Integra����o de fatos formulativos e interacionais na constru����o do texto: um estudo a partir da topicalidade

P��s-gradua����o em Letras - FCLAS

A model to develop a platform for personalised health applications

Antecedentes Europa vive una situaci��n insostenible. Desde el 2008 se han reducido los recursos de los gobiernos a ra��z de la crisis econ��mica. El continente Europeo envejece con ritmo constante al punto que se prev�� que en 2050 habr�� s��lo dos trabajadores por jubilado [54]. A esta situaci��n se le a��ade el aumento de la incidencia de las enfermedades cr��nicas, relacionadas con el envejecimiento, cuyo coste puede alcanzar el 7% del PIB de un pa��s [51]. Es necesario un cambio de paradigma. Una nueva manera de cuidar de la salud de las personas: sustentable, eficaz y preventiva m��s que curativa. Algunos estudios abogan por el cuidado personalizado de la salud (pHealth). En este modelo las pr��cticas m��dicas son adaptadas e individualizadas al paciente, desde la detecci��n de los factores de riesgo hasta la personalizaci��n de los tratamientos basada en la respuesta del individuo [81]. El cuidado personalizado de la salud est�� asociado a menudo al uso de las tecnolog��as de la informaci��n y comunicaci��n (TICs) que, con su desarrollo exponencial, ofrecen oportunidades interesantes para la mejora de la salud. El cambio de paradigma hacia el pHealth est�� lentamente ocurriendo, tanto en el ��mbito de la investigaci��n como en la industria, pero todav��a no de manera significativa. Existen todav��a muchas barreras relacionadas a la econom��a, a la pol��tica y la cultura. Tambi��n existen barreras puramente tecnol��gicas, como la falta de sistemas de informaci��n interoperables [199]. A pesar de que los aspectos de interoperabilidad est��n evolucionando, todav��a hace falta un dise��o de referencia especialmente direccionado a la implementaci��n y el despliegue en gran escala de sistemas basados en pHealth. La presente Tesis representa un intento de organizar la disciplina de la aplicaci��n de las TICs al cuidado personalizado de la salud en un modelo de referencia, que permita la creaci��n de plataformas de desarrollo de software para simplificar tareas comunes de desarrollo en este dominio. Preguntas de investigaci��n RQ1 >Es posible definir un modelo, basado en t��cnicas de ingenier��a del software, que represente el dominio del cuidado personalizado de la salud de una forma abstracta y representativa? RQ2 >Es posible construir una plataforma de desarrollo basada en este modelo? RQ3 >Esta plataforma ayuda a los desarrolladores a crear sistemas pHealth complejos e integrados? M��todos Para la descripci��n del modelo se adopt�� el est��ndar ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010por ser lo suficientemente general y abstracto para el amplio enfoque de esta tesis [25]. El modelo est�� definido en varias partes: un modelo conceptual, expresado a trav��s de mapas conceptuales que representan las partes interesadas (stakeholders), los artefactos y la informaci��n compartida; y escenarios y casos de uso para la descripci��n de sus funcionalidades. El modelo fue desarrollado de acuerdo a la informaci��n obtenida del an��lisis de la literatura, incluyendo 7 informes industriales y cient��ficos, 9 est��ndares, 10 art��culos en conferencias, 37 art��culos en revistas, 25 p��ginas web y 5 libros. Bas��ndose en el modelo se definieron los requisitos para la creaci��n de la plataforma de desarrollo, enriquecidos por otros requisitos recolectados a trav��s de una encuesta realizada a 11 ingenieros con experiencia en la rama. Para el desarrollo de la plataforma, se adopt�� la metodolog��a de integraci��n continua [74] que permiti�� ejecutar tests autom��ticos en un servidor y tambi��n desplegar aplicaciones en una p��gina web. En cuanto a la metodolog��a utilizada para la validaci��n se adopt�� un marco para la formulaci��n de teor��as en la ingenier��a del software [181]. Esto requiere el desarrollo de modelos y proposiciones que han de ser validados dentro de un ��mbito de investigaci��n definido, y que sirvan para guiar al investigador en la b��squeda de la evidencia necesaria para justificarla. La validaci��n del modelo fue desarrollada mediante una encuesta online en tres rondas con un n��mero creciente de invitados. El cuestionario fue enviado a 134 contactos y distribuido en algunos canales p��blicos como listas de correo y redes sociales. El objetivo era evaluar la legibilidad del modelo, su nivel de cobertura del dominio y su potencial utilidad en el dise��o de sistemas derivados. El cuestionario inclu��a preguntas cuantitativas de tipo Likert y campos para recolecci��n de comentarios. La plataforma de desarrollo fue validada en dos etapas. En la primera etapa se utiliz�� la plataforma en un experimento a peque��a escala, que consisti�� en una sesi��n de entrenamiento de 12 horas en la que 4 desarrolladores tuvieron que desarrollar algunos casos de uso y reunirse en un grupo focal para discutir su uso. La segunda etapa se realiz�� durante los tests de un proyecto en gran escala llamado HeartCycle [160]. En este proyecto un equipo de dise��adores y programadores desarrollaron tres aplicaciones en el campo de las enfermedades cardio-vasculares. Una de estas aplicaciones fue testeada en un ensayo cl��nico con pacientes reales. Al analizar el proyecto, el equipo de desarrollo se reuni�� en un grupo focal para identificar las ventajas y desventajas de la plataforma y su utilidad. Resultados Por lo que concierne el modelo que describe el dominio del pHealth, la parte conceptual incluye una descripci��n de los roles principales y las preocupaciones de los participantes, un modelo de los artefactos TIC que se usan com��nmente y un modelo para representar los datos t��picos que son necesarios formalizar e intercambiar entre sistemas basados en pHealth. El modelo funcional incluye un conjunto de 18 escenarios, repartidos en: punto de vista de la persona asistida, punto de vista del cuidador, punto de vista del desarrollador, punto de vista de los proveedores de tecnolog��as y punto de vista de las autoridades; y un conjunto de 52 casos de uso repartidos en 6 categor��as: actividades de la persona asistida, reacciones del sistema, actividades del cuidador, \engagement" del usuario, actividades del desarrollador y actividades de despliegue. Como resultado del cuestionario de validaci��n del modelo, un total de 65 personas revis�� el modelo proporcionando su nivel de acuerdo con las dimensiones evaluadas y un total de 248 comentarios sobre c��mo mejorar el modelo. Los conocimientos de los participantes variaban desde la ingenier��a del software (70%) hasta las especialidades m��dicas (15%), con declarado inter��s en eHealth (24%), mHealth (16%), Ambient Assisted Living (21%), medicina personalizada (5%), sistemas basados en pHealth (15%), inform��tica m��dica (10%) e ingenier��a biom��dica (8%) con una media de 7.25_4.99 a��os de experiencia