A process evaluation of a cluster randomised trial to reduce potentially inappropriate prescribing in older people in primary care (OPTI-SCRIPT study)

Background
The OPTI-SCRIPT cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) found that a three-phase multifaceted intervention including academic detailing with a pharmacist, GP-led medicines reviews, supported by web-based pharmaceutical treatment algorithms, and tailored patient information leaflets, was effective in reducing potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) in Irish primary care. We report a process evaluation exploring the implementation of the intervention, the experiences of those participating in the study and lessons for future implementation.

Methods
The OPTI-SCRIPT trial included 21 GP practices and 196 patients. The process evaluation used mixed methods. Quantitative data were collected from all GP practices and semi-structured interviews were conducted with GPs from intervention and control groups, and a purposive sample of patients from the intervention group. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic analysis.

Results
Despite receiving a standardised academic detailing session, intervention delivery varied among GP practices. Just over 70 % of practices completed medicines review as recommended with the patient present. Only single-handed practices conducted reviews without patients present, highlighting the influence of practice characteristics and resources on variation. Medications were more likely to be completely stopped or switched to another more appropriate medication when reviews were conducted with patients present. The patient information leaflets were not used by any of the intervention practices. Both GP (32 %) and patient (40 %) recruitment rates were modest. For those who did participate, overall, the experience was positively viewed, with GPs and patients referring to the value of medication reviews to improve prescribing and reduce unnecessary medications. Lack of time in busy GP practices and remuneration were identified as organisational barriers to future implementation.

Conclusions
The OPTI-SCRIPT intervention was positively viewed by both GPs and patients, both of whom valued the study’s objectives. Patient information leaflets were not a successful component of the intervention. Academic detailing and medication reviews are important components in changing PIP, and having patients present during the review process seems to be a more effective approach for decreasing PIP.

JCML: A specification language for the runtime verification of Java Card programs

COSTA, Umberto Souza; MOREIRA, Anamaria Martins; MUSICANTE, Matin A.; SOUZA NETO, Plácido A. JCML: A specification language for the runtime verification of Java Card programs. Science of Computer Programming. [S.l]: [s.n], 2010.

Specification and Runtime Verification of Java Card Programs

COSTA, Umberto Souza da; MOREIRA, Anamaria Martins; MUSICANTE, Martin A. Specification and Runtime Verification of Java Card Programs. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. [S.l:s.n], 2009.

From Kandinsky to Java (The Use of 20th Century Abstract Art in Learning Programming)

At the University of Worcester we are continually striving to find new approaches to the learning and teaching of programming, to improve the quality of learning and the student experience. Over the past three years we have used the contexts of robotics, computer games, and most recently a study of Abstract Art to this end. This paper discusses our motivation for using Abstract Art as a context, details our principles and methodology, and reports on an evaluation of the student experience. Our basic tenet is that one can view the works of artists such as Kandinsky, Klee and Malevich as Object-Oriented (OO) constructions. Discