Configuration management and product lines to enhance the replication process in software engineering

This research is concerned with the experimental software engineering area, specifically experiment replication. Replication has traditionally been viewed as a complex task in software engineering. This is possibly due to the present immaturity of the experimental paradigm applied to software development. Researchers usually use replication packages to replicate an experiment. However, replication packages are not the solution to all the information management problems that crop up when successive replications of an experiment accumulate. This research borrows ideas from the software configuration management and software product line paradigms to support the replication process. We believe that configuration management can help to manage and administer information from one replication to another: hypotheses, designs, data analysis, etc. The software product line paradigm can help to organize and manage any changes introduced into the experiment by each replication. We expect the union of the two paradigms in replication to improve the planning, design and execution of further replications and their alignment with existing replications. Additionally, this research work will contribute a web support environment for archiving information related to different experiment replications. Additionally, it will provide flexible enough information management support for running replications with different numbers and types of changes. Finally, it will afford massive storage of data from different replications. Experimenters working collaboratively on the same experiment must all have access to the different experiments.

Using configuration management and product line software paradigms to support the experimentation process in software engineering.

There is no empirical evidence whatsoever to support most of the beliefs on which software construction is based. We do not yet know the adequacy, limits, qualities, costs and risks of the technologies used to develop software. Experimentation helps to check and convert beliefs and opinions into facts. This research is concerned with the replication area. Replication is a key component for gathering empirical evidence on software development that can be used in industry to build better software more efficiently. Replication has not been an easy thing to do in software engineering (SE) because the experimental paradigm applied to software development is still immature. Nowadays, a replication is executed mostly using a traditional replication package. But traditional replication packages do not appear, for some reason, to have been as effective as expected for transferring information among researchers in SE experimentation. The trouble spot appears to be the replication setup, caused by version management problems with materials, instruments, documents, etc. This has proved to be an obstacle to obtaining enough details about the experiment to be able to reproduce it as exactly as possible. We address the problem of information exchange among experimenters by developing a schema to characterize replications. We will adapt configuration management and product line ideas to support the experimentation process. This will enable researchers to make systematic decisions based on explicit knowledge rather than assumptions about replications. This research will output a replication support web environment. This environment will not only archive but also manage experimental materials flexibly enough to allow both similar and differentiated replications with massive experimental data storage. The platform should be accessible to several research groups working together on the same families of experiments.

The human side of social technology for climate change mitigation and human development: the case of "efficient stoves" in Brazil

Carbon management has gradually gained attention within the overall environmental management and corporate social responsibility agendas. The clean development mechanism, from Kyoto Protocol, was envisioned as connecting carbon market and sustainable development objectives in developing countries. Previous research has shown that this potential is rarely being achieved. The paper explores how the incorporation of the human side into carbon management reinforces its contribution to generate human development in local communities and to improve the company's image. A case study of a Brazilian company is presented, with the results of the application of an analytical model that incorporates the human side and human development. The selected project is an "efficient stoves" programme. "Efficient stoves" are recognised in Brazil as social technologies. Results suggest that the fact that social technologies value the human side of the technology plays a key role when it comes to analysing the co-benefits of the project implementation.

Infrastructure Finance in Developing Countries by State and Multilateral Development Banks

Infrastructure concession is an alternative widely used by governments to increase investment. In the case of the road sector, the main characteristics of the concessions are: long-term projects, high investments in the early years of the contract and high risks. A viability analysis must be carried out for each concession and consider the characteristics of the project. When the infrastructure is located in a developing country, political and market growth uncertainties should be add in the concession project analysis, as well as economic instability, because they present greater risks. This paper is an analysis of state bank participation in road infrastructure finance in developing countries. For this purpose, we studied road infrastructure financing and its associated risks, and also the features of developing countries. Furthermore, we considered the issue of state banks and multilateral development banks that perform an important role by offering better credit lines than the private banks, in terms of cost, interest and grace period. Based on this study, we analyzed the Brazilian Development Bank - BNDES – and their credit supply to road infrastructure concessions. The results show that BNDES is the main financing agent for long-term investment in the sector, offering loans with low interest rates in Brazilian currency. From this research we argue that a single state bank should not alone support the increasing demand for finance in Brazil. Therefore, we conclude that there is a need to expand the supply of credit in Brazil, by strengthening private banks in the long-term lending market.

