Feature Nets: behavioural modelling of software product lines

Software product lines (SPL) are diverse systems that are developed using a dual engineering process: (a)family engineering defines the commonality and variability among all members of the SPL, and (b) application engineering derives specific products based on the common foundation combined with a variable selection of features. The number of derivable products in an SPL can thus be exponential in the number of features. This inherent complexity poses two main challenges when it comes to modelling: Firstly, the formalism used for modelling SPLs needs to be modular and scalable. Secondly, it should ensure that all products behave correctly by providing the ability to analyse and verify complex models efficiently. In this paper we propose to integrate an established modelling formalism (Petri nets) with the domain of software product line engineering. To this end we extend Petri nets to Feature Nets. While Petri nets provide a framework for formally modelling and verifying single software systems, Feature Nets offer the same sort of benefits for software product lines. We show how SPLs can be modelled in an incremental, modular fashion using Feature Nets, provide a Feature Nets variant that supports modelling dynamic SPLs, and propose an analysis method for SPL modelled as Feature Nets. By facilitating the construction of a single model that includes the various behaviours exhibited by the products in an SPL, we make a significant step towards efficient and practical quality assurance methods for software product lines.

From software extensions to product lines of dataflow programs

Abstract Dataflow programs are widely used. Each program is a directed graph where nodes are computations and edges indicate the flow of data. In prior work, we reverse-engineered legacy dataflow programs by deriving their optimized implementations from a simple specification graph using graph transformations called refinements and optimizations. In MDE-speak, our derivations were PIM-to-PSM mappings. In this paper, we show how extensions complement refinements, optimizations, and PIM-to-PSM derivations to make the process of reverse engineering complex legacy dataflow programs tractable. We explain how optional functionality in transformations can be encoded, thereby enabling us to encode product lines of transformations as well as product lines of dataflow programs. We describe the implementation of extensions in the ReFlO tool and present two non-trivial case studies as evidence of our work’s generality

Bioactive ceramics for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine derived from marine sponges

Publicado em "Journal of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine". Vol. 8, suppl. s1 (2014)

Promising blood-derived biomarkers for estimation of the postmortem interval

A precise estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the most important topics in forensic pathology. However, the PMI estimation is based mainly on the visual observation of cadaverous pheno- mena (e.g. algor, livor and rigor mortis) and on alternative methods such as thanatochemistry that remain relatively imprecise. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the kinetic alterations of several bio- chemical parameters (i.e. proteins, enzymes, substrates, electrolytes and lipids) during putrefaction of human blood. For this purpose, we performed kinetic biochemical analysis during a 264 hour period. The results showed a significant linear correlation between total and direct bilirubin, urea, uric acid, transferrin, immunoglobulin M (IgM), creatine kinase (CK), aspartate transaminase (AST), calcium and iron with the time of blood putrefaction. These parameters allowed us to develop two mathematical models that may have predictive values and become important complementary tools of traditional methods to achieve a more accurate PMI estimation

HOXA9 as a key regulator in glioma initiation, aggressiveness and response to therapy

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Saúde

Pharmacological evaluation of plant extracts from Chapada Diamantina (Bahia, Brazil): Focus on antioxidant and cytotoxic properties

Tese de Doutoramento em Biologia de Plantas MAP - Bioplant

Vascular disease modeling using induced pluripotent stem cells: Focus in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome

Transparency document related to this article can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2015.10.014

Participación de las células supresoras mieloides (CSM) y T regulatorias (Treg) en el control de la infección con Trypanosoma cruzi y el desarrollo de la patología inflamatoria asociada a la infeccion. Role of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells and regulatory T cells in the control of T. cruzi infection and the infection-associated pathology.

