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

Los discursos de Catilina: Sall., Cat. 20 Y 58

In this article I pay special attention to the two longest direct speeches which Sallust places in the mouth of Catiline (Sall., Cat. 20 and 58). The aim of my research is to analyze the structure of these orations, testing whether they adapt to the theory and praxis of dramatic speech in Greek and Roman historians, and, above all, to establish which role these orationes played in the general program of Sallust’s Catilinarian Conspiracy.En este trabajo analizo los dos grandes discursos en estilo directo que Salustio pone en boca de Catilina en el Bellum Catilinae (20 y 58). El objetivo de mi trabajo es estudiar la estructura de las mencionadas orationes, comprobar si se ajustan a los modelos de la teoría retórica y, sobre todo, averiguar que función desempenan en el plan general de la monografía salustiana

Deep-water sponge fauna from the mud volcanoes of the Gulf of Cadiz (North Atlantic, Spain)

En prensa1,02

Capital público, actividad económica privada y efectos desbordamiento: Un análisis por Comunidades Autónomas de los sectores Industria y Construcción en España

En este trabajo se presenta una valoración del impacto de la infraestructura pública sobre la actividad privada española en los sectores de Industria y Construcción por CC.AA. para el período 1980-1993. El enfoque utilizado consiste en la estimación de una función de costes transcendental logarítmica, obteniendo resultados, entre otros, de la productividad del capital público y privado a corto y a largo plazo. Además, a diferencia de otros estudios, se considera la posible existencia de efectos desbordamiento del capital público entre regiones. Classification-JEL : D21, H54, O47. Infraestructura pública, efectos desbordamiento, función de costes, productividad.

Acute Systemic Response Of BDNF, Lactate and Cortisol to Strenuous Exercise Modalities in Healthy Untrained Women

Acute bouts of intense exercise increase lactate concentration, which in turn stimulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) production. Cortisol released during intense exercise might inhibit BDNF synthesis. This study examined the acute effects of 2 protocols of strenuous exercise on serum BDNF. Seventeen physically-active healthy females (Age = 20.0 ± 0.9 yr., BMI = 23.0 ± 2.6 kg/m2) performed a strenuous cycle-ergometer graded exercise test (GXT) and a high-intensity interval training session (HIIT). Serum BDNF, serum cortisol, cortisol: BDNF ratio and blood lactate (BLa) were recorded at baseline and immediately following exercise. Although non-statistically significant, the HIIT session elicited a higher magnitude of change from baseline for BDNF (d = 0.17) and cortisol (d = 1.18) than after the GXT (d = -0.26, and d = 0.82, respectively). An interaction was found between GXT and HIIT trials and measurements on BLa levels, with higher post-exertion values after HIIT than after GXT (p < 0.0001, η2 = 0.650, 95%CI = 2.2, 5.2). The higher BLa levels did not raise circulating BDNF. The elevated cortisol levels may have overcome the effects of lactate on BDNF. However, the higher BLa induced by HIIT suggest that interval exercise modality on the long-term could be a feasible intervention to increase circulating peripheral BDNF, at least in untrained healthy women

The Brain Network of Expectancy and Uncertainty Processing

[Background] The Stimulus Preceding Negativity (SPN) is a non-motor slow cortical potential elicited by temporally predictable stimuli, customarily interpreted as a physiological index of expectancy. Its origin would be the brain activity responsible for generating the anticipatory mental representation of an expected upcoming event. The SPN manifests itself as a slow cortical potential with negative slope, growing in amplitude as the stimulus approximates. The uncertainty hypothesis we present here postulates that the SPN is linked to control-related areas in the prefrontal cortex that become more active before the occurrence of an upcoming outcome perceived as uncertain. [Methods/Findings] We tested the uncertainty hypothesis by using a repeated measures design in a Human Contingency Learning task with two levels of uncertainty. In the high uncertainty condition, the outcome is unpredictable. In the mid uncertainty condition, the outcome can be learnt to be predicted in 75% of the trials. Our experiment shows that the Stimulus Preceding Negativity is larger for probabilistically unpredictable (uncertain) outcomes than for probabilistically predictable ones. sLoreta estimations of the brain activity preceding the outcome suggest that prefrontal and parietal areas can be involved in its generation. Prefrontal sites activation (Anterior Cingulate and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex) seems to be related to the degree of uncertainty. Activation in posterior parietal areas, however, does not correlates with uncertainty. [Conclusions/Significance] We suggest that the Stimulus Preceding Negativity reflects the attempt to predict the outcome, when posterior brain areas fail to generate a stable expectancy. Uncertainty is thus conceptualized, not just as the absence of learned expectancy, but as a state with psychological and physiological entity.Research by A. Catena is funded by CONSOLIDER-INGENIO CSD2007-00012 (http://www.bcbl.eu/consolider/index.php). Research by J.C. Perales is founded by a Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) grant (Dirección General de Programas y Transferencia de Conocimiento, Ref. PSI2009-13133, http://www.micinn.es/). Research by A. Catena, A. Candido, and A. Maldonado is founded by a Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) grant (Dirección General de Programas y Transferencia de Conocimiento, Ref. PSI2009-12217, http://www.micinn.es/). Research was also founded by a Junta de Andalucía grant (Reference P09/SEJ-4752, http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/servicios​/ayudas/detalle/69962.html)

Can we measure mesopic pupil size with the cobalt blue light slit-lamp biomicroscopy method?

Producción CientíficaThe aim of this work is to assess a previously described slit-lamp biomicroscopy-based method (SLBM) for measuring pupil diameter and compare it to Colvard infrared pupillometry (CIP). METHODS: Two examiners performed three repeated measurements with each instrument in 40 healthy eyes. We determined the agreement of SLBM and CIP, intraobserver and interobserver repeatabilities, and interobserver concordance (kappa) and SLBM ability for detecting pupil sizes over 6.0 mm. RESULTS: The mean (±standard deviation [SD]) pupil diameter was 5.81 ± 0.70 mm with SLBM and 6.26 ± 0.68 mm with CIP (p = 0.01) averaging both examiner's results. Mean differences between the SLBM and CIP were -0.60 mm and -0.30 mm for each examiner using the average of the three readings (p = 0.02), and they were very similar using the first reading. Intraobserver reproducibility: the width of the 95% LoA ranged from 1.79 to 2.30 mm. The ICCs were 0.97 and 0.92 for SLBM, and 0.96 and 0.90 for CIP. Interobserver reproducibility: the width of the LoA ranged from 1.82 to 2.09 mm. Kappa statistics were 0.39 and 0.49 for the first and mean SLBM readings, respectively, and 0.45 for both the first and mean CIP readings. Sensitivity and specificity of SLBM for detection of pupils larger than 6 mm ranged from 55.56% to 73.68% and from 76.19% to 95.45%, respectively. The best trade-off between sensitivity and specificity ranged from 5.4 mm to 6.2 mm. CONCLUSIONS: Although the SLBM is quite repeatable, it underestimates mesopic pupil size and shows a too wide range of agreement with CIP. SLBM shows low sensitivity in detecting pupils larger than 6 mm, which may be misleading when planning anterior segment surgery. Previous grading-consensus training strategies may increase interrater reproducibility, and compensation for the systematic underestimation could improve accuracy of the SLBM