en estas ��reas. Los resultados de la encuesta muestran que los expertos contactados consideran el modelo f��cil de leer (media de 1.89_0.79 siendo 1 el valor m��s favorable y 5 el peor), suficientemente abstracto (1.99_0.88) y formal (2.13_0.77), con una cobertura suficiente del dominio (2.26_0.95), ��til para describir el dominio (2.02_0.7) y para generar sistemas m��s espec��ficos (2_0.75). Los expertos tambi��n reportan un inter��s parcial en utilizar el modelo en su trabajo (2.48_0.91). Gracias a sus comentarios, el modelo fue mejorado y enriquecido con conceptos que faltaban, aunque no se pudo demonstrar su mejora en las dimensiones evaluadas, dada la composici��n diferente de personas en las tres rondas de evaluaci��n. Desde el modelo, se gener�� una plataforma de desarrollo llamada \pHealth Patient Platform (pHPP)". La plataforma desarrollada incluye librer��as, herramientas de programaci��n y desarrollo, un tutorial y una aplicaci��n de ejemplo. Se definieron cuatro m��dulos principales de la arquitectura: el Data Collection Engine, que permite abstraer las fuentes de datos como sensores o servicios externos, mapeando los datos a bases de datos u ontolog��as, y permitiendo interacci��n basada en eventos; el GUI Engine, que abstrae la interfaz de usuario en un modelo de interacci��n basado en mensajes; y el Rule Engine, que proporciona a los desarrolladores un medio simple para programar la l��gica de la aplicaci��n en forma de reglas \if-then". Despu��s de que la plataforma pHPP fue utilizada durante 5 a��os en el proyecto HeartCycle, 5 desarrolladores fueron reunidos en un grupo de discusi��n para analizar y evaluar la plataforma. De estas evaluaciones se concluye que la plataforma fue dise��ada para encajar las necesidades de los ingenieros que trabajan en la rama, permitiendo la separaci��n de problemas entre las distintas especialidades, y simplificando algunas tareas de desarrollo como el manejo de datos y la interacci��n as��ncrona. A pesar de ello, se encontraron algunos defectos a causa de la inmadurez de algunas tecnolog��as empleadas, y la ausencia de algunas herramientas espec��ficas para el dominio como el procesado de datos o algunos protocolos de comunicaci��n relacionados con la salud. Dentro del proyecto HeartCycle la plataforma fue utilizada para el desarrollo de la aplicaci��n \Guided Exercise", un sistema TIC para la rehabilitaci��n de pacientes que han sufrido un infarto del miocardio. El sistema fue testeado en un ensayo cl��nico randomizado en el cual a 55 pacientes se les dio el sistema para su uso por 21 semanas. De los resultados t��cnicos del ensayo se puede concluir que, a pesar de algunos errores menores prontamente corregidos durante el estudio, la plataforma es estable y fiable. Conclusiones La investigaci��n llevada a cabo en esta Tesis y los resultados obtenidos proporcionan las respuestas a las tres preguntas de investigaci��n que motivaron este trabajo: RQ1 Se ha desarrollado un modelo para representar el dominio de los sistemas personalizados de salud. La evaluaci��n hecha por los expertos de la rama concluye que el modelo representa el dominio con precisi��n y con un balance apropiado entre abstracci��n y detalle. RQ2 Se ha desarrollado, con ��xito, una plataforma de desarrollo basada en el modelo. RQ3 Se ha demostrado que la plataforma es capaz de ayudar a los desarrolladores en la creaci��n de software pHealth complejos. Las ventajas de la plataforma han sido demostradas en el ��mbito de un proyecto de gran escala, aunque el enfoque gen��rico adoptado indica que la plataforma podr��a ofrecer beneficios tambi��n en otros contextos. Los resultados de estas evaluaciones ofrecen indicios de que, ambos, el modelo y la plataforma ser��n buenos candidatos para poderse convertir en una referencia para futuros desarrollos de sistemas pHealth. ABSTRACT Background Europe is living in an unsustainable situation. The economic crisis has been reducing governments' economic resources since 2008 and threatening social and health systems, while the proportion of older people in the European population continues to increase so that it is foreseen that in 2050 there will be only two workers per retiree [54]. To this situation it should be added the rise, strongly related to age, of chronic diseases the burden of which has been estimated to be up to the 7% of a country's gross domestic product [51]. There is a need for a paradigm shift, the need for a new way of caring for people's health, shifting the focus from curing conditions that have arisen to a sustainable and effective approach with the emphasis on prevention. Some advocate the adoption of personalised health care (pHealth), a model where medical practices are tailored to the patient's unique life, from the detection of risk factors to the customization of treatments based on each individual's response [81]. Personalised health is often associated to the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), that, with its exponential development, offers interesting opportunities for improving healthcare. The shift towards pHealth is slowly taking place, both in research and in industry, but the change is not significant yet. Many barriers still exist related to economy, politics and culture, while others are purely technological, like the lack of interoperable information systems [199]. Though interoperability aspects are evolving, there is still the need of a reference design, especially tackling implementation and large scale deployment of pHealth systems. This thesis contributes to organizing the subject of ICT systems for personalised health into a reference model that allows for the creation of software development platforms to ease common development issues in the domain. Research questions RQ1 Is it possible to define a model, based on software engineering techniques, for representing the personalised health domain in an abstract and representative way? RQ2 Is it possible to build a development platform based on this model? RQ3 Does the development platform help developers create complex integrated pHealth systems? Methods As method for describing the model, the ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 framework [25] is adopted for its generality and high level of abstraction. The model is specified in different parts: a conceptual model, which makes use of concept maps, for representing stakeholders, artefacts and shared information, and in scenarios and use cases for the representation of the functionalities of pHealth systems. The model was derived from literature analysis, including 7 industrial and scientific reports, 9 electronic standards, 10 conference proceedings papers, 37 journal papers, 25 websites and 5 books. Based on the reference model, requirements were drawn for building the development platform enriched with a set of requirements gathered in a survey run among 11 experienced engineers. For developing the platform, the continuous