La infección de mamíferos con el T. cruzi resulta en diferentes alteraciones inmunológicas que permiten la persistencia crónica del parásito y destrucción inflamatoria progresiva del tejido cardiaco, nervioso y hepático. Los mecanismos responsables de la patología de la enfermedad de Chagas han sido materia de intensa investigación habiéndose propuesto que el daño producido en esta enfermedad puede ser consecuencia de la respuesta inflamatoria del individuo infectado y/o de una acción directa del parásito sobre los tejidos del hospedador. El propósito del presente proyecto es estudiar comparativamente, en dos cepas de ratones con diferente susceptibilidad a la infección y desarrollo de patología, la participación y los mecanismos efectores de las células supresoras mieloides (CSM) y las celulas T regulatorias inducidas por la infección experimental con Trypanosoma cruzi en el control de la infección con este protozoario y en el desarrollo de la patología hepática siendo los objetivos especificos desarrolar: - Investigar la generación y/o reclutamiento de células de CSM en bazo e hígado de ratones infectados con Trypanosoma cruzi y su contribución a la desigual susceptibilidad a la infección y respuesta inmune desarrollada en las cepas de ratones BALB/c y C57BL/6; - Investigar la capacidad de las CSM inducidas por la infección con T. cruzi en bazo e hígado de ratones de ambas cepas para suprimir la respuesta de células T in vitro e indagar sobre los mecanismos de supresión utilizados; - Investigar la generación y/o reclutamiento de células Treg durante la infección experimental con Trypanosoma cruzi, su participación en la desigual susceptibilidad a la infección y respuesta inmune desarrollada en ambas cepas de ratones y los mecanismos de supresión utilizados. - Analizar en tejido hepático o leucocitos infiltrantes la presencia de COX2, PGE2, MMP2 y 9, IL1b, IL6, IDO, IL10 y GM-CSF capaces de inducir la expansión de las CSM; - Dilucidar si la administración del ligando para TLR2 (Pam3CyS) previo a la infección de ratones C57BL/6 (en los cuales se detecta un menor número de CSM) es capaz de modular la respuesta inflamatoria y el daño hepático a través de la inducción de CSM y/o T reg en hígado y bazo. La comprension de los eventos celulares y moleculares que regulan la producción de citoquinas pro- y anti-inflamatorias y otros mediadores, así como el papel de los receptores de la inmunidad innata durante la infección con T. cruzi contribuirá a responder interrogantes que son claves para el diseño de nuevas estrategias de intervención inmune tendientes a preservar los mecanismos de defensa del huésped. Two nonexclusive mechanisms have been proposed to explain the Chagas’s disease pathology: 1) The pathology of the disease seems to be consequence of the inflammatory response triggered for the parasite; or 2) The damage is produced by the parasite direct effect. Recently, we reported that TLR2, TLR4 and TLR9 (innate immune response receptors) are differentially modulated in injured livers from BALB/c (lesser liver pathology) and C57BL/6 (elevated liver pathology) mice during Trypanosoma cruzi infection. The aim of our proposal is the study of role of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSC) and regulatory T cells in the control of T. cruzi infection and the infection-associated pathology. Our specific aims are: -To study the induction or recruitment of MDSC in splenn and liver of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice and their relationship with the differential susceptibility and immune response observed in these both mice strains; - To determine the ability and the mechanisms used by the T. cruzi-induced MDSC to suppress the T cell proliferative response; -To study the induction or recruitment of Treg in liver of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice and their relationship with the differential susceptibility and immune response observed in these both mice strains; -To analize in liver tissue or tissue infiltrating lymphocytes the activation of COX2, PGE2, MMP2 y 9, IL1b, IL6, IDO, IL10 y GM-CSF known to promote the development of MDSC; -To determine whether the treatment with Pam3CyS (TLR2 ligand) is able to modulate the liver inflammatory respose and damage througth the induction of MDSC or Treg.

Towards flexible feature composition : static and dynamic binding in software product lines

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Informatik, Diss., 2011

Full-wave field interactions of nonuniform transmission lines

Transmission-line supertheory, generalized transmission-line theory, radiation

Antenna theory in resonating systems derived from fundamental electromagnetism

Theoretische Elektrotechnik, Elektromagnetische Verträglichkeit, Antennentheorie, Elektrodynamik, Mathematische Methoden der Physik, Leitungstheorie, Mikrowellentechnik, Hohlraumresonatoren

Analysis and removal of code clones in software product lines

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Informatik, Diss., 2013

Trypanosoma cruzi: strain selection by diferent schedules of mouse passage of an initially mixed infection

From an initial double infection in mice, established by simultaneous and equivalent inocula of bloodstream forms of strains Y and F of Trypanosoma cruzi, two lines were derived by subinoculations: one (W) passaged every week, the other (M) every month. Through biological and biochemical methods only the Y strain was identified at the end of the 10th and 16th passages of line W and only the F strain at the 2nd and 4th passages of line M. The results illustrate strain selection through laboratory manipulation of initially mixed populations of T. cruzi.

Donor-derived aspergillosis from use of a solid organ recipient as a multiorgan donor.

The growing need for organs and the scarcity of donors has resulted in an increased use of extended criteria donors. We report a case where a recipient of a cardiac graft was used as an organ donor. Death of the recipient occurred 9 days after transplantation and was attributed to presumed cerebral hemorrhage, which post mortem was diagnosed as invasive aspergillosis of the brain. One recipient of a kidney transplant lost the graft due to infection with Aspergillus fumigatus, whereas prompt initiation of therapy successfully prevented disseminated aspergillosis in the other recipients. Despite the pressure to extend the use of organs by lowering the acceptance criteria, organs should only be accepted if the cause of death of the donors is unequivocally explained.

Nuclear factor I-C links platelet-derived growth factor and transforming growth factor beta1 signaling to skin wound healing progression.

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) and platelet-derived growth factor A (PDGFAlpha) play a central role in tissue morphogenesis and repair, but their interplay remain poorly understood. The nuclear factor I C (NFI-C) transcription factor has been implicated in TGF-beta signaling, extracellular matrix deposition, and skin appendage pathologies, but a potential role in skin morphogenesis or healing had not been assessed. To evaluate this possibility, we performed a global gene expression analysis in NFI-C(-/-) and wild-type embryonic primary murine fibroblasts. This indicated that NFI-C acts mostly to repress gene expression in response to TGF-beta1. Misregulated genes were prominently overrepresented by regulators of connective tissue inflammation and repair. In vivo skin healing revealed a faster inflammatory stage and wound closure in NFI-C(-/-) mice. Expression of PDGFA and PDGF-receptor alpha were increased in wounds of NFI-C(-/-) mice, explaining the early recruitment of macrophages and fibroblasts. Differentiation of fibroblasts to contractile myofibroblasts was also elevated, providing a rationale for faster wound closure. Taken together with the role of TGF-beta in myofibroblast differentiation, our results imply a central role of NFI-C in the interplay of the two signaling pathways and in regulation of the progression of tissue regeneration.