Identifying developers’ habits and expectations in copy and paste programming practice

Máster Universitario en Investigación e Innovación en Inteligencia Computacional y Sistemas InteractivosBoth novice and experienced developers rely more and more in external sources of code to include into their programs by copy and paste code snippets. This behavior differs from the traditional software design approach where cohesion was achieved via a conscious design effort. Due to this fact, it is essential to know how copy and paste programming practices are actually carried out, so that IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) and code recommenders can be designed to fit with developer expectations and habit

A Computer Tool for Modeling C4I Applications

1999 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (CCRTS), June 29 - July 1, 1999, U.S. Naval War College, Rhode IslandThe large-scale nature of C4I applications makes it difficult to formulate accessible requirements before putting lots of effort into development. Rapid modeling/prototyping has been proved to be efficient for requirement validation and verification by providing a mini scale software product. The latest updated software modeling/prototyping tool is an advanced tool for software prototyping and modeling via a unified graphical environment. To support complex requirement specification and elicitation, this tool is designed as a user centered modeling environment that represents requirements in multiple levels, supports project management, reduces modeling/prototyping effort, maintains model consistency and helps error prevention and elimination. This tool is demonstrated to be useful for modeling C4I applications

Human Factors Based Tools for Dependable Interactive Systems Development

The objectives ofthe proposed research are to develop an integrated framework and supporting tools for the development o f a dependable interactive system. This proposed research promotes steps toward the integration o f human factors within the software activity model by considering human characteristics in the development of interactive systems. Development areas impacted include system specification, software model verification, and system testing simulation. The basic concept ofthis proposal is to consider the human as part ofthe system during the analysis of system :functionalities and properties. Human inclusion in the entire system, not just software, during verification and testing simulations would improve the dependability of interactive systems.NSFApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Requirements-document-based prototyping of CARA software

Int J Softw Tools Technol Transfer (2004) 5: 370–390The article of record may be found at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10009-003-0116-7Computer-aided prototyping evaluates and refines software requirements by defining requirements specifications, designing underlying compositional architecture, doing restricted real-time scheduling, and constructing a prototype by using reusable executable software components. This paper presents a case study of the Computer Assisted Resuscitation Algorithm (CARA) software for a casualty intravenous fluid infusion pump and explores the effectiveness of performing rapid prototyping with parallel conceptualization to expose requirements issues. Using a suite of prototyping tools, five different design model alternatives are generated based on the analysis of customer requirements documents. Further comparison is conducted with specific focus on a sample of comparative criteria: simplicity of design, safety aspects, requirements coverage, and enabling architecture. The case study demonstrates the usefulness of comparative rapid prototyping for revealing the omissions and discrepancies in the requirements document. The study also illustrates the efficiency of creating/modifying parallel models and reason for their complexity by using the tool suite. Additional enhancements for the prototyping suite are highlighted

Effects and Mechanisms of Total Flavonoids from Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC. on Skin Wound in Rats

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) evolved through thousands of years of practice and was popular not only among the Chinese population, but also most countries in the world. Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC. as a traditional treatment for wound healing in Li Nationality Medicine has a long history of nearly 2000 years. This study was to evaluate the effects of total flavonoids from Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC. on skin excisional wound on the back of Sprague-Dawley rats, reveal its chemical constitution, and postulate its action mechanism. The rats were divided into five groups and the model groups were treated with 30% glycerol, the positive control groups with Jing Wan Hong (JWH) ointment, and three treatment groups with high dose (2.52 g·kg−1), medium dose (1.26 g·kg−1), and low dose (0.63 g·kg−1) of total flavonoids from B. balsamifera. During 10 consecutive days of treatment, the therapeutic effects of rates were evaluated. On day 1, day 3, day 5, day 7, and day 10 after treatment, skin samples were taken from all the rats for further study. Significant increases of granulation tissue, fibroblast, and capillary vessel proliferation were observed at day 7 in the high dose and positive control groups, compared with the model group, with the method of 4% paraformaldehyde for histopathological examination and immunofluorescence staining. To reveal the action mechanisms of total flavonoids on wound healing, the levels of CD68, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), and hydroxyproline were measured at different days. Results showed that total flavonoids had significant effects on rat skin excisional wound healing compared with controls, especially high dose ones (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the total flavonoid extract was investigated phytochemically, and twenty-seven compounds were identified from the total flavonoid sample by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry/diode array detector (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/DAD), including 16 flavonoid aglucons, five flavonoid glycosides (main peaks in chromatogram), five chlorogenic acid analogs, and 1 coumarin. Reports show that flavonoid glycoside possesses therapeutic effects of curing wounds by inducing neovascularization, and chlorogenic acid also has anti-inflammatory and wound healing activities; we postulated that all the ingredients in total flavonoids sample maybe exert a synergetic effect on wound curing. Accompanied with detection of four growth factors, the upregulation of these key growth factors may be the mechanism of therapeutic activities of total flavonoids. The present study confirmed undoubtedly that flavonoids were the main active constituents that contribute to excisional wound healing, and suggested its action mechanism of improving expression levels of growth factors at different healing phases

