Quality-Aware Analysis in Product Line Engineering with the Orthogonal Variability Model

Software product line engineering (SPLE) is about producing a set of similar products in a certain domain. A variability model documents the variability amongst products in a product line. The specification of variability can be extended with quality information, such as measurable quality attributes (e.g., CPU and memory consumption) and constraints on these attributes (e.g., memory consumption should be in a range of values). However, the wrong use of constraints may cause anomalies in the specification which must be detected (e.g., the model could represent no products). Furthermore, based on such quality information it is possible to carry out quality-aware analyses, i.e., the product line engineer may want to verify whether it is possible to build a product that satisfies a desired quality. The challenge for quality-aware specification and analysis is three-fold. First, there should be a way to specify quality information in variability models. Second, it should be possible to detect anomalies in the variability specification associated with quality information. Third, there should be mechanisms to verify the variability model to extract useful information, such as the possibility to build a product that fulfils certain quality conditions (e.g., is there any product that requires less than 512MB of memory?). In this article, we present an approach for quality-aware analysis in software product lines using the orthogonal variability model (OVM) to represent variability. We propose to map variability represented in the OVM associated with quality information to a constraint satisfaction problem and to use an off-the-shelf constraint programming solver to automatically perform the verification task. To illustrate our approach, we use a product line in the automotive domain which is an example that was created in a national project by a leading car company. We have developed a prototype tool named FaMa-OVM, which works as a proof of concepts. We were able to identify void models, dead and false optional elements, and check whether the product line example satisfies quality conditions

Ficções, “facções” e poder: olhares para a área de Educação Física a partir da obra “Divergente”

Ao visualizar possíveis aproximações entre a produção distópica “Divergente”, de Verônica Roth, e algumas das formulações teóricas de Elias, Foucault e Gumbrecht, o presente ensaio procura lançar alguns olhares para o campo da Educação Física. Trata-se de um manuscrito construído a partir do método descritivo-analítico, de caráter interpretativo, com a utilização de fontes documentais para o embasamento teórico-filosófico das análises realizadas. O diálogo entre uma obra do gênero da literatura distópica e clássicos da literatura acadêmica possibilitaram profícuas reflexões. O ensaio aponta, de maneira análoga à literatura young-adult analisada, que o desgaste das relações entre as “facções” da Educação Física pode ser um fator desencadeador do aparecimento de produções acadêmicas e pesquisadores “divergentes”, isto é, dispostos a superar polarizações e fragmentações historicamente hegemônicas na área.

SARS-CoV-2-Antikörperprävalenz bei medizinischem Fachpersonal -- Eine prospektive, serologische Kohortenstudie mit vier Testzeitpunkten in Thüringen 2020 bis 2021 (COVID-PraxImmun)

Im Verlauf der COVID-19-Pandemie zeigte sich schnell, dass für medizinisches Fachpersonal im Vergleich zur Allgemeinbevölkerung ein erhöhtes Risiko für SARS-CoV-2-Infektionen besteht. Um den SARS-CoV-2-Immunstatus bei medizinischem Personal in Thüringer Vertragsarztpraxen systematisch und flächendeckend zu untersuchen, führte die Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Thüringen eine Kohortenstudie durch, an der 3.658 ärztlich, psychologisch und zahnärztlich tätige Personen bzw. nicht ärztlich Tätige mit Patientenkontakt teilnahmen. Die SARS-CoV-2-Antikörperprävalenzen und deren Verlauf zwischen August 2020 und September 2021 werden im Epidemiologischen Bulletin 45/2022 dargestellt

Novel insights into the genomic basis of citrus canker based on the genome sequences of two strains of Xanthomonas fuscans subsp. aurantifolii

Background: Citrus canker is a disease that has severe economic impact on the citrus industry worldwide. There are three types of canker, called A, B, and C. The three types have different phenotypes and affect different citrus species. The causative agent for type A is Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri, whose genome sequence was made available in 2002. Xanthomonas fuscans subsp. aurantifolii strain B causes canker B and Xanthomonas fuscans subsp. aurantifolii strain C causes canker C. Results: We have sequenced the genomes of strains B and C to draft status. We have compared their genomic content to X. citri subsp. citri and to other Xanthomonas genomes, with special emphasis on type III secreted effector repertoires. In addition to pthA, already known to be present in all three citrus canker strains, two additional effector genes, xopE3 and xopAI, are also present in all three strains and are both located on the same putative genomic island. These two effector genes, along with one other effector-like gene in the same region, are thus good candidates for being pathogenicity factors on citrus. Numerous gene content differences also exist between the three cankers strains, which can be correlated with their different virulence and host range. Particular attention was placed on the analysis of genes involved in biofilm formation and quorum sensing, type IV secretion, flagellum synthesis and motility, lipopolysacharide synthesis, and on the gene xacPNP, which codes for a natriuretic protein. Conclusion: We have uncovered numerous commonalities and differences in gene content between the genomes of the pathogenic agents causing citrus canker A, B, and C and other Xanthomonas genomes. Molecular genetics can now be employed to determine the role of these genes in plant-microbe interactions. The gained knowledge will be instrumental for improving citrus canker control.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientIfico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Coordenacao para Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior (CAPES)Fundo de Defesa da Citricultura (FUNDECITRUS

Modelling human choices: MADeM and decision‑making

Research supported by FAPESP 2015/50122-0 and DFG-GRTK 1740/2. RP and AR are also part of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics FAPESP grant (2013/07699-0). RP is supported by a FAPESP scholarship (2013/25667-8). ACR is partially supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)