Model driven product line engineering : core asset and process implications

Reuse is at the heart of major improvements in productivity and quality in Software Engineering. Both Model Driven Engineering (MDE) and Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) are software development paradigms that promote reuse. Specifically, they promote systematic reuse and a departure from craftsmanship towards an industrialization of the software development process. MDE and SPLE have established their benefits separately. Their combination, here called Model Driven Product Line Engineering (MDPLE), gathers together the advantages of both. Nevertheless, this blending requires MDE to be recasted in SPLE terms. This has implications on both the core assets and the software development process. The challenges are twofold: (i) models become central core assets from which products are obtained and (ii) the software development process needs to cater for the changes that SPLE and MDE introduce. This dissertation proposes a solution to the first challenge following a feature oriented approach, with an emphasis on reuse and early detection of inconsistencies. The second part is dedicated to assembly processes, a clear example of the complexity MDPLE introduces in software development processes. This work advocates for a new discipline inside the general software development process, i.e., the Assembly Plan Management, which raises the abstraction level and increases reuse in such processes. Different case studies illustrate the presented ideas.

Análisis del mercado del rating de las emisiones de titulación en España (1993-2011)

[ES] La calificación crediticia externa es un elemento clave para el buen fin de las operaciones de titulización. No obstante, las agencias de calificación han sido objeto de una intensa controversia, cuestionándose su fiabilidad y objetividad. En este trabajo abundamos en esta cuestión, analizando la distribución de los ratings otorgados a las emisiones de bonos de titulización llevadas a cabo en España (1993-2011), uno de los países más activos en cuanto al volumen de emisiones, llegaron a ocupar el segundo puesto a nivel europeo y el tercero a nivel mundial. Aportamos evidencia sobre ciertas anomalías entre las que cabe destacar la estructura oligopolística del mercado del rating, la fragilidad desde una perspectiva histórica de las calificaciones otorgadas, y la existencia de patrones no homogéneos en la elección de la agencia de calificación, tanto si se tiene en cuenta la sociedad gestora, como el colateral de respaldo.

Does rating shopping exist in spanish securitization issues?

[EN] Debt issue credit ratings can lead to conflicts of interest as the issuer itself is entrusted with contracting and compensating the rating agency. Into the bargain, the credit rating agency may be involved in designing the issues that the same agency subsequently rates. Credit rating agencies thus could have incentives to rate issues advantageously. Given the economic importance of this issue, in this paper we have proposed to analyze this phenomenon, known as rating shopping in academic literature, for Spanish market securitization issues for the period of time comprehensive from January 1993 to December 2011. In sum 3,665 published ratings are been analysed, for an issued nominal amount of 791,090 million Euros. The results show an association between the credit rating agency contracted and the mean rating awarded. Significant differences are observed in the ratings associated to the contracting manager (or special purpose vehicle SPV- manager firm), to the number of ratings or to the type of collateral. Furthermore, a pattern compatible with rating shopping was observed for some types of collateral: abnormally high market shares associated with certain agencies awarding unusually generous ratings. However, this phenomenon is not seen to be widespread on the rating market associated to Spanish securitization issues.

Sportsmanship rating scale in tennis competition with young players

World Conference on Psychology and Sociology 2012