Systematic evaluation of software product line architectures

The architecture of a software product line is one of its most important artifacts as it represents an abstraction of the products that can be generated. It is crucial to evaluate the quality attributes of a product line architecture in order to: increase the productivity of the product line process and the quality of the products; provide a means to understand the potential behavior of the products and, consequently, decrease their time to market; and, improve the handling of the product line variability. The evaluation of product line architecture can serve as a basis to analyze the managerial and economical values of a product line for software managers and architects. Most of the current research on the evaluation of product line architecture does not take into account metrics directly obtained from UML models and their variabilities; the metrics used instead are difficult to be applied in general and to be used for quantitative analysis. This paper presents a Systematic Evaluation Method for UML-based Software Product Line Architecture, the SystEM-PLA. SystEM-PLA differs from current research as it provides stakeholders with a means to: (i) estimate and analyze potential products; (ii) use predefined basic UML-based metrics to compose quality attribute metrics; (iii) perform feasibility and trade-off analysis of a product line architecture with respect to its quality attributes; and, (iv) make the evaluation of product line architecture more flexible. An example using the SEI’s Arcade Game Maker (AGM) product line is presented as a proof of concept, illustrating SystEM-PLA activities. Metrics for complexity and extensibility quality attributes are defined and used to perform a trade-off analysis

Thanatourism, Caminata Nocturna, and the Complex Geopolitics of Mexico’s Parque EcoAlberto

This article provides readers with a critical analysis of Mexico’s Parque EcoAlberto. Utilizing some of the theoretical work of interdisciplinary scholars who are interested in the study of “thanatourism,” the authors illustrate how this park, with its Caminata Nocturna (night hike), is much more than simply a “dark” tourist attraction that deters those who might travel North to the U.S. border. This study shows how the indigenous Hñähñú in Mexico have to confront a host of symbolic and material forces that are sometimes hidden in the patriotic metanarratives that swirl around this park

Investigación cualitativa en educación: reexaminando sus teorías, prácticas y desarrollos en una era científico-política

Since it entered education in the mid-20th century, qualitative research has been a well-established methodology among educational researchers. Its strength lies in its nature, scope, and methodological flexibility to understand education's cultural, social, political and moral phenomena. Between the 1970s and 1980s, the relevance and superiority of quantitative vs. qualitative research in education were debated in academic forums. The paradigm debate was so intense that it reached political discussions. In 2002, the National Research Council (NRC) of the United States of America recommended the Federal Department of Education the exclusion of qualitative research from federal funds because it was not considered scientific research. A similar situation was observed in England and Australia. Since then, qualitative research has continued to develop as a model of educational research with the support of private funds. This paper revisits qualitative education research and examines its developments to reposition itself as a legitimate model of scholarly research in a political-scientific era.Desde su aparición en la educación a mediados del siglo XX, la investigación cualitativa ha sido una metodología plenamente asentada entre los investigadores de la educación. Su principal valor reside en su naturaleza, alcance y flexibilidad metodológica, que permite comprender los fenómenos culturales, sociales, políticos y éticos de la educación. Entre los años setenta y ochenta del siglo XX fue muy debatido en los foros académicos la idoneidad y superioridad de la investigación cuantitativa frente a la cualitativa en el mundo educativo. La polémica sobre los paradigmas fue tan intenso que llegó incluso a los debates políticos. En 2002, el National Research Council (NRC) de los Estados Unidos recomendó al Federal Department of Education la exclusión de la investigación cualitativa de cualquier asignación de fondos federales al no considerarla dentro del concpeto de investigación científica. Una situación similar ocurrió en Reino Unido y Australia. Desde entonces, la investigación cualitativa ha continuado desarrollándose como modelo de investigación educativa, pero únicamente con el apoyo de fondos privados. Este artículo revisa la situación actual de la investigación educativa cualitativa y examina su evolución con el fin de reposicionarla como un modelo legítimo de investigación académica en una era político-científica