Comparative Rapid Prototyping, A Case Study

Conference paper presented at the 14th IEEE International Workshop on Rapid Systems Prototyping (RSP’03)||The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IWRSP.2003.1207050This paper presents a case study that explores the effectiveness of parallel conceptualization efforts to expose potential requirements issues in rapid prototyping. The case study consists of developing and comparing five design alternatives to model the safety-critical computer assisted resuscitation algorithm (CARA) software for a casualty intravenous fluid infusion pump using a set of computer aided Software Engineering Automated Tools (SEATools). The prototyping effort showed that users can efficiently create / modify multiple parallel models and reason about their complexity using SEATools. The study also illustrates the usefulness of comparative rapid prototyping to identifying strengths and weaknesses of alternative designs,improving the final result. The case study also exposed numerous omissions and discrepancies in the requirements document and highlighted useful future enhancements for SEATools.U.S. Army Research Office40473-MA-S

Probing the Single Key Amino Acid Responsible for the Novel Catalytic Function of ent-Kaurene Oxidase Supported by NADPH-Cytochrome P450 Reductases in Tripterygium wilfordii

Tripterygium wilfordii produces not only ent-kaurene, which is an intermediate of gibberellin (GA) biosynthesis in flowering plants, but also 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurane, whose physiological role has not been characterized. The two compounds are biosynthesized from the universal diterpenoid precursor (E,E,E)-geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) by diterpene synthases, which have been discovered and functionally characterized in T. wilfordii. Here, we described the functional characterization of four cytochrome P450 reductases (TwCPR) and one ent-kaurene oxidase (TwKO). Four TwCPRs were found to have relatively ubiquitous expression in T. wilfordii root, stem, leaf, and flower tissues. Co-expression of both a TwCPR and TwKO in yeast showed that TwCPR3 has a slightly better activity for providing the electrons required for these reactions, indicating that TwCPR3 is more suitable for use in the functional analysis of other cytochrome P450 monooxygenases. TwKO catalyzed the three-step oxidation of the C4α methyl of the tetracyclic diterpene intermediate ent-kaurene to form ent-kaurenoic acid as an early step in GA biosynthesis. Notably, TwKO could also convert 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurane to 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurenoic acid, indicating an important function of 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurane in the anti-HIV principle tripterifordin biosynthetic pathway in planta. Homology modeling and molecular docking were used to investigate the unknown crucial active amino acid residue involved in the catalytic reaction of TwKO, and one key residue (Leu387) contributed to the formation of 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurenoic acid, most likely by forming hydrogen bonds with the hydroxyl group (-OH) of 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurane, which laid the basis for further investigation of the multifunctional nature of KO catalysis. Also, our findings paved the way for the complete biosynthesis of the anti-HIV principle tripterifordin

SEA Environment for CARA Software

This report summarizes our prototyping effort for the Infusion Pump Computer Assisted Resuscitation Algorithm (CARA) software. Computer aided prototyping (CAP) shows promise that one system under development frees designers from implementation details by executing specifications via reusable components. In constructing distributed embedded real-time systems, the formal specifications can facilitate recording and enforcing timing constraints by providing underlying compositional architecture, restricted real-time scheduling and reusable execution base. This effort takes the computer assisted resuscitation algorithm (CARA) software for the infusion pump as the studying case, and presents different versions that model the CARA with specific focuses, such as simplicity of the design, safety-aspects, requirements coverage, enabling architecture, and so forth. Finally the evaluation on CARA requirements and on the language for prototyping complex systems and its associated tools is also provided.U.S. Army Research OfficeApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited