The 3C cooperation model applied to the classical requirement analysis

Aspects related to the users' cooperative work are not considered in the traditional approach of software engineering, since the user is viewed independently of his/her workplace environment or group, with the individual model generalized to the study of collective behavior of all users. This work proposes a process for software requirements to address issues involving cooperative work in information systems that provide distributed coordination in the users' actions and the communication among them occurs indirectly through the data entered while using the software. To achieve this goal, this research uses ergonomics, the 3C cooperation model, awareness and software engineering concepts. Action-research is used as a research methodology applied in three cycles during the development of a corporate workflow system in a technological research company. This article discusses the third cycle, which corresponds to the process that deals with the refinement of the cooperative work requirements with the software in actual use in the workplace, where the inclusion of a computer system changes the users' workplace, from the face to face interaction to the interaction mediated by the software. The results showed that the highest degree of users' awareness about their activities and other system users contribute to a decrease in their errors and in the inappropriate use of the system.

Model-based reuse for crosscutting frameworks: assessing reuse and maintenance effort

Abstract Background Over the last years, a number of researchers have investigated how to improve the reuse of crosscutting concerns. New possibilities have emerged with the advent of aspect-oriented programming, and many frameworks were designed considering the abstractions provided by this new paradigm. We call this type of framework Crosscutting Frameworks (CF), as it usually encapsulates a generic and abstract design of one crosscutting concern. However, most of the proposed CFs employ white-box strategies in their reuse process, requiring two mainly technical skills: (i) knowing syntax details of the programming language employed to build the framework and (ii) being aware of the architectural details of the CF and its internal nomenclature. Also, another problem is that the reuse process can only be initiated as soon as the development process reaches the implementation phase, preventing it from starting earlier. Method In order to solve these problems, we present in this paper a model-based approach for reusing CFs which shields application engineers from technical details, letting him/her concentrate on what the framework really needs from the application under development. To support our approach, two models are proposed: the Reuse Requirements Model (RRM) and the Reuse Model (RM). The former must be used to describe the framework structure and the later is in charge of supporting the reuse process. As soon as the application engineer has filled in the RM, the reuse code can be automatically generated. Results We also present here the result of two comparative experiments using two versions of a Persistence CF: the original one, whose reuse process is based on writing code, and the new one, which is model-based. The first experiment evaluated the productivity during the reuse process, and the second one evaluated the effort of maintaining applications developed with both CF versions. The results show the improvement of 97% in the productivity; however little difference was perceived regarding the effort for maintaining the required application. Conclusion By using the approach herein presented, it was possible to conclude the following: (i) it is possible to automate the instantiation of CFs, and (ii) the productivity of developers are improved as long as they use a model-based instantiation approach.

