A Process Framework for Designing Software Reference Architectures for Providing Tools as a Service

Product-Focused Software Process ImprovementSoftware Reference Architecture (SRA), which is a generic architecture solution for a specific type of software systems, provides foundation for the design of concrete architectures in terms of architecture design guidelines and architecture elements. The complexity and size of certain types of software systems need customized and systematic SRA design and evaluation methods. In this paper, we present a software Reference Architecture Design process Framework (RADeF) that can be used for analysis, design and evaluation of the SRA for provisioning of Tools as a Service as part of a cloud-enabled workSPACE (TSPACE). The framework is based on the state of the art results from literature and our experiences with designing software architectures for cloud-based systems. We have applied RADeF SRA design two types of TSPACE: software architecting TSPACE and software implementation TSPACE. The presented framework emphasizes on keeping the conceptual meta-model of the domain under investigation at the core of SRA design strategy and use it as a guiding tool for design, evaluation, implementation and evolution of the SRA. The framework also emphasizes to consider the nature of the tools to be provisioned and underlying cloud platforms to be used while designing SRA. The framework recommends adoption of the multi-faceted approach for evaluation of SRA and quantifiable measurement scheme to evaluate quality of the SRA. We foresee that RADeF can facilitate software architects and researchers during design, application and evaluation of a SRA and its instantiations into concrete software systems.Muhammad Aufeef Chauhan, Muhammad Ali Babar, and Christian W. Probs

On the Outside Looking In: An African American Family’s Experience in an Individualized Education Plan Meeting

The current laws that mandate special education originated through the advocacy of families (Turnbull & Turnbull, 1990). Over the years, families have challenged the system to provide free and appropriate public educations for their children. We share, through qualitative measures, the experiences of one African American family and the educators who serve them trying to navigate the system as well as the obstacles they faced. Recommendations for P-12 practice, teacher education, and advocacy efforts are discussed

Proteomes of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LBB.B5 Incubated in Milk at Optimal and Low Temperatures.

We identified the proteins synthesized by Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus strain LBB.B5 in laboratory culture medium (MRS) at 37°C and milk at 37 and 4°C. Cell-associated proteins were measured by gel-free, shotgun proteomics using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrophotometry. A total of 635 proteins were recovered from all cultures, among which 72 proteins were milk associated (unique or significantly more abundant in milk). LBB.B5 responded to milk by increasing the production of proteins required for purine biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism (LacZ and ManM), energy metabolism (TpiA, PgK, Eno, SdhA, and GapN), amino acid synthesis (MetE, CysK, LBU0412, and AspC) and transport (GlnM and GlnP), and stress response (Trx, MsrA, MecA, and SmpB). The requirement for purines was confirmed by the significantly improved cell yields of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus when incubated in milk supplemented with adenine and guanine. The L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus-expressed proteome in milk changed upon incubation at 4°C for 5 days and included increased levels of 17 proteins, several of which confer functions in stress tolerance (AddB, UvrC, RecA, and DnaJ). However, even with the activation of stress responses in either milk or MRS, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus did not survive passage through the murine digestive tract. These findings inform efforts to understand how L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus is adapted to the dairy environment and its implications for its health-benefiting properties in the human digestive tract. IMPORTANCELactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus has a long history of use in yogurt production. Although commonly cocultured with Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus in milk, fundamental knowledge of the adaptive responses of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus to the dairy environment and the consequences of those responses on the use of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus as a probiotic remain to be elucidated. In this study, we identified proteins of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LBB.B5 that are synthesized in higher quantities in milk at growth-conducive and non-growth-conductive (refrigeration) temperatures compared to laboratory culture medium and further examined whether those L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus cultures were affected differently in their capacity to survive transit through the murine digestive tract. This work provides novel insight into how a major, food-adapted microbe responds to its primary habitat. Such knowledge can be applied to improve starter culture and yogurt production and to elucidate matrix effects on probiotic performance

A Reference Architecture for Electronic Business-to-Business Collaboration Setup and Enactment Systems

The question what a business-to-business (B2B) collaboration setup and enactment application-system should look like remains open. An important element of such collaboration constitutes the inter-organizational disclosure of business-process details so that the opposing parties may protect their business secrets. For that purpose, eSourcing [37] has been developed as a general businessprocess collaboration concept in the framework of the EU research project Cross- Work. The eSourcing characteristics are guiding for the design and evaluation of an eSourcing Reference Architecture (eSRA) that serves as a starting point for software developers of B2B-collaboration systems. In this paper we present the results of a scenario-based evaluation method conducted with the earlier specified eSourcing Architecture (eSA) that generates as results risks, sensitivity, and tradeoff points that must be paid attention to if eSA is implemented. Additionally, the evaluation method detects shortcomings of eSA in terms of integrated components that are required for electronic B2B-collaboration. The evaluation results are used for the specification of eSRA, which comprises all extensions for incorporating the results of the scenario-based evaluation, on three refinement levels.Peer reviewe