Pasado, presente y futuro del búfalo en Argentina

El búfalo comenzó a ser introducido al país a comienzo el siglo XX, mediante la importación razas Mediterránea, Murrah y Jafarabadi. En la actualidad la población bubalina alcanzó las de 87.711 cabezas y se encuentran distribuidas en 20 de las 23 provincias que componen el territorio nacional. El 80 % de la población de búfalos se encuentran en el nordeste argentino. Siendo las provincias de Formosa y Corrientes las que cuentan con la mayores poblaciones bubalinas. Existen en el país 8 millones de hectáreas aptas para soportar una carga de 4 millones de búfalos.The buffalo began to be introduced to the country in the early twentieth century, by importing Mediterranean, Murrah and Jafarabadi breeds. Today buffalo population reached 87.711 heads, which are distributed in 20 out of the 23 provinces that conforms the country. The 80% of the population of buffaloes is found in northeastern region, being the provinces of Formosa and Corrientes those with the largest buffalo population. The country has 8 million hectares suitable to withstand a load of 4 million buffaloes.Fil: Crudeli, G. A.. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Cs.veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Patiño, E. M.. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Cs.veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Maldonado Vargas, P.. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Cs.veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Konrad, José Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Cs.veterinarias; Argentin

Control of Thickness of PEDOT Electrodeposits on Glass/ITO Electrodes from Organic Solutions and its Use as Anode in Organic Solar Cells

AbstractPoly-ethylendioxythiophene (PEDOT) was electropolymerized from the monomer EDOT in acetonitrile (ACN) containing Bu4N+ClO4-, BF4- or PF6- ions as supporting electrolyte. The electrode used was transparent electrodes (Glass/ITO) in order to generate the anode of an organic solar cell (OSC). Potentiodynamic and potentiostatic electropolymerization techniques were used to make the conducting polymer deposits (E-PEDOT), which were obtained as a thin film onto the ITO surface. It was possible to control the thickness of the electrodeposited films in the range of 15 to 200nm measured by AFM. With the thinner films (until 100nm), it was observed that its absorbance at 700nm was linearly dependent with their thickness and it was possible to obtain an equation that was used to measure the films thickness of future experiments. The E-PEDOT films were successfully used for constructing OSC's and the efficiency values found were equivalent or slightly superior to those found with the classical PEDOT:PSS anode

Effect of the CB1 cannabinoid agonist WIN 55212-2 on the acquisition and reinstatement of MDMA-induced conditioned place preference in mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Numerous reports indicate that MDMA users consume other psychoactive drugs, among which cannabis is one of the most common. The aim of the present study was to evaluate, using the conditioned place preference, the effect of the cannabinoid agonist WIN 55,212-2 on the rewarding effects of MDMA in mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the first experiment adolescent mice were initially conditioned with 1.25, 2.5 or 5 mg/kg of MDMA or 0.1 or 0.5 mg/kg of WIN and subsequently with both drugs. Reinstatement of the extinguished preference by priming doses was performed in the groups that showed CPP. In the second experiment, animals were conditioned with 2.5 or 5 mg/kg of MDMA and, after extinction, reinstatement of the preference was induced by 0.5 or 0.1 mg/kg of WIN.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A low dose of WIN 55212-2 (0.1 mg/kg) increased the rewarding effects of low doses of MDMA (1.25 mg/kg), although a decrease in the preference induced by MDMA (5 and 2.5 mg/kg) was observed when the dose of WIN 55212-2 was raised (0.5 mg/kg). The CB1 antagonist SR 141716 also increased the rewarding effects of the lowest MDMA dose and did not block the effects of WIN. Animals treated with the highest WIN dose plus a non-neurotoxic dose of MDMA exhibited decreases of striatal DA and serotonin in the cortex. On the other hand, WIN 55212-2-induced CPP was reinstated by priming injections of MDMA, although WIN did not reinstate the MDMA-induced CPP.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results confirm that the cannabinoid system plays a role in the rewarding effects of MDMA and highlights the risks that sporadic drug use can pose in terms of relapse to dependence. Finally, the potential neuroprotective action of cannabinoids is not supported by our data; on the contrary, they are evidence of the potential neurotoxic effect of said drugs when administered with MDMA.</p

Adaptation of urban uses of environmental characteristics: A case study of La Safor, Valencia, Spain

[EN] In the 1990s a methodology was developed to apply the concept of land aptitude to urban plans. This methodology was based on the concepts of capacity and vulnerability in the face of different urban uses (e.g. residential use, industrial use and strategic facilities). The methodology was implemented thanks to geographical information systems (GIS) mapping of available cartography. In recent years, the available cartography has increased in quantity and in spatial resolution. Also, urban planning and environmental legislation have evolved. In this study, we propose a methodological update to incorporate all these changes. The updated methodology is applied to La Safor (Valencia, Spain), which is a region composed of 31 municipalities. La Safor is a model case study because of its characteristics that makes it representative of both coastal and inner areas. Our results point out the need to incorporate legal constraints to the methodology. Including climate adaptation is also essential for strategic urbanism and to accomplish environmental requirements. The methodology presented can be defined as an integrated assessment tool necessary for sustainable development and minimizing environmental risks.Altur Grau, VJ.; Aguilar-Maldonado, JA.; Sebastiá-Frasquet, M.; Miralles García, JL. (2019). Adaptation of urban uses of environmental characteristics: A case study of La Safor, Valencia, Spain. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment (Online). 238:187-198. https://doi.org/10.2495/SC190171S18719823

Why fly blind? Event-based visual guidance for ornithopter robot flight

Under licence Creative Commons - Green Open Access (IEEE).The development of perception and control methods that allow bird-scale flapping-wing robots (a.k.a. ornithopters) to perform autonomously is an under-researched area. This paper presents a fully onboard event-based method for ornithopter robot visual guidance. The method uses event cameras to exploit their fast response and robustness against motion blur in order to feed the ornithopter control loop at high rates (100 Hz). The proposed scheme visually guides the robot using line features extracted in the event image plane and controls the flight by actuating over the horizontal and vertical tail deflections. It has been validated on board a real ornithopter robot with real-time computation in low-cost hardware. The experimental evaluation includes sets of experiments with different maneuvers indoors and outdoors.Consejo Europeo de Investigación (ERC) 78824

Evaluation of the safety, tolerance and efficacy of 1-year consumption of infant formula supplemented with Lactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 Lc40 or Bifidobacterium breve CECT7263: a randomized controlled trial

Background: The microorganism present in breast milk, added to other factors, determine the colonization of infants. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the safety, tolerance and effects of the consumption of a milk formula during the first year of life that is supplemented with L. fermentum CECT5716 or Bifidobacterium breve CECT7263, two strains originally isolated from breast milk. Results: One hundred and eighty-nine infants completed the eleven months of intervention (61 in control group, 65 in Lf group and 63 in Bb group). The growth of infants in the three groups was consistent with standards. No significant differences were observed in the main outcome, weight-gain (Control group: 5.77 Kg ± 0.95, Lf group: 5.77 Kg ± 1.31, Bb group: 5.58 Kg ± 1.10; p = 0.527). The three milk formulae were well tolerated, and no adverse effects were related to the consumption of any of the formula. Infants receiving B. breve CECT7263 had a 1.7 times lower risk of crying than the control group (OR = 0.569, CI 95% 0.568–0.571; p = 0.001). On the other hand, the incidence of diarrhoea in infants receiving the formula supplemented with L. fermentum CECT5716 was a 44% lower than in infants receiving the control formula (p = 0.014). The consumption of this Lactobacillus strain also reduced the duration of diarrhoea by 2.5 days versus control group (p = 0.044). Conclusions: The addition of L. fermentum CECT5716 Lc40 or B. breve CECT7263, two probiotic strains naturally found in breast milk, to infant formulae is safe and induces beneficial effects on the health of infants.This work was funded by Biosearch Life supported by a grant from the Agency of Innovation and Development of Andalusia (IDEA-Spain), Cofinanced by European Regional Development Fund (EC). Project Tittle: “New applications of probiotic strains and derived compounds with biological activity (POSTBIO)” and partially funded by Lactalis-Puleva (Granada, Spain)