Morphological and functional study of cerebral aging in rat

Aging is a physiological process characterized by a progressive decline of the “cellular homeostatic reserve”, refereed as the capability to respond suitably to exogenous and endogenous stressful stimuli. Due to their high energetic requests and post-mitotic nature, neurons are peculiarly susceptible to this phenomenon. However, the aged brain maintains a certain level of adaptive capacities and if properly stimulated may warrant a considerable functional recovery. Aim of the present research was to verify the plastic potentialities of the aging brain of rats subjected to two kind of exogenous stimuli: A) the replacement of the standard diet with a ketogenic regimen (the change forces the brain to use ketone bodies (KB) in alternative to glucose to satisfy the energetic needs) and B) a behavioural task able to induce the formation of inhibitory avoidance memory. A) Fifteen male Wistar rats of 19 months of age were divided into three groups (average body weight pair-matched), and fed for 8 weeks with different dietary regimens: i) diet containing 10% medium chain triglycerides (MCT); ii) diet containing 20% MCT; iii) standard commercial chow. Five young (5 months of age) and five old (26-27 months of age) animals fed with the standard diet were used as further controls. The following morphological parameters reflecting synaptic plasticity were evaluated in the stratum moleculare of the hippocampal CA1 region (SM CA1), in the outer molecular layer of the hippocampal dentate gyrus (OML DG), and in the granule cell layer of the cerebellar cortex (GCL-CCx): average area (S), numeric density (Nvs), and surface density (Sv) of synapses, and average volume (V), numeric density (Nvm), and volume density (Vv) of synaptic mitochondria. Moreover, succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) activity was cytochemically determined in Purkinje cells (PC) and V, Nvm, Vv, and cytochemical precipitate area/mitochondrial area (R) of SDH-positive mitochondria were evaluated. In SM CA1, MCT-KDs induced the early appearance of the morphological patterns typical of old animals: higher S and V, and lower Nvs and Nvm. On the contrary, in OML DG, Sv and Vv of MCT-KDs-fed rats were higher (as a result of higher Nvs and Nvm) vs. controls; these modifications are known to improve synaptic function and metabolic supply. The opposite effects of MCT-KDs might reflect the different susceptibility of these brain regions to the aging processes: OML DG is less vulnerable than SM CA1, and the reactivation of ketone bodies uptake and catabolism might occur more efficiently in this region, allowing the exploitation of their peculiar metabolic properties. In GCL-CCx, the results described a new scenario in comparison to that found in the hippocampal formation: 10%MCT-KD induced the early appearance of senescent patterns (decreased Nvs and Nvm; increased V), whereas 20%MCT-KD caused no changes. Since GCL-CCx is more vulnerable to age than DG, and less than CA1, these data further support the hypothesis that MCT-KDs effects in the aging brain critically depend on neuronal vulnerability to age, besides MCT percentage. Regarding PC, it was decided to evaluate only the metabolic effect of the dietetic regimen (20%MCT-KD) characterized by less side effects. KD counteracted age-related decrease in numeric density of SDH-positive mitochondria, and enhanced their energetic efficiency (R was significantly higher in MCT-KD-fed rats vs. all the controls). Since it is well known that Purkinje and dentate gyrus cells are less vulnerable to aging than CA1 neurons, these results corroborate our previous hypothesis. In conclusion, the A) experimental line provides the first evidence that morphological and functional parameters reflecting synaptic plasticity and mitochondrial metabolic competence may be modulated by MCT-KDs in the pre-senescent central nervous system, and that the effects may be heterogeneous in different brain regions. MCT-KDs seem to supply high energy metabolic intermediates and to be beneficial (“anti-aging”) for those neurons that maintain the capability to exploit them. This implies risks but also promising potentialities for the therapeutic use of these diets during aging B) Morphological parameters of synapses and synaptic mitochondria in SM CA1 were investigated in old (26-27 month-old) female Wistar rats following a single trial inhibitory avoidance task. In this memory protocol animals learn to avoid a dark compartment in which they received a mild, inescapable foot-shock. Rats were tested 3 and 6 or 9 hours after the training, divided into good and bad responders according to their performance (retention times above or below 100 s, respectively) and immediately sacrificed. Nvs, S, Sv, Nvm, V, and Vv were evaluated. In the good responder group, the numeric density of synapses and mitochondria was significantly higher and the average mitochondrial volume was significantly smaller 9 hours vs. 6 hours after the training. No significant differences were observed among bad responders. Thus, better performances in passive avoidance memory task are correlated with more efficient plastic remodeling of synaptic contacts and mitochondria in hippocampal CA1. These findings indicate that maintenance of synaptic plastic reactivity during aging is a critical requirement for preserving long-term memory consolidation.

Architectures and design patterns for functional design of logic control and diagnostics in industrial automation

Recently in most of the industrial automation process an ever increasing degree of automation has been observed. This increasing is motivated by the higher requirement of systems with great performance in terms of quality of products/services generated, productivity, efficiency and low costs in the design, realization and maintenance. This trend in the growth of complex automation systems is rapidly spreading over automated manufacturing systems (AMS), where the integration of the mechanical and electronic technology, typical of the Mechatronics, is merging with other technologies such as Informatics and the communication networks. An AMS is a very complex system that can be thought constituted by a set of flexible working stations, one or more transportation systems. To understand how this machine are important in our society let considerate that every day most of us use bottles of water or soda, buy product in box like food or cigarets and so on. Another important consideration from its complexity derive from the fact that the the consortium of machine producers has estimated around 350 types of manufacturing machine. A large number of manufacturing machine industry are presented in Italy and notably packaging machine industry,in particular a great concentration of this kind of industry is located in Bologna area; for this reason the Bologna area is called “packaging valley”. Usually, the various parts of the AMS interact among them in a concurrent and asynchronous way, and coordinate the parts of the machine to obtain a desiderated overall behaviour is an hard task. Often, this is the case in large scale systems, organized in a modular and distributed manner. Even if the success of a modern AMS from a functional and behavioural point of view is still to attribute to the design choices operated in the definition of the mechanical structure and electrical electronic architecture, the system that governs the control of the plant is becoming crucial, because of the large number of duties associated to it. Apart from the activity inherent to the automation of themachine cycles, the supervisory system is called to perform other main functions such as: emulating the behaviour of traditional mechanical members thus allowing a drastic constructive simplification of the machine and a crucial functional flexibility; dynamically adapting the control strategies according to the different productive needs and to the different operational scenarios; obtaining a high quality of the final product through the verification of the correctness of the processing; addressing the operator devoted to themachine to promptly and carefully take the actions devoted to establish or restore the optimal operating conditions; managing in real time information on diagnostics, as a support of the maintenance operations of the machine. The kind of facilities that designers can directly find on themarket, in terms of software component libraries provides in fact an adequate support as regard the implementation of either top-level or bottom-level functionalities, typically pertaining to the domains of user-friendly HMIs, closed-loop regulation and motion control, fieldbus-based interconnection of remote smart devices. What is still lacking is a reference framework comprising a comprehensive set of highly reusable logic control components that, focussing on the cross-cutting functionalities characterizing the automation domain, may help the designers in the process of modelling and structuring their applications according to the specific needs. Historically, the design and verification process for complex automated industrial systems is performed in empirical way, without a clear distinction between functional and technological-implementation concepts and without a systematic method to organically deal with the complete system. Traditionally, in the field of analog and digital control design and verification through formal and simulation tools have been adopted since a long time ago, at least for multivariable and/or nonlinear controllers for complex time-driven dynamics as in the fields of vehicles, aircrafts, robots, electric drives and complex power electronics equipments. Moving to the field of logic control, typical for industrial manufacturing automation, the design and verification process is approached in a completely different way, usually very “unstructured”. No clear distinction between functions and implementations, between functional architectures and technological architectures and platforms is considered. Probably this difference is due to the different “dynamical framework”of logic control with respect to analog/digital control. As a matter of facts, in logic control discrete-events dynamics replace time-driven dynamics; hence most of the formal and mathematical tools of analog/digital control cannot be directly migrated to logic control to enlighten the distinction between functions and implementations. In addition, in the common view of application technicians, logic control design is strictly connected to the adopted implementation technology (relays in the past, software nowadays), leading again to a deep confusion among functional view and technological view. In Industrial automation software engineering, concepts as modularity, encapsulation, composability and reusability are strongly emphasized and profitably realized in the so-calledobject-oriented methodologies. Industrial automation is receiving lately this approach, as testified by some IEC standards IEC 611313, IEC 61499 which have been considered in commercial products only recently. On the other hand, in the scientific and technical literature many contributions have been already proposed to establish a suitable modelling framework for industrial automation. During last years it was possible to note a considerable growth in the exploitation of innovative concepts and technologies from ICT world in industrial automation systems. For what concerns the logic control design, Model Based Design (MBD) is being imported in industrial automation from software engineering field. Another key-point in industrial automated systems is the growth of requirements in terms of availability, reliability and safety for technological systems. In other words, the control system should not only deal with the nominal behaviour, but should also deal with other important duties, such as diagnosis and faults isolations, recovery and safety management. Indeed, together with high performance, in complex systems fault occurrences increase. This is a consequence of the fact that, as it typically occurs in reliable mechatronic systems, in complex systems such as AMS, together with reliable mechanical elements, an increasing number of electronic devices are also present, that are more vulnerable by their own nature. The diagnosis problem and the faults isolation in a generic dynamical system consists in the design of an elaboration unit that, appropriately processing the inputs and outputs of the dynamical system, is also capable of detecting incipient faults on the plant devices, reconfiguring the control system so as to guarantee satisfactory performance. The designer should be able to formally verify the product, certifying that, in its final implementation, it will perform itsrequired function guarantying the desired level of reliability and safety; the next step is that of preventing faults and eventually reconfiguring the control system so that faults are tolerated. On this topic an important improvement to formal verification of logic control, fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control results derive from Discrete Event Systems theory. The aimof this work is to define a design pattern and a control architecture to help the designer of control logic in industrial automated systems. The work starts with a brief discussion on main characteristics and description of industrial automated systems on Chapter 1. In Chapter 2 a survey on the state of the software engineering paradigm applied to industrial automation is discussed. Chapter 3 presentes a architecture for industrial automated systems based on the new concept of Generalized Actuator showing its benefits, while in Chapter 4 this architecture is refined using a novel entity, the Generalized Device in order to have a better reusability and modularity of the control logic. In Chapter 5 a new approach will be present based on Discrete Event Systems for the problemof software formal verification and an active fault tolerant control architecture using online diagnostic. Finally conclusive remarks and some ideas on new directions to explore are given. In Appendix A are briefly reported some concepts and results about Discrete Event Systems which should help the reader in understanding some crucial points in chapter 5; while in Appendix B an overview on the experimental testbed of the Laboratory of Automation of University of Bologna, is reported to validated the approach presented in chapter 3, chapter 4 and chapter 5. In Appendix C some components model used in chapter 5 for formal verification are reported.