integration methodology [74] was adopted which allowed to perform automatic tests on a server and also to deploy packaged releases on a web site. As a validation methodology, a theory building framework for SW engineering was adopted from [181]. The framework, chosen as a guide to find evidence for justifying the research questions, imposed the creation of theories based on models and propositions to be validated within a scope. The validation of the model was conducted as an on-line survey in three validation rounds, encompassing a growing number of participants. The survey was submitted to 134 experts of the field and on some public channels like relevant mailing lists and social networks. Its objective was to assess the model's readability, its level of coverage of the domain and its potential usefulness in the design of actual, derived systems. The questionnaires included quantitative Likert scale questions and free text inputs for comments. The development platform was validated in two scopes. As a small-scale experiment, the platform was used in a 12 hours training session where 4 developers had to perform an exercise consisting in developing a set of typical pHealth use cases At the end of the session, a focus group was held to identify benefits and drawbacks of the platform. The second validation was held as a test-case study in a large scale research project called HeartCycle the aim of which was to develop a closed-loop disease management system for heart failure and coronary heart disease patients [160]. During this project three applications were developed by a team of programmers and designers. One of these applications was tested in a clinical trial with actual patients. At the end of the project, the team was interviewed in a focus group to assess the role the platform had within the project. Results For what regards the model that describes the pHealth domain, its conceptual part includes a description of the main roles and concerns of pHealth stakeholders, a model of the ICT artefacts that are commonly adopted and a model representing the typical data that need to be formalized among pHealth systems. The functional model includes a set of 18 scenarios, divided into assisted person's view, caregiver's view, developer's view, technology and services providers' view and authority's view, and a set of 52 Use Cases grouped in 6 categories: assisted person's activities, system reactions, caregiver's activities, user engagement, developer's activities and deployer's activities. For what concerns the validation of the model, a total of 65 people participated in the online survey providing their level of agreement in all the assessed dimensions and a total of 248 comments on how to improve and complete the model. Participants' background spanned from engineering and software development (70%) to medical specialities (15%), with declared interest in the fields of eHealth (24%), mHealth (16%), Ambient Assisted Living (21%), Personalized Medicine (5%), Personal Health Systems (15%), Medical Informatics (10%) and Biomedical Engineering (8%) with an average of 7.25_4.99 years of experience in these fields. From the analysis of the answers it is possible to observe that the contacted experts considered the model easily readable (average of 1.89_0.79 being 1 the most favourable scoring and 5 the worst), sufficiently abstract (1.99_0.88) and formal (2.13_0.77) for its purpose, with a sufficient coverage of the domain (2.26_0.95), useful for describing the domain (2.02_0.7) and for generating more specific systems (2_0.75) and they reported a partial interest in using the model in their job (2.48_0.91). Thanks to their comments, the model was improved and enriched with concepts that were missing at the beginning, nonetheless it was not possible to prove an improvement among the iterations, due to the diversity of the participants in the three rounds. From the model, a development platform for the pHealth domain was generated called pHealth Patient Platform (pHPP). The platform includes a set of libraries, programming and deployment tools, a tutorial and a sample application. The main four modules of the architecture are: the Data Collection Engine, which allows abstracting sources of information like sensors or external services, mapping data to databases and ontologies, and allowing event-based interaction and filtering, the GUI Engine, which abstracts the user interface in a message-like interaction model, the Workow Engine, which allows programming the application's user interaction ows with graphical workows, and the Rule Engine, which gives developers a simple means for programming the application's logic in the form of \if-then" rules. After the 5 years experience of HeartCycle, partially programmed with pHPP, 5 developers were joined in a focus group to discuss the advantages and drawbacks of the platform. The view that emerged from the training course and the focus group was that the platform is well-suited to the needs of the engineers working in the field, it allowed the separation of concerns among the different specialities and it simplified some common development tasks like data management and asynchronous interaction. Nevertheless, some deficiencies were pointed out in terms of a lack of maturity of some technological choices, and for the absence of some domain-specific tools, e.g. for data processing or for health-related communication protocols. Within HeartCycle, the platform was used to develop part of the Guided Exercise system, a composition of ICT tools for the physical rehabilitation of patients who suffered from myocardial infarction. The system developed using the platform was tested in a randomized controlled clinical trial, in which 55 patients used the system for 21 weeks. The technical results of this trial showed that the system was stable and reliable. Some minor bugs were detected, but these were promptly corrected using the platform. This shows that the platform, as well as facilitating the development task, can be successfully used to produce reliable software. Conclusions The research work carried out in developing this thesis provides responses to the three three research questions that were the motivation for the work. RQ1 A model was developed representing the domain of personalised health systems, and the assessment of experts in the field was that it represents the domain accurately, with an appropriate balance between abstraction and detail. RQ2 A development platform based on the model was successfully developed. RQ3 The platform has been shown to assist developers create complex pHealth software. This was demonstrated within the scope of one large-scale project, but the generic approach adopted provides indications that it would offer benefits more widely. The results of these evaluations provide indications that both the model and the platform are good candidates for being a reference for future pHealth developments.

Integration of congestion pricing and intertemporal preferences rate integration in social welfare function

Many researchers have used theoretical or empirical measures to assess social benefits in transport policy implementation. However, few have measured social benefits by using discount rates, including the intertemporal preference rate of users, the private investment discount rate, and the intertemporal preference rate of the government. In general, the social discount rate used is the same for all social actors. This paper aims to assess a new method by integrating different types of discount rates belonging to different social actors to measure the real benefits of each actor in the short term, medium term, and long term. A dynamic simulation is provided by a strategic land use and transport interaction model. The method was tested by optimizing a cordon toll scheme in Madrid, Spain. Socioeconomic efficiency and environmental criteria were considered. On the basis of the modified social welfare function, the effects on the measure of social benefits were estimated and compared with the classical welfare function measures. The results show that the use of more suitable discount rates for each social actor had an effect on the selection and definition of optimal strategy of congestion pricing. The usefulness of the measure of congestion toll declines more quickly over time. This result could be the key to understanding the relationship between transport system policies and the distribution of social actors? benefits in a metropolitan context.

Identifying Potential Risks and Benefits of Using Cloud in Distributed Software Development.

Cloud-based infrastructure has been increasingly adopted by the industry in distributed software development (DSD) environments. Its proponents claim that its several benefits include reduced cost, increased speed and greater productivity in software development. Empirical evaluations, however, are in the nascent stage of examining both the benefits and the risks of cloud-based infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to identify potential benefits and risks of using cloud in a DSD project conducted by teams based in Helsinki and Madrid. A cross-case qualitative analysis is performed based on focus groups conducted at the Helsinki and Madrid sites. Participants observations are used to supplement the analysis. The results of the analysis indicated that the main benefits of using cloud are rapid development, continuous integration, cost savings, code sharing, and faster ramp-up. The key risks determined by the project are dependencies, unavailability of access to the cloud, code commitment and integration, technical debt, and additional support costs. The results revealed that if such environments are not planned and set up carefully, the benefits of using cloud in DSD projects might be overshadowed by the risks associated with it.

Building lean thinking in a telecom software development organization: strengths and challenges.

The potential shown by Lean in different domains has aroused interest in the software industry. However, it remains unclear how Lean can be effectively applied in a domain such as software development that is fundamentally different from manufacturing. This study explores how Lean principles are implemented in software development companies and the challenges that arise when applying Lean Software Development. For that, a case study was conducted at Ericsson R&D Finland, which successfully adopted Scrum in 2009 and subsequently started a comprehensible transition to Lean in 2010. Focus groups were conducted with company representatives to help devise a questionnaire supporting the creation of a Lean mindset in the company (Team Amplifier). Afterwards, the questionnaire was used in 16 teams based in Finland, Hungary and China to evaluate the status of the transformation. By using Lean thinking, Ericsson R&D Finland has made important improvements to the quality of its products, customer satisfaction and transparency within the organization. Moreover, build times have been reduced over ten times and the number of commits per day has increased roughly five times.The study makes two main contributions to research. First, the main factors that have enabled Ericsson R&D?s achievements are analysed. Elements such as ?network of product owners?, ?continuous integration?, ?work in progress limits? and ?communities of practice? have been identified as being of fundamental importance. Second, three categories of challenges in using Lean Software Development were identified: ?achieving flow?, ?transparency? and ?creating a learning culture?

Gesti��n de ideas innovadoras

El trabajo de fin de grado que se va a definir detalladamente en esta memoria, trata de poner de manifiesto muchos de los conocimientos que he adquirido a lo largo de la carrera, aplic��ndolos en un proyecto real. Se ha desarrollado una plataforma capaz de albergar ideas, escritas por personas de todo el mundo que buscan compartirlas con los dem��s, para que estas sean comentadas, valoradas y entre todos poder mejorarlas. Estas ideas pueden ser de cualquier ��mbito, por tanto, se da la posibilidad de clasificarlas en las categor��as que mejor encajen con la idea. La aplicaci��n ofrece una API RESTful muy descriptiva, en la que se ha identificado y estructurado cada recurso, para que a trav��s de los ���verbos http��� se puedan gestionar todos los elementos de una forma f��cil y sencilla, independientemente del cliente que la utilice. La arquitectura est�� montada siguiendo el patr��n de dise��o modelo vista-controlador, utilizando las ��ltimas tecnolog��as del mercado como Spring, Liferay, SmartGWT y MongoDB (entre muchas otras) con el objetivo de crear una aplicaci��n segura, escalable y modulada, por lo que se ha tenido que integrar todos estos frameworks. Los datos de la aplicaci��n se hacen persistentes en dos tipos de bases de datos, una relacional (MySQL) y otra no relacional (MongoDB), aprovechando al m��ximo las caracter��sticas que ofrecen cada una de ellas. El cliente propuesto es accesible mediante un navegador web, se basa en el portal de Liferay. Se han desarrollado varios ���Portlets o Widgets���, que componen la estructura de contenido que ve el usuario final. A trav��s de ellos se puede acceder al contenido de la aplicaci��n, ideas, comentarios y dem��s contenidos sociales, de una forma agradable para el usuario, ya que estos ���Portlets��� se comunican entre s�� y hacen peticiones as��ncronas a la API RESTful sin necesidad de recargar toda la estructura de la p��gina. Adem��s, los usuarios pueden registrarse en el sistema para aportar m��s contenidos u obtener roles que les dan permisos para realizar acciones de administraci��n. Se ha seguido una metodolog��a ���Scrum��� para la realizaci��n del proyecto, con el objetivo de dividir el proyecto en tareas peque��as y desarrollarlas de una forma ��gil. Herramientas como ���Jenkins��� me han ayudado a una integraci��n continua y asegurando mediante la ejecuci��n de los test de prueba, que todos los componentes funcionan. La calidad ha sido un aspecto principal en el proyecto, se han seguido metodolog��as software y patrones de dise��o para garantizar un dise��o de calidad, reutilizable, ��ptimo y modulado. El uso de la herramienta ���Sonar��� ha ayudado a este cometido. Adem��s, se ha implementado un sistema de pruebas muy completo de todos los componentes de la aplicaci��n. En definitiva, se ha dise��ado una aplicaci��n innovadora de c��digo abierto, que establece unas bases muy definidas para que si alg��n d��a se pone en producci��n, sirva a las personas para compartir pensamientos o ideas ayudando a mejorar el mundo en el que vivimos. ---ABSTRACT---The Final Degree Project, described in detail in this report, attempts to cover a lot of the knowledge I have acquired during my studies, applying it to a real project. The objective of the project has been to develop a platform capable of hosting ideas from people all over the world, where users can share their ideas, comment on and rate the ideas of others and together help improving them. Since these ideas can be of any kind, it is possible to classify them into suitable categories. The application offers a very descriptive API RESTful, where each resource has been identified and organized in a way that makes it possible to easily manage all the elements using the HTTP verbs, regardless of the client using it. The architecture has been built following the design pattern model-view-controller, using the latest market technologies such as Spring, Liferay, Smart GWT and MongoDB (among others) with the purpose of creating a safe, scalable and adjustable application. The data of the application are persistent in two different kinds of databases, one relational (MySQL) and the other non-relational (MongoDB), taking advantage of all the different features each one of them provides. The suggested client is accessible through a web browser and it is based in Liferay. Various ���Portlets" or "Widgets��� make up the final content of the page. Thanks to these Portlets, the user can access the application content (ideas, comments and categories) in a pleasant way as the Portlets communicate with each other making asynchronous requests to the API RESTful without the necessity to refresh the whole page. Furthermore, users can log on to the system to contribute with more contents or to obtain administrator privileges. The Project has been developed following a ���Scrum��� methodology, with the main objective being that of dividing the Project into smaller tasks making it possible to develop each task in a more agile and ultimately faster way. Tools like ���Jenkins��� have been used to guarantee a continuous integration and to ensure that all the components work correctly thanks to the execution of test runs. Quality has been one of the main aspects in this project, why design patterns and software methodologies have been used to guarantee a high quality, reusable, modular and optimized design. The ���Sonar��� technology has helped in the achievement of this goal. Furthermore, a comprehensive proofing system of all the application's components has been implemented. In conclusion, this Project has consisted in developing an innovative, free source application that establishes a clearly defined basis so that, if it someday will be put in production, it will allow people to share thoughts and ideas, and by doing so, help them to improve the World we live in.

