Redesigning the jMetal Multi-Objective Optimization Framework

jMetal, an open source, Java-based framework for multi-objective optimization with metaheuristics, has become a valuable tool for many researches in the area as well as for some industrial partners in the last ten years. Our experience using and maintaining it during that time, as well as the received comments and suggestions, have helped us improve the jMetal design and identify significant features to incorporate. This paper revisits the jMetal architecture, describing its refined new design, which relies on design patterns, principles from object-oriented design, and a better use of the Java language features to improve the quality of the code, without disregarding jMetal ever goals of simplicity, facility of use, flexibility, extensibility and portability. Among the newly incorporated features, jMetal supports live interaction with running algorithms and parallel execution of algorithms.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The Origin and Evolutionary History of HIV-1 Subtype C in Senegal

Background: The classification of HIV-1 strains in subtypes and Circulating Recombinant Forms (CRFs) has helped in tracking the course of the HIV pandemic. In Senegal, which is located at the tip of West Africa, CRF02_AG predominates in the general population and Female Sex Workers (FSWs). In contrast, 40% of Men having Sex with Men (MSM) in Senegal are infected with subtype C. In this study we analyzed the geographical origins and introduction dates of HIV-1 C in Senegal in order to better understand the evolutionary history of this subtype, which predominates today in the MSM population Methodology/Principal Findings: We used a combination of phylogenetic analyses and a Bayesian coalescent-based approach, to study the phylogenetic relationships in pol of 56 subtype C isolates from Senegal with 3,025 subtype C strains that were sampled worldwide. Our analysis shows a significantly well supported cluster which contains all subtype C strains that circulate among MSM in Senegal. The MSM cluster and other strains from Senegal are widely dispersed among the different subclusters of African HIV-1 C strains, suggesting multiple introductions of subtype C in Senegal from many different southern and east African countries. More detailed analyses show that HIV-1 C strains from MSM are more closely related to those from southern Africa. The estimated date of the MRCA of subtype C in the MSM population in Senegal is estimated to be in the early 80's. Conclusions/Significance: Our evolutionary reconstructions suggest that multiple subtype C viruses with a common ancestor originating in the early 1970s entered Senegal. There was only one efficient spread in the MSM population, which most likely resulted from a single introduction, underlining the importance of high-risk behavior in spread of viruses

Expert Finding for Requirements Engineering

Requirements Engineering (RE) revolves around requirements, from their discovery to their satisfaction, passing through their formalisation, modification, and traceability with other project artefacts, like preliminary interviews or resulting source codes. Although it is clear for many that involving knowledgeable people is an important aspect of many RE tasks, no proper focus has been given to Expert Finding (EF) systems, leading to have only few related works in the field. Our work attempts to fill this gap by investigating several dimensions of EF: conceptual by analysing the literature about expertise and its evaluation, formal by revising the usual representation of expert rankings, and practical by designing an EF system. As a result, we provide (i) a metamodel grounded in literature from Psychology to identify requirements for EF systems, (ii) a novel formalisation of experts rankings which solves limitations observed in usual EF measures, (iii) two variants of an EF system which builds on usual RE indicators (accessible knowledge and social recognition), and (iv) an enriched evaluation process which investigates deeper the consistency and correctness of an EF system

Cohomologie et K-théorie équivariantes des tours de Bott et des variétés de drapeaux (application au calcul de Schubert)

PARIS7-Bibliothèque centrale (751132105) / SudocPARIS-BIUSJ-Mathématiques rech (751052111) / SudocPOITIERS-Univ-Dép.Maths (860622202) / SudocSudocFranceF

Breaking the Recursivity: Towards a Model to Analyse Expert Finders

Expert Finding (EF) techniques help in discovering people having relevant knowledge and skills. But for their validation, EF techniques usually rely on experts, meaning using another EF technique, generally not properly validated, and exploit them mainly for output validations, meaning only at late stages. We propose a model, which builds on literature in Psychology and practice, to identify generic concepts and relations in order to support the analysis and design of EF techniques, thus inferring potential improvements during early stages in an expertfree manner. Our contribution lies in the identification and review of relevant literature, building the conceptual model, and illustrating its use through an analysis of existing EF techniques. Although the model can be improved, we can already identify strengths and limitations in recent EF techniques, thus supporting the usefulness of a model-based analysis and design for EF techniques

Lessons learnt from the first modelling challenge in animal health: improving preparedness to control African swine fever at the interface between livestock and wildlife

International audienc

Lessons learnt from the first modelling challenge in animal health: Improving preparedness to control African swine fever at the interface between livestock and wildlife

International audienc

Discrimination of Secondary Microseism Origins Using Ocean Tide Modulation

The ocean activity produces continuous and ubiquitous seismic energy mostly in the 2-20 s period band, also known as microseismic noise. The secondary microseisms (2-10 s period) are generated by swell reflections close to the shores and/or by opposing swells in the deep ocean. However, unique conditions are required in order for surface waves, generated by deep-ocean microseisms, to be observed on land. Since both type of secondary microseisms (coastal or deep-ocean) can occur simultaneously at different places and are continuously evolving in terms of frequency, it is very difficult to discriminate them usgin seismic stations on land. By comparing short-duration power spectral densities at both Atlantic shoreline and inland seismic stations, we show that ocean tides strongly modulate the seismic energy in a wide period band except between 2.5 and 5 s. This tidal proxy reveals the existence of an ex situ short-period contribution of the secondary microseismic peak. Comparison with swell spectra at surrounding buoys suggests that the largest part of this extra energy comes from deep-ocean-generated microseisms. Focusing on two different storms which occurred in the North Atlantic Ocean, we show that both deep-ocean and coastal microseisms coexist.Peer Reviewe