A SMO inhibitor drug reduces the progenitor cell's maintenance in the Drosophila hematopoietic organ: a novel model to study Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia relapse

The chronic myeloid leukemia complexity and the difficulties of disease eradication have recently led to the development of drugs which, together with the inhibitors of TK, could eliminate leukemia stem cells preventing the occurrence of relapses in patients undergoing transplantation. The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway positively regulates the self-renewal and the maintenance of leukemic stem cells and not, and this function is evolutionarily conserved. Using Drosophila as a model, we studied the efficacy of the SMO inhibitor drug that inhibit the human protein Smoothened (SMO). SMO is a crucial component in the signal transduction of Hh and its blockade in mammals leads to a reduction in the disease induction. Here we show that administration of the SMO inhibitor to animals has a specific effect directed against the Drosophila ortholog protein, causing loss of quiescence and hematopoietic precursors mobilization. The SMO inhibitor induces in L3 larvae the appearance of melanotic nodules generated as response by Drosophila immune system to the increase of its hemocytes. The same phenotype is induced even by the dsRNA:SMO specific expression in hematopoietic precursors of the lymph gland. The drug action is also confirmed at cellular level. The study of molecular markers has allowed us to demonstrate that SMO inhibitor leads to a reduction of the quiescent precursors and to an increase of the differentiated cells. Moreover administering the inhibitor to heterozygous for a null allele of Smo, we observe a significant increase in the phenotype penetrance compared to administration to wild type animals. This helps to confirm the specific effect of the drug itself. These data taken together indicate that the study of inhibitors of Smo in Drosophila can represent a useful way to dissect their action mechanism at the molecular-genetic level in order to collect information applicable to the studies of the disease in humans.

Content and English Language Integrated Learning: The use of Moodle in Aircraft Maintenance Training Programs

The aim of this work is to develop a prototype of an e-learning environment that can foster Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for students enrolled in an aircraft maintenance training program, which allows them to obtain a license valid in all EU member states. Background research is conducted to retrace the evolution of the field of educational technology, analyzing different learning theories – behaviorism, cognitivism, and (socio-)constructivism – and reflecting on how technology and its use in educational contexts has changed over time. Particular attention is given to technologies that have been used and proved effective in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Based on the background research and on students’ learning objectives, i.e. learning highly specialized contents and aeronautical technical English, a bilingual approach is chosen, three main tools are identified – a hypertextbook, an exercise creation activity, and a discussion forum – and the learning management system Moodle is chosen as delivery medium. The hypertextbook is based on the technical textbook written in English students already use. In order to foster text comprehension, the hypertextbook is enriched by hyperlinks and tooltips. Hyperlinks redirect students to webpages containing additional information both in English and in Italian, while tooltips show Italian equivalents of English technical terms. The exercise creation activity and the discussion forum foster interaction and collaboration among students, according to socio-constructivist principles. In the exercise creation activity, students collaboratively create a workbook, which allow them to deeply analyze and master the contents of the hypertextbook and at the same time create a learning tool that can help them, as well as future students, to enhance learning. In the discussion forum students can discuss their individual issues, content-related, English-related or e-learning environment-related, helping one other and offering instructors suggestions on how to improve both the hypertextbook and the workbook based on their needs.

Modelling, simulation and optimization of maintenance considerations on condition based maintenance

Globalization has increased the pressure on organizations and companies to operate in the most efficient and economic way. This tendency promotes that companies concentrate more and more on their core businesses, outsource less profitable departments and services to reduce costs. By contrast to earlier times, companies are highly specialized and have a low real net output ratio. For being able to provide the consumers with the right products, those companies have to collaborate with other suppliers and form large supply chains. An effect of large supply chains is the deficiency of high stocks and stockholding costs. This fact has lead to the rapid spread of Just-in-Time logistic concepts aimed minimizing stock by simultaneous high availability of products. Those concurring goals, minimizing stock by simultaneous high product availability, claim for high availability of the production systems in the way that an incoming order can immediately processed. Besides of design aspects and the quality of the production system, maintenance has a strong impact on production system availability. In the last decades, there has been many attempts to create maintenance models for availability optimization. Most of them concentrated on the availability aspect only without incorporating further aspects as logistics and profitability of the overall system. However, production system operator’s main intention is to optimize the profitability of the production system and not the availability of the production system. Thus, classic models, limited to represent and optimize maintenance strategies under the light of availability, fail. A novel approach, incorporating all financial impacting processes of and around a production system, is needed. The proposed model is subdivided into three parts, maintenance module, production module and connection module. This subdivision provides easy maintainability and simple extendability. Within those modules, all aspect of production process are modeled. Main part of the work lies in the extended maintenance and failure module that offers a representation of different maintenance strategies but also incorporates the effect of over-maintaining and failed maintenance (maintenance induced failures). Order release and seizing of the production system are modeled in the production part. Due to computational power limitation, it was not possible to run the simulation and the optimization with the fully developed production model. Thus, the production model was reduced to a black-box without higher degree of details.

Mandibular implant overdentures followed for over 10 years: patient compliance and prosthetic maintenance

PURPOSE: The mandibular implant overdenture is a popular treatment modality and is well documented in the literature. Follow-up studies with a long observation period are difficult to perform due to the increasing age of patients. The present data summarize a long-term clinical observation of patients with implant overdentures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1984 and 1997, edentulous patients were consecutively admitted for treatment with an implant overdenture. The dentures were connected to the implants by means of bars or ball anchors. Regular maintenance was provided with at least one or two scheduled visits per year. Recall attendance and reasons for dropout were analyzed based on the specific history of the patient. Denture maintenance service, relining, repair, and fabrication of new dentures were identified, and complications with the retention devices specified separately. RESULTS: In the time period from 1984 to 2008, 147 patients with a total of 314 implants had completed a follow-up period of >10 years. One hundred one patients were still available in 2008, while 46 patients were not reexamined for various reasons. Compliance was high, with a regular recall attendance of >90%. More than 80% of dentures remained in continuous service. Although major prosthetic maintenance was rather low in relation to the long observation period, visits to a dental hygienist and dentist resulted in an annual visit rate of 1.5 and 2.4, respectively. If new dentures became necessary, these were made in student courses, which increased the treatment time and number of appointments needed. Complications with the retention devices consisted mostly of the mounting of new female retainers, the repair of bars, and the changing of ball anchors. The average number of events and the rate of prosthetic service with ball anchors were significantly higher than those with bars. Twenty-two patients changed from ball anchors to bars; 9 patients switched from a clip bar to a rigid U-shaped bar. CONCLUSIONS: This long-term follow-up study demonstrates that implant overdentures are a favorable solution for edentulous patients with regular maintenance. In spite of specific circumstances in an aging population, it is possible to provide long-term care, resulting in a good prognosis and low risk for this treatment modality. For various reasons the dropout rate can be considerable in elderly patients and prosthetic service must be provided regularly.

Computer Aided Surgery for Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: Clinical Requirement Analysis and System Design

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for the treatment of renal stones and other related renal diseases has proved its efficacy and has stood the test of time compared with open surgical methods and extracorporal shock wave lithotripsy. However, access to the collecting system of the kidney is not easy because the available intra-operative image modalities only provide a two dimensional view of the surgical scenario. With this lack of visual information, several punctures are often necessary which, increases the risk of renal bleeding, splanchnic, vascular or pulmonary injury, or damage to the collecting system which sometimes makes the continuation of the procedure impossible. In order to address this problem, this paper proposes a workflow for introduction of a stereotactic needle guidance system for PCNL procedures. An analysis of the imposed clinical requirements, and a instrument guidance approach to provide the physician with a more intuitive planning and visual guidance to access the collecting system of the kidney are presented.

Phase I/IIa study of cilengitide and temozolomide with concomitant radiotherapy followed by cilengitide and temozolomide maintenance therapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma

Invasion and migration are key processes of glioblastoma and are tightly linked to tumor recurrence. Integrin inhibition using cilengitide has shown synergy with chemotherapy and radiotherapy in vitro and promising activity in recurrent glioblastoma. This multicenter, phase I/IIa study investigated the efficacy and safety of cilengitide in combination with standard chemoradiotherapy in newly diagnosed glioblastoma.