Configuraci��n de un entorno de trabajo para el desarrollo de software ��gil con integraci��n continua

Hoy en d��a, existen numerosos sistemas (financieros, fabricaci��n industrial, infraestructura de servicios b��sicos, etc.) que son dependientes del software. Seg��n la definici��n de Ingenier��a del Software realizada por I. Sommerville, ���la Ingenier��a del Software es una disciplina de la ingenier��a que comprende todos los aspectos de la producci��n de software desde las etapas iniciales de la especificaci��n del sistema, hasta el mantenimiento de ��ste despu��s de que se utiliza.��� ���La ingenier��a del software no s��lo comprende los procesos t��cnicos del desarrollo de software, sino tambi��n actividades tales como la gesti��n de proyectos de software y el desarrollo de herramientas, m��todos y teor��as de apoyo a la producci��n de software.��� Los modelos de proceso de desarrollo software determinan una serie de pautas para poder desarrollar con ��xito un proyecto de desarrollo software. Desde que surgieran estos modelos de proceso, se investigado en nuevas maneras de poder gestionar un proyecto y producir software de calidad. En primer lugar surgieron las metodolog��as pesadas o tradicionales, pero con el avance del tiempo y la tecnolog��a, surgieron unas nuevas llamadas metodolog��as ��giles. En el marco de las metodolog��as ��giles cabe destacar una determinada pr��ctica, la integraci��n continua. Esta pr��ctica surgi�� de la mano de Martin Fowler, con el objetivo de facilitar el trabajo en grupo y automatizar las tareas de integraci��n. La integraci��n continua se basa en la construcci��n autom��tica de proyectos con una frecuencia alta, promoviendo la detecci��n de errores en un momento temprano para poder dar prioridad a corregir dichos errores. Sin embargo, una de las claves del ��xito en el desarrollo de cualquier proyecto software consiste en utilizar un entorno de trabajo que facilite, sistematice y ayude a aplicar un proceso de desarrollo de una forma eficiente. Este Proyecto Fin de Grado (PFG) tiene por objetivo el an��lisis de distintas herramientas para configurar un entorno de trabajo que permita desarrollar proyectos aplicando metodolog��as ��giles e integraci��n continua de una forma f��cil y eficiente. Una vez analizadas dichas herramientas, se ha propuesto y configurado un entorno de trabajo para su puesta en marcha y uso. Una caracter��stica a destacar de este PFG es que las herramientas analizadas comparten una cualidad com��n y de alto valor, son herramientas open-source. El entorno de trabajo propuesto en este PFG presenta una arquitectura cliente-servidor, dado que la mayor��a de proyectos software se desarrollan en equipo, de tal forma que el servidor proporciona a los distintos clientes/desarrolladores acceso al conjunto de herramientas que constituyen el entorno de trabajo. La parte servidora del entorno propuesto proporciona soporte a la integraci��n continua mediante herramientas de control de versiones, de gesti��n de historias de usuario, de an��lisis de m��tricas de software, y de automatizaci��n de la construcci��n de software. La configuraci��n del cliente ��nicamente requiere de un entorno de desarrollo integrado (IDE) que soporte el lenguaje de programaci��n Java y conexi��n con el servidor. ABSTRACT Nowadays, numerous systems (financial, industrial production, basic services infrastructure, etc.) depend on software. According to the Software Engineering definition made by I.Sommerville, ���Software engineering is an engineering discipline that is concerned with all aspects of software production from the early stages of system specification through to maintaining the system after it has gone into use.��� ���Software engineering is not just concerned with the technical processes of software development. It also includes activities such as software project management and the development of tools, methods, and theories to support software production.��� Software development process models determine a set of guidelines to successfully develop a software development project. Since these process models emerged, new ways of managing a project and producing software with quality have been investigated. First, the so-called heavy or traditional methodologies appeared, but with the time and the technological improvements, new methodologies emerged: the so-called agile methodologies. Agile methodologies promote, among other practices, continuous integration. This practice was coined by Martin Fowler and aims to make teamwork easier as well as automate integration tasks. Nevertheless, one of the keys to success in software projects is to use a framework that facilitates, systematize, and help to deploy a development process in an efficient way. This Final Degree Project (FDP) aims to analyze different tools to configure a framework that enables to develop projects by applying agile methodologies and continuous integration in an easy and efficient way. Once tools are analyzed, a framework has been proposed and configured. One of the main features of this FDP is that the tools under analysis share a common and high-valued characteristic: they are open-source. The proposed framework presents a client-server architecture, as most of the projects are developed by a team. In this way, the server provides access the clients/developers to the tools that comprise the framework. The server provides continuous integration through a set of tools for control management, user stories management, software quality management, and software construction automatization. The client configuration only requires a Java integrated development environment and network connection to the server.