Ornament because of crime : learning from Mafia Baroque

This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Thesis: M. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2019Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-101).The thesis looks at the very specific economic and political circumstances in post-Communist Bulgaria that led to the emergence of Mafia Baroque as a distinct architectural style and an instrument for communicating power. Building on the context of the economic meltdown of the mid-1990s, the urban development out-pacing the changing regulatory environment due to corruption, , and the unclear laws relating to land restitution and private development- it seeks to understand how these mafia individuals exploited the construction industry and architecture, and what the future manifestations of these mechanisms could be. A new wave of rural migration to the cities and the current construction boom, present an opportunity for these macho nationalist "businessmen" to establish themselves as "righteous members and builders of society". The thesis will neither seek to create a dialectical- "cleaned up" version of Mafia Baroque nor will it just serve as a cautionary tale projecting a bleak future. If ornament used to be a direct product of crime, could it now express its patron's ulterior motive for an improved urban environment as it takes on additional collective functions besides communicating power? The previous flat kit bashing of parts will be replaced with new programmatic and spatial explorations that seek to project a new synthetic urban condition replacing the individualized enclaves of the present.by Borislav Angelov.M. Arch.M.Arch. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architectur

On the muon neutrino mass

During the runs of the PS 179 experiment at LEAR of CERN, we photographed an event of antiproton-Ne absorption, with a complete pi+ -> mu+ ->e+ chain. From the vertex of the reaction a very slow energy pi+ was emitted. The pi+ decays into a mu+ and subsequently the mu+ decays into a positron. At the first decay vertex a muon neutrino was emitted and at the second decay vertex an electron neutrino and a muon antineutrino. Measuring the pion and muon tracks and applying the momentum and energy conservation and using a classical statistical interval estimator, we obtained an experimental upper limit for the muon neutrino mass: m_nu < 2.2 MeV at a 90% confidence level. A statistical analysis has been performed of the factors contributing to the square value of the neutrino mass limit.Comment: 18 pages, 5 eps figure

Differences in the transduction of canonical wnt signals demarcate effector and memory CD8 T cells with distinct recall proliferation capacity.

Protection against reinfection is mediated by Ag-specific memory CD8 T cells, which display stem cell-like function. Because canonical Wnt (Wingless/Int1) signals critically regulate renewal versus differentiation of adult stem cells, we evaluated Wnt signal transduction in CD8 T cells during an immune response to acute infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Whereas naive CD8 T cells efficiently transduced Wnt signals, at the peak of the primary response to infection only a fraction of effector T cells retained signal transduction and the majority displayed strongly reduced Wnt activity. Reduced Wnt signaling was in part due to the downregulation of Tcf-1, one of the nuclear effectors of the pathway, and coincided with progress toward terminal differentiation. However, the correlation between low and high Wnt levels with short-lived and memory precursor effector cells, respectively, was incomplete. Adoptive transfer studies showed that low and high Wnt signaling did not influence cell survival but that Wnt high effectors yielded memory cells with enhanced proliferative potential and stronger protective capacity. Likewise, following adoptive transfer and rechallenge, memory cells with high Wnt levels displayed increased recall expansion, compared with memory cells with low Wnt signaling, which were preferentially effector-like memory cells, including tissue-resident memory cells. Thus, canonical Wnt signaling identifies CD8 T cells with enhanced proliferative potential in part independent of commonly used cell surface markers to discriminate effector and memory T cell subpopulations. Interventions that maintain Wnt signaling may thus improve the formation of functional CD8 T cell memory during vaccination

Quasi two-dimensional antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice RbFe(MoO4)2

RbFe(MoO4)2 is a rare example of a nearly two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice. Magnetic resonance spectra and magnetization curves reveal that the system has a layered spin structure with six magnetic sublattices. The sublattices within a layer are arranged in a triangular manner with the magnetization vectors 120 degree apart. The H-T phase diagram, containing at least five different magnetic phases is constructed. In zero field, RbFe(MoO4)2 undergoes a phase transition at T_N=3.8 K into a non-collinear triangular spin structure with all the spins confined in the basal plane. The application of an in-plane magnetic field induces a collinear spin state between the fields H_c1=47 kOe and H_c2=71 kOe and produces a magnetization plateau at one-third of the saturation moment. Both the ESR and the magnetization measurements also clearly indicate an additional first-order phase transition in a field of 35 kOe. The exact nature of this phase transition is uncertain.Comment: 9 pages incl 11 figure

Design and Photophysics of 2-Vinyl Quinazolin-4-ones

The reported work has been carried out under Contract DN 19/11, 10.12.2017, with the National Science Fund of Bulgaria