124 research outputs found
A Study of Documentation for Software Architecture
Documentation is an important mechanism for disseminating software
architecture knowledge. Software project teams can employ vastly different
formats for documenting software architecture, from unstructured narratives to
standardized documents. We explored to what extent this documentation format
may matter to newcomers joining a software project and attempting to understand
its architecture. We conducted a controlled questionnaire-based study wherein
we asked 65 participants to answer software architecture understanding
questions using one of two randomly-assigned documentation formats: narrative
essays, and structured documents. We analyzed the factors associated with
answer quality using a Bayesian ordered categorical regression and observed no
significant association between the format of architecture documentation and
performance on architecture understanding tasks. Instead, prior exposure to the
source code of the system was the dominant factor associated with answer
quality. We also observed that answers to questions that require applying and
creating activities were statistically significantly associated with the use of
the system's source code to answer the question, whereas the document format or
level of familiarity with the system were not. Subjective sentiment about the
documentation format was comparable: Although more participants agreed that the
structured document was easier to navigate and use for writing code, this
relation was not statistically significant. We conclude that, in the limited
experimental context studied, our results contradict the hypothesis that the
format of architectural documentation matters. We surface two more important
factors related to effective use of software architecture documentation: prior
familiarity with the source code, and the type of architectural information
sought.Comment: accepted to EMSE
Home on the Range: Factors Explaining Partial Migration of African Buffalo in a Tropical Environment
Partial migration (when only some individuals in a population undertake seasonal migrations) is common in many species and geographical contexts. Despite the development of modern statistical methods for analyzing partial migration, there have been no studies on what influences partial migration in tropical environments. We present research on factors affecting partial migration in African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in northeastern Namibia. Our dataset is derived from 32 satellite tracking collars, spans 4 years and contains over 35,000 locations. We used remotely sensed data to quantify various factors that buffalo experience in the dry season when making decisions on whether and how far to migrate, including potential man-made and natural barriers, as well as spatial and temporal heterogeneity in environmental conditions. Using an information-theoretic, non-linear regression approach, our analyses showed that buffalo in this area can be divided into 4 migratory classes: migrants, non-migrants, dispersers, and a new class that we call âexpandersâ. Multimodel inference from least-squares regressions of wet season movements showed that environmental conditions (rainfall, fires, woodland cover, vegetation biomass), distance to the nearest barrier (river, fence, cultivated area) and social factors (age, size of herd at capture) were all important in explaining variation in migratory behaviour. The relative contributions of these variables to partial migration have not previously been assessed for ungulates in the tropics. Understanding the factors driving migratory decisions of wildlife will lead to better-informed conservation and land-use decisions in this area
G-protein signaling: back to the future
Heterotrimeric G-proteins are intracellular partners of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs act on inactive Gα·GDP/GÎČÎł heterotrimers to promote GDP release and GTP binding, resulting in liberation of Gα from GÎČÎł. Gα·GTP and GÎČÎł target effectors including adenylyl cyclases, phospholipases and ion channels. Signaling is terminated by intrinsic GTPase activity of Gα and heterotrimer reformation â a cycle accelerated by âregulators of G-protein signalingâ (RGS proteins). Recent studies have identified several unconventional G-protein signaling pathways that diverge from this standard model. Whereas phospholipase C (PLC) ÎČ is activated by Gαq and GÎČÎł, novel PLC isoforms are regulated by both heterotrimeric and Ras-superfamily G-proteins. An Arabidopsis protein has been discovered containing both GPCR and RGS domains within the same protein. Most surprisingly, a receptor-independent Gα nucleotide cycle that regulates cell division has been delineated in both Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we revisit classical heterotrimeric G-protein signaling and explore these new, non-canonical G-protein signaling pathways
Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences
The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & NemĂ©sio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; NemĂ©sio 2009aâb; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported
by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on
18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based
researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016
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