Studies in the marketing strategy of a U.K. producer of conveyor belts

Research was undertaken in the field of marketing strategy, its formulation and implementation in Dunlop Belting Division. Emphasis was placed on marketing channel strategy, but other strategies including product strategy were studied. The research has resulted in changes in management practice in the client organisation. The relevance of theories of company organisation, planning and strategy, and marketing channels was examined in the light of the research evidence. The technique of action-research was used to gain admittance to and effect change within the client organisation. Case study material was collected for subsequent analysis. The factors affecting marketing strategy formulation in the client organisation were studied. Both the external and the internal business environments were considered. The operation of the observed marketing channels was compared with channel theory. Market segmentation and penetration, and the selling and technical resources of the channels were analysed. Recommendations were made to (a) enlarge and resite the client's distribution unit to locate it centrally in England (b) use the resited unit to secure local advantage (c) obtain greater integration of field sales activities with and from the centre. A new ex-stock distribution unit was established. Improvements to the client's ex-stock marketing in Scotland were also recommended, including improvements to the Scottish distributor's stock control procedure, as well as to Dunlop-Distributor relationships at all levels. The influence of company organisation structure and formalised procedures and systems on the formulation of strategy were considered with respect to channel and product strategy, and other aspects of marketing. Conclusions were drawn that the action research resulted in successful implementation of .agreed changes in the client organisation; that theories of strategy formulation and planning, of the operation of decentralised companies, and of industrial market segmentation required modification; that the theory of marketing channels was found relevant and useful.

The Iowa Viral Hepatitis Strategic Plan 2012-2016, August 26, 2014

Since the creation of the first viral hepatitis plan in 2004 several documents and advancements have been released that help Iowa plan and prioritize this revision of our hepatitis plan. The Institute of Medicine report identified that current approach to the prevention and control of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C is not working. As a remedy, the IOM recommends increased knowledge and awareness about chronic viral hepatitis among health care providers, social service providers, and the public; improved surveillance for hepatitis B and hepatitis C; and better integration of viral hepatitis services.

A Binary Classifier for Test Case Feasibility Applied to Automatically Generated Tests of Event-Driven Software

Modern software application testing, such as the testing of software driven by graphical user interfaces (GUIs) or leveraging event-driven architectures in general, requires paying careful attention to context. Model-based testing (MBT) approaches first acquire a model of an application, then use the model to construct test cases covering relevant contexts. A major shortcoming of state-of-the-art automated model-based testing is that many test cases proposed by the model are not actually executable. These \textit{infeasible} test cases threaten the integrity of the entire model-based suite, and any coverage of contexts the suite aims to provide. In this research, I develop and evaluate a novel approach for classifying the feasibility of test cases. I identify a set of pertinent features for the classifier, and develop novel methods for extracting these features from the outputs of MBT tools. I use a supervised logistic regression approach to obtain a model of test case feasibility from a randomly selected training suite of test cases. I evaluate this approach with a set of experiments. The outcomes of this investigation are as follows: I confirm that infeasibility is prevalent in MBT, even for test suites designed to cover a relatively small number of unique contexts. I confirm that the frequency of infeasibility varies widely across applications. I develop and train a binary classifier for feasibility with average overall error, false positive, and false negative rates under 5\%. I find that unique event IDs are key features of the feasibility classifier, while model-specific event types are not. I construct three types of features from the event IDs associated with test cases, and evaluate the relative effectiveness of each within the classifier. To support this study, I also develop a number of tools and infrastructure components for scalable execution of automated jobs, which use state-of-the-art container and continuous integration technologies to enable parallel test execution and the persistence of all experimental artifacts.

The peripheral pro-nociceptive state induced by repetitive inflammatory stimuli involves continuous activation of protein kinase A and protein kinase C epsilon and its Na(v)1.8 sodium channel functional regulation in the primary sensory neuron

In the present study, the participation of the Na(v)1.8 sodium channel was investigated in the development of the peripheral pro-nociceptive state induced by daily intraplantar injections of PGE(2) in rats and its regulation in vivo by protein kinase A (PKA) and protein kinase C epsilon (PKC epsilon) as well. In the prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2))-induced persistent hypernociception, the Na(v)1.8 mRNA in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) was up-regulated. The local treatment with dipyrone abolished this persistent hypernociception but did not alter the Na(v)1.8 mRNA level in the DRG. Daily intrathecal administrations of antisense Na(v)1.8 decreased the Na(v)1.8 mRNA in the DRG and reduced ongoing persistent hypernociception. once the persistent hypernociception had been abolished by dipyrone, but not by Na(v)1.8 antisense treatment, a small dose of PGE(2) restored the hypernociceptive plateau. These data show that, after a period of recurring inflammatory stimuli, an intense and prolonged nociceptive response is elicited by a minimum inflammatory stimulus and that this pro-nociceptive state depends on Na(v)1.8 mRNA up-regulation in the DRG. in addition, during the persistent hypernociceptive state, the PKA and PKC epsilon expression and activity in the DRG are up-regulated and the administration of the PKA and PKC epsilon inhibitors reduce the hypernociception as well as the Na(v)1.8 mRNA level. In the present study, we demonstrated that the functional regulation of the Na(v)1.8 mRNA by PKA and PKC epsilon in the primary sensory neuron is important for the development of the peripheral pro-nociceptive state induced by repetitive inflammatory stimuli and for the maintenance of the behavioral persistent hypernociception. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

