‐MnO2, feitknechtite β‐MnOOH, and hausmannite α‐Mn3O4. The abundance and intrinsic stabilization of MnIII/MnIV active sites in the three MnOx phases explains the superior efficiency and durability of the system for electrocatalytic water oxidation. After electrophoretic deposition of the MnGa4 precursor on conductive nickel foam (NF), a low overpotential of 291 mV, comparable to that of precious‐metal‐based catalysts, could be achieved at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a durability of more than five days.DFG, 390540038, EXC 2008: UniSysCatTU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 201

Assimilação de dados por filtro de Kalman por conjunto em um modelo hidrológico distribuído na bacia do rio Tocantins, Brasil

Neste trabalho, o método de assimilação de dados por filtro de Kalman por conjunto (EnKF) é aplicado na bacia do rio Tocantins. Esse método atualiza as vazões do rio usando um modelo hidrológico distribuído. O desempenho de EnKF é também comparado com um método de assimilação empírico a intervalos de tempo horário, onde duas aplicações baseadas em transferência de informação de locais monitorados para não monitorados e previsão de vazão em tempo real são avaliadas. Na primeira aplicação, ambos os métodos de assimilação de dado conseguem transferir vazões a outros locais não monitorados, obtendo melhores resultados quando mais de uma estação localizada a montante ou a jusante da bacia são monitoradas. Na segunda aplicação, a integração de um modelo de previsão com EnKF consegue absorver os erros no início da previsão. Dessa forma, uma maior eficiência no índice de Nash-Sutcliffe para as primeiras 144 horas de antecedência é encontrada quando se compara com os resultados do modelo sem assimilação. Finalmente, a comparação entre os métodos de assimilação de dados no modelo de previsão mostra uma maior vantagem a favor de EnKF em maiores horizontes de previsão.In this work, the data assimilation method namely ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is applied to the Tocantins River basin. This method assimilates streamflow results by using a distributed hydrological model. The performance of the EnKF is also compared with an empirical assimilation method for hourly time intervals, in which two applications based on information transfer from gauged to ungauged sites and real time streamflow forecasting are assessed. In the first application, both assimilation methods are able to transfer streamflow to ungauged sites, obtaining better results when more than one station located upstream or downstream of the basin are gauged. In the second application, integration of a real time forecast model with EnKF is able to absorb errors at the beginning of the forecast. Therefore, a greater efficiency in the Nash-Sutcliffe index for the first 144 hours in advance in relation to its counterpart without assimilation is obtained. Finally, a comparison between both data assimilation methods shows a greater advantage for the EnKF in long lead times

Estimando hidrogramas de projeto em escala de bacia : de simulações de eventos a simulações contínuas

Design hydrographs are widely used in practical hydrologic engineering problems. Typical applications adopt event-based (EBM) methods, using rainfall-runoff models to convert design hyetographs into design hydrographs. Uncertainties include the definition of antecedent conditions and the assumption of equivalence between hyetograph and hydrograph return periods. An alternative is to use continuous simulation (CSM) methods, by forcing a rainfall-runoff model with long precipitation series, and directly analyzing the output discharges. To better understand uncertainties in the EBM method and differences between CSM and EBM ones, we applied a hydrological model in the Itajaí-Açu river basin to compare a CSM method with 730 different simulations of an EBM one, considering different basin antecedent conditions and design hyetographs (10- and 50-years). Results indicated that the EBM method leads to a large range of design discharges depending on the antecedent condition. CS-based 10- and 50-years maximum discharges corresponded to percentiles between 30% and 50% of the EBM estimates. Higher discharge variation occurred in sub-basins with larger maximum soil water storage. Our conclusions agree with the literature, which points towards CSM-based methods to estimate design discharges.Hidrogramas de projeto são amplamente utilizados em engenharia hidrológica. Típicas aplicações adotam métodos baseados em eventos (EB), utilizando modelos chuva-vazão para converter hietogramas de projeto em hidrogramas. Incertezas incluem a definição de condições antecedentes e a premissa de equivalência entre tempos de retorno da chuva e hidrograma de projeto. Uma alternativa é utilizar métodos de simulação contínua (CS), forçando um modelo chuva-vazão com longas séries de precipitação e analisando diretamente as vazões estimadas. Para melhor compreender as incertezas e diferenças entre os métodos EB e CS, neste estudo aplicou-se um modelo hidrológico na bacia do rio Itajaí-Açu, sendo comparados um método tipo CS com 730 diferentes simulações do tipo EB, variando condições antecedentes e hietogramas de projeto (10 e 50 anos de tempo de retorno). Os resultados indicaram que vazões de projeto muito variadas podem ser obtidas com o método EB, sugerindo uma grande incerteza deste. Vazões máximas de 10 e 50 anos baseadas no método CS corresponderam a percentis entre 30% e 50% das estimativas via EB. Por fim, uma maior variação de vazões máximas ocorreu em sub-bacias com maior máximo armazenamento de água no solo

Estimando hidrogramas de projeto em escala de bacia : de simulações de eventos a simulações contínuas

Design hydrographs are widely used in practical hydrologic engineering problems. Typical applications adopt event-based (EBM) methods, using rainfall-runoff models to convert design hyetographs into design hydrographs. Uncertainties include the definition of antecedent conditions and the assumption of equivalence between hyetograph and hydrograph return periods. An alternative is to use continuous simulation (CSM) methods, by forcing a rainfall-runoff model with long precipitation series, and directly analyzing the output discharges. To better understand uncertainties in the EBM method and differences between CSM and EBM ones, we applied a hydrological model in the Itajaí-Açu river basin to compare a CSM method with 730 different simulations of an EBM one, considering different basin antecedent conditions and design hyetographs (10- and 50-years). Results indicated that the EBM method leads to a large range of design discharges depending on the antecedent condition. CS-based 10- and 50-years maximum discharges corresponded to percentiles between 30% and 50% of the EBM estimates. Higher discharge variation occurred in sub-basins with larger maximum soil water storage. Our conclusions agree with the literature, which points towards CSM-based methods to estimate design discharges.Hidrogramas de projeto são amplamente utilizados em engenharia hidrológica. Típicas aplicações adotam métodos baseados em eventos (EB), utilizando modelos chuva-vazão para converter hietogramas de projeto em hidrogramas. Incertezas incluem a definição de condições antecedentes e a premissa de equivalência entre tempos de retorno da chuva e hidrograma de projeto. Uma alternativa é utilizar métodos de simulação contínua (CS), forçando um modelo chuva-vazão com longas séries de precipitação e analisando diretamente as vazões estimadas. Para melhor compreender as incertezas e diferenças entre os métodos EB e CS, neste estudo aplicou-se um modelo hidrológico na bacia do rio Itajaí-Açu, sendo comparados um método tipo CS com 730 diferentes simulações do tipo EB, variando condições antecedentes e hietogramas de projeto (10 e 50 anos de tempo de retorno). Os resultados indicaram que vazões de projeto muito variadas podem ser obtidas com o método EB, sugerindo uma grande incerteza deste. Vazões máximas de 10 e 50 anos baseadas no método CS corresponderam a percentis entre 30% e 50% das estimativas via EB. Por fim, uma maior variação de vazões máximas ocorreu em sub-bacias com maior máximo armazenamento de água no solo