Assessing Practitioner Beliefs about Software Defect Prediction

Just because software developers say they believe in "X", that does not necessarily mean that "X" is true. As shown here, there exist numerous beliefs listed in the recent Software Engineering literature which are only supported by small portions of the available data. Hence we ask what is the source of this disconnect between beliefs and evidence?. To answer this question we look for evidence for ten beliefs within 300,000+ changes seen in dozens of open-source projects. Some of those beliefs had strong support across all the projects; specifically, "A commit that involves more added and removed lines is more bug-prone" and "Files with fewer lines contributed by their owners (who contribute most changes) are bug-prone". Most of the widely-held beliefs studied are only sporadically supported in the data; i.e. large effects can appear in project data and then disappear in subsequent releases. Such sporadic support explains why developers believe things that were relevant to their prior work, but not necessarily their current work. Our conclusion will be that we need to change the nature of the debate with Software Engineering. Specifically, while it is important to report the effects that hold right now, it is also important to report on what effects change over time.Comment: 9 pages, 3 Figures, 4 Tables, ICSE SEIP 202

Case Survey Studies in Software Engineering Research

Background: Given the social aspects of Software Engineering (SE), in the last twenty years, researchers from the field started using research methods common in social sciences such as case study, ethnography, and grounded theory. More recently, case survey, another imported research method, has seen its increasing use in SE studies. It is based on existing case studies reported in the literature and intends to harness the generalizability of survey and the depth of case study. However, little is known on how case survey has been applied in SE research, let alone guidelines on how to employ it properly. Aims: This article aims to provide a better understanding of how case survey has been applied in Software Engineering research. Method: To address this knowledge gap, we performed a systematic mapping study and analyzed 12 Software Engineering studies that used the case survey method. Results: Our findings show that these studies presented a heterogeneous understanding of the approach ranging from secondary studies to primary inquiries focused on a large number of instances of a research phenomenon. They have not applied the case survey method consistently as defined in the seminal methodological papers. Conclusions: We conclude that a set of clearly defined guidelines are needed on how to use case survey in SE research, to ensure the quality of the studies employing this approach and to provide a set of clearly defined criteria to evaluate such work.Comment: Accepted for presentation at ACM / IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM) (ESEM '20

Global, regional, and national burden of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016.

BACKGROUND: The number of individuals living with dementia is increasing, negatively affecting families, communities, and health-care systems around the world. A successful response to these challenges requires an accurate understanding of the dementia disease burden. We aimed to present the first detailed analysis of the global prevalence, mortality, and overall burden of dementia as captured by the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study 2016, and highlight the most important messages for clinicians and neurologists. METHODS: GBD 2016 obtained data on dementia from vital registration systems, published scientific literature and surveys, and data from health-service encounters on deaths, excess mortality, prevalence, and incidence from 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2016, through systematic review and additional data-seeking efforts. To correct for differences in cause of death coding across time and locations, we modelled mortality due to dementia using prevalence data and estimates of excess mortality derived from countries that were most likely to code deaths to dementia relative to prevalence. Data were analysed by standardised methods to estimate deaths, prevalence, years of life lost (YLLs), years of life lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs; computed as the sum of YLLs and YLDs), and the fractions of these metrics that were attributable to four risk factors that met GBD criteria for assessment (high body-mass index [BMI], high fasting plasma glucose, smoking, and a diet high in sugar-sweetened beverages). FINDINGS: In 2016, the global number of individuals who lived with dementia was 43·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 37·8-51·0), increased from 20.2 million (17·4-23·5) in 1990. This increase of 117% (95% UI 114-121) contrasted with a minor increase in age-standardised prevalence of 1·7% (1·0-2·4), from 701 cases (95% UI 602-815) per 100 000 population in 1990 to 712 cases (614-828) per 100 000 population in 2016. More women than men had dementia in 2016 (27·0 million, 95% UI 23·3-31·4, vs 16.8 million, 14.4-19.6), and dementia was the fifth leading cause of death globally, accounting for 2·4 million (95% UI 2·1-2·8) deaths. Overall, 28·8 million (95% UI 24·5-34·0) DALYs were attributed to dementia; 6·4 million (95% UI 3·4-10·5) of these could be attributed to the modifiable GBD risk factors of high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, smoking, and a high intake of sugar-sweetened beverages. INTERPRETATION: The global number of people living with dementia more than doubled from 1990 to 2016, mainly due to increases in population ageing and growth. Although differences in coding for causes of death and the heterogeneity in case-ascertainment methods constitute major challenges to the estimation of the burden of dementia, future analyses should improve on the methods for the correction of these biases. Until breakthroughs are made in prevention or curative treatment, dementia will constitute an increasing challenge to health-care systems worldwide

