Requirements-driven Social Adaptation: Expert Survey

Self-adaptation empowers systems with the capability to meet stakeholders’ requirements in a dynamic environment. Such systems autonomously monitor changes and events which drive adaptation decisions at runtime. Social Adaptation is a recent kind of requirements-driven adaptation which enables users to give a runtime feedback on the success and quality of a system’s configurations in reaching their requirements. The system analyses users’ feedback, infers their collective judgement and then uses it to shape its adaptation decisions. [Question/problem] However, there is still a lack of engineering mechanisms to guarantee a correct conduction of Social Adapta- tion. [Principal ideas/results] In this paper, we conduct a two-phase Expert Sur- vey to identify core benefits, domain areas and challenges for Social Adaptation. [Contribution] Our findings provide practitioners and researchers in adaptive systems engineering with insights on this emerging role of users, or the crowd, and stimulate future research to solve the open problems in this area

Architectural aspects of self-aware and self-expressive computing systems: from psychology to engineering

Work on human self-Awareness is the basis for a framework to develop computational systems that can adaptively manage complex dynamic tradeoffs at runtime. An architectural case study in cloud computing illustrates the framework's potential benefits

Semi analytic method for solving infectious disease model

In this paper, we present a deterministic model that captures the essential dynamics of infectious diseases. Differential Transform Method (DTM) is applied to attempt the series solution of the model. The efficiency of the DTM in solving the model is confirmed by classical fourth-order Runge-Kutta method implemented in Maple 18. The comparisons between the DTM and Runge-Kutta (RK4) solutions were made and there exists positive correlation between the results obtained by the two methods. The outcome of comparison between the DTM and RK4 validates the potential of the DTM in coping with the analysis of modern epidemics

Trustworthy Cloud Computing

Trustworthy cloud computing has been a central tenet of the European Union cloud strategy for nearly a decade. This chapter discusses the origins of trustworthy computing and specifically how the goals of trustworthy computing—security and privacy, reliability, and business integrity—are represented in computer science research. We call for further inter- and multi-disciplinary research on trustworthy cloud computing that reflect a more holistic view of trust

Inclusion of Discarded Cashew Kernels (DcK) in the Diets of Cockerel Chicks

(Tropical Journal of Animal Science: 2003, 6(2): 117-120

Soil and Water Conservation Capabilities of Vegetable Farmers on Micro-Veg Project Sites in Southwestern Nigeria

The study assessed the soil and water conservation (SWC) capabilities of vegetable farmers on MicroVeg project sites in Southwestern Nigeria on gender basis. Multistage sampling procedure was used for sample selection. Capabilities was measured as a pooled score of respondents’ responses to identified SWC technologies used on a three point Likert type scale. Data were collected from male and female vegetable farmers using quantitative and qualitative data instruments and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that both male and female vegetable farmers were knowledgeable in most of the SWC technologies investigated. However, male vegetable farmers’ capability of SWC technologies was higher when compared to the females. There were significant differences between the male and female vegetable farmers’ SWC capabilities (t =1.631; p≤ 0.01). Based on the key findings of the study, it was recommended that integration of a gender perspective approach and gender policies that could bridge the gaps should be introduced as this will ensure female farmers unrestricted access to land and debunk the economic and socio-cultural factors responsible for this gap

Soil and Water Conservation Capabilities of Vegetable Farmers on Micro-Veg Project Sites in Southwestern Nigeria

The study assessed the soil and water conservation (SWC) capabilities of vegetable farmers on MicroVeg project sites in Southwestern Nigeria on gender basis. Multistage sampling procedure was used for sample selection. Capabilities was measured as a pooled score of respondents’ responses to identified SWC technologies used on a three point Likert type scale. Data were collected from male and female vegetable farmers using quantitative and qualitative data instruments and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that both male and female vegetable farmers were knowledgeable in most of the SWC technologies investigated. However, male vegetable farmers’ capability of SWC technologies was higher when compared to the females. There were significant differences between the male and female vegetable farmers’ SWC capabilities (t =1.631; p≤ 0.01). Based on the key findings of the study, it was recommended that integration of a gender perspective approach and gender policies that could bridge the gaps should be introduced as this will ensure female farmers unrestricted access to land and debunk the economic and socio-cultural factors responsible for this gap

Serological responses to SARS-CoV-2 following non-hospitalised infection: clinical and ethnodemographic features associated with the magnitude of the antibody response.

OBJECTIVE To determine clinical and ethnodemographic correlates of serological responses against the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein following mild-to-moderate COVID-19. DESIGN A retrospective cohort study of healthcare workers who had self-isolated due to COVID-19. SETTING University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, UK (UHBFT). PARTICIPANTS 956 healthcare workers were recruited by open invitation via UHBFT trust email and social media between 27 April 2020 and the 8 June 2020. INTERVENTION Participants volunteered a venous blood sample that was tested for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein antibodies. Results were interpreted in the context of the symptoms of their original illness and ethnodemographic variables. RESULTS Using an assay that simultaneously measures the combined IgG, IgA and IgM response against the spike glycoprotein (IgGAM), the overall seroprevalence within this cohort was 46.2% (n=442/956). The seroprevalence of immunoglobulin isotypes was 36.3%, 18.7% and 8.1% for IgG, IgA and IgM, respectively. IgGAM identified serological responses in 40.6% (n=52/128) of symptomatic individuals who reported a negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR test. Increasing age, non-white ethnicity and obesity were independently associated with greater IgG antibody response against the spike glycoprotein. Self-reported fever and fatigue were associated with greater IgG and IgA responses against the spike glycoprotein. The combination of fever and/or cough and/or anosmia had a positive predictive value of 92.3% for seropositivity in self-isolating individuals a time when Wuhan strain SARS-CoV-2 was predominant. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Assays employing combined antibody detection demonstrate enhanced seroepidemiological sensitivity and can detect prior viral exposure even when PCR swabs have been negative. We demonstrate an association between known ethnodemographic risk factors associated with mortality from COVID-19 and the magnitude of serological responses in mild-to-moderate disease