Research and production of a multi-view streaming page

The electronic and mechanical media such as film, television, photography, offset, are just examples of how fast and important the technological development had become in society. Nevertheless the outcoming technologies and the continuous development had provided newer and better possibilities every time for having advanced services. Nowadays multi-view video has been developed with different tools and applications, having as main goal to be more innovative and bring within technical offerings in a friendly for all users in general, in terms of managing and accessibility (just internet connection is needed). The intention of all technologies is to generate an innovation in order to gain more users and start being popular, therefore is important to realize an implementation in this case. In such terms realizing about the outreach that Multi View Video, an importance to become more global in this days, an application that supports this aim such as the possibility of language selection within the use of a same scenario has been realized. Finally is important to point out that thanks to the Multi View Video's continuous progress in technology a more intercultural market will be reachable, making of it a shared society growth on the world's global development. � ��� ���� ������� ��� �� ��� ��� �������� ��� ���� ��� ��� ������ ���������� � ���� � �� ���� ���� � ���� �� � � ���� � � ��� ��� �� ��� �� � ��� ��� ��������� �� � ����� ��������� ��� � ��� � ���� ���� ����� ����������� ��� ��� �� � ������������� �� �������� �������� ������� ������� �� ����� �������� ��� � � �� ���� �������� ���� ����� �������� �������� �� ������ ���� �� � ����������� ������������� � � ��!��� � � � �� ������� ��� ��������"������ � �� ���������� �������� ��� �� ������ � ����� ����� ��� ��� �� � �� �� ���� �� ��� �� ���� � � � �� ��� ������ �� �� ��� �� �� ��� �� � �� ��� #�� ��� ������� � ��� �� � �� ������$������� � ��� ��� # ������� � ����� ����� �� ���� �% ���% �������� ��� ����� ����������� �� ������� �� � �� ������ ��� ���� �� ��� �� � ����� �� � �� � �� ����� ��� ��� ���� � � �� ��� ��������� ����� ��� � � �� ���������������������� ����������� ��� #����& ������ �� ��� �� � ���� � ��� � �� � ���'�� �� ��� ��� � % ��� % ���(�� ��� ������ � �� ���� �� ���������� ���� �� � � ��� � ����� '� �� ��� ��� ���������� ��' ������ ������ ������ � ��� �� ����� ����� ��(������������������� ��� � �

Planning and community development: case studies

Planning and Comunity Development: Case Studies, presents the findings of the inter-university Seminar held on 28?29 July 2011 and organized by researchers from the Technical University of Madrid and the University of California, Berkeley, who were fortunate to have the presence of the renowned Professor John Friedmann. Professors, researchers and PhD students from our research groups presented their works as scientific communications that were enriched by the debate among the different researches who attended the Seminar. All of them appear in the picture below in front of the gate of Haviland Hall at UC Berkeley. This book analyses the concept of planning and its evolution so far, leading to the conceptualization of governance as an expression of the planning practice. It also studies the role of social capital and cooperation as tools for the community development. The conceptual analysis is complemented by the development of six case studies that put forward experiences of planning and community development carried out in diverse social and cultural contexts of Latin-America, Europe and North America. This publication comes after more than 20 years of work of the researchers that met at the seminar. Through their work in managing development initiatives, they have learned lessons and have contribute to shape their own body of teaching that develops and analyses the role of planning in public domain to promote community development. This knowledge is synthesized in the model Planning as Working With People, that shows that development is not effective unless is promoted in continuous collaboration with all the actors involved in the process.