Analyzing the impact of beliefs in software project practices

Abstract — Folklore and beliefs are strong in the software practitioners’ community. Software engineering is a communication intensive activity. Software engineers are innovation driven and regularly use automated resources to share ideas, new paradigms and approaches to support and improve their practices. This information flow generates technical folklore and beliefs (that do not have a formal trial basis). Software engineers applying practices are influenced by these and they are inevitably taken on board in the adoption of a particular technology or practice. This paper presents an industrial case study, using a qualitative approach, to investigate the origins and impacts of beliefs on software development team practices. Its main contribution is on the understanding of creation and evolution of technical beliefs, and in studying its use for team practices improvement in the software engineering industry. Keywords-belief; technical folklore and beliefs; industry case study; business culture and values; software practices. I

Inclusão tecnológica e direito à cultura : movimentos rumo à sociedade democrática do conhecimento

A presente obra coletiva apresenta uma reflexão sobre Sociedade Informacional no que se refere à Inclusão Tecnológica e Direito à Cultura, tudo para a construção de um pensamento jurídico adequado às necessidades da nossa sociedade contemporânea. O conjunto de artigos foi estruturado em dois eixos principais: (i) Sociedade Informacional e Inclusão Tecnológica; e, (ii) Sociedade Democrática do Conhecimento e Direito à Cultura. Aqui consignamos o esforço de todos os professores e alunos do nosso PPGD/UFSC, como também, dos Programas de Mestrado e Doutorado da PUCPR, UniBrasil e UniSantos que desenvolveram pesquisas dentro do PROCAD. Também cabe ressaltar o apoio do Ministério da Cultura e os recursos recebidos da CAPES Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pesssoal de Nível Superior.Sumário. Prefácio / Noemi Olivera Universidade Nacional de La Plata/Argentina 9. Parte I: Sociedade Informacional e Inclusão Tecnológica. Movimentos rumo a Sociedade Democrática do Conhecimento / Marcos Wachowicz e Carol Proner 15. Questões Criticas do Direito da Internet / José de Oliveira Ascensão 39. Sociedade da Informação e Darknets / Cinthia O. de A. Freitas 69. Os Conhecimentos Tradicionais e a Biodiversidade: a Necessidade de um Regime Próprio de Proteção / Antonio César Mateo 91. Órgãos, Domínio e Licenças Públicas / Christiano Lacorte 111. O Abuso do Direito Autoral nas Relações Contratuais / Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza 123. Direito das Minorias e Inclusão Digital: Análise do Caso da Rede nacional de quilombos digitais (RNQD) / Eduardo Biacchi Gomes, Laura Garbini Both 161. Parte II Sociedade Democrática do Conhecimento e Direito à Cultura. Sociedade de Consumo e o Direito à Informação / Fernanda Mara Gibran Antônio Carlos Efing 185. A internet e a participação Política: acesso a informaçao com equidade / Gabriela Grosselli 201. Democracia, Desenvolvimento e Formas de Inclusão Social Tecnológica: o direito de autor a partir da concepção de commons / Larissa Alcântara Pereira 221. A Proposta do Marco Civil da Internet no tocante à Promoção da Cultura e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico pelo Poder Público / Rangel Oliveira Trindade 247. Da obra sem autorao autor sem obra: cultura e inclusão tecnológica na recomposição do direito de autor / Rosalice Fidalgo Pinheiro 261. Cultura e Preservação da Memória e Patrimônio Histórico do Poder Judiciário no contexto da tecnologia / Andréia Regina de Moraes Benedtti e Vladmir Passos de Freitas 283. Diversidade Cultural na Sociedade Informacional promessas e desafios: Por uma visão dialética sobre o tema / Marcos Wachowicz e Luiza Landerdahl Chistmann 309. Sobre os Autores 339

The non-coding RNA BC1 is down-regulated in the hippocampus of Wistar Audiogenic Rat (WAR) strain after audiogenic kindling

The aim of this study was to identify molecular pathways involved in audiogenic seizures in the epilepsy-prone Wistar Audiogenic Rat (WAR). For this, we used a suppression-subtractive hybridization (SSH) library from the hippocampus of WARs coupled to microarray comparative gene expression analysis, followed by Northern blot validation of individual genes. We discovered that the levels of the non-protein coding (npc) RNA BC1 were significantly reduced in the hippocampus of WARs submitted to repeated audiogenic seizures (audiogenic kindling) when compared to Wistar resistant rats and to both naive WARs and Wistars. By quantitative in situ hybridization, we verified lower levels of BC1 RNA in the GD-hilus and significant signal ratio reduction in the stratum radiatum and stratum pyramidale of hippocampal CA3 subfield of audiogenic kindled animals. Functional results recently obtained in a BC1-/- mouse model and our current data are supportive of a potential disruption in signaling pathways, upstream of BC1, associated with the seizure susceptibility of WARs. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP[02/13828-2]FAPESP[2007/50261-4]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP-Cinapce[2005/56447-7]CNPqConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)PRONEXConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)PROEX-CAPESCoordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Apoio ao Ensino, Pesquisa e Assistência do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo (FAEPA)FAEPA/HC-FMRP-US