O papel do comprador no processo de compras em institui����es p��blicas de ci��ncia e tecnologia em sa��de (C&T/S)

Este artigo aborda o papel do comprador p��blico nas aquisi����es de bens e servi��os para as institui����es p��blicas de ci��ncia e tecnologia em sa��de (C&T/S), tendo como refer��ncia o CPqAM/Fiocruz. O estudo contempla caracter��sticas e causas que potencializam os contextos da gest��o das compras institucionais, os aspectos da administra����o p��blica brasileira, a fun����o administrativa de compra, o papel do comprador p��blico no processo, o seu perfil, o seu comportamento ��tico, bem como a possibilidade de redu����o de custos na aquisi����o de materiais para a pesquisa cient��fica.

Melhoria do processo produtivo numa metalomec��nica

Este projeto foi realizado na Empresa Fernando Jesus Mour��o & C�� Lda, durante o ano de 2012, e teve como objetivo a melhoria do processo produtivo. Esta melhoria assentou na identifica����o de poss��veis pontos de desperd��cio, no estudo e avalia����o de solu����es e por fim na defini����o de propostas de melhoria globais que visem ajustar o fluxo do processo produtivo �� procura e simultaneamente minimizar custos operacionais. De forma a atingir estas metas, foi feito um levantamento exaustivo do processo produtivo e das respetivas opera����es. Neste estudo, apesar do elevado numero de oportunidades de melhoria, foi poss��vel identificar duas ��reas que se revelaram criticas e fundamentais para a introdu����o da filosofia de melhoria continua na empresa. Estas ��reas que s��o o objeto de estudo desta disserta����o s��o: o corte laser e a organiza����o do pavilh��o 3. Uma vez identificados as ��reas cr��ticas, procedeu-se a uma an��lise e defini����o das a����es de melhoria a empreender de modo a melhorar o fluxo produtivo e a sua organiza����o, e simultaneamente reduzir custos. Na ��rea de corte laser procurou-se implementar a filosofia de produ����o ���Lean��� nomeadamente atrav��s da ferramenta de an��lise PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), como ferramenta auxiliar do estudo para elaborar um plano de a����o, implementar as a����es, analisar os resultados e procurar a manuten����o dos mesmos. Na interven����o do pavilh��o 3 foi usada a t��cnica dos 5S para organizar e agilizar o funcionamento do mesmo. Todo o trabalho assenta na filosofia Lean e nos seus princ��pios, tendo-se por isso utilizado as ferramentas especificas Lean na concretiza����o das tarefas executadas no seu ��mbito. Para medir os resultados, antes e depois das a����es implementadas, foi utilizada o indicador de efici��ncia (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) para o caso do processo de corte laser. Ap��s a implementa����o das medidas definidas no processo de corte laser foi poss��vel observar uma melhoria do indicador OEE de cerca de 20 por cento. Por outro lado as melhorias implementadas atrav��s da ferramenta dos 5S no pavilh��o 3, trouxe ganhos vis��veis de aumento de produtividade que beneficiaram o tempo de resposta da empresa.

Transcutaneous carbon dioxide tension in newborn infants: reliability and safety of continuous 24-hour measurement at 42 degrees C.

In 58 newborn infants a new iridium oxide sensor was evaluated for transcutaneous carbon dioxide (tcPCO2) monitoring at 42 degrees C with a prolonged fixation time of 24 hours. The correlation of tcPCO2 (y; mm Hg) v PaCO2 (x; mm Hg) for 586 paired values was: y = 4.6 + 1.45x; r = .89; syx = 6.1 mm Hg. The correlation was not influenced by the duration of fixation. The transcutaneous sensor detected hypocapnia (PaCO2 less than 35 mm Hg) in 74% and hypercapnia (PCO2 greater than 45 mm Hg) in 74% of all cases. After 24 hours, calibration shifts were less than 4 mm Hg in 90% of the measuring periods. In 86% of the infants, no skin changes were observed; in 12% of infants, there were transitional skin erythemas and in 2% a blister which disappeared without scarring. In newborn infants with normal BPs, continuous tcPCO2 monitoring at 42 degrees C can be extended for as many as 24 hours without loss of reliability or increased risk for skin burns.

Efeito do branqueamento, processo osm��tico, tratamento t��rmico e armazenamento na estabilidade da vitamina C de ped��nculos de caju processados por m��todos combinados

Ped��nculos de caju foram processados por m��todos combinados. As principais mudan��as verificadas nas caracter��sticas f��sico-qu��micas foram redu����o do pH, aumento no teor de s��lidos sol��veis e de a����cares redutores. Observaram-se, tamb��m, perdas percentuais de ��cido asc��rbico, em rela����o ao ped��nculo "in natura", de 23,3% ap��s o branqueamento, 31,7% ap��s o primeiro dia de osmose, 35,5% ap��s o quinto dia de osmose, 69,0% ap��s o tratamento t��rmico e 87,3% ao final de 60 dias de armazenamento �� temperatura ambiente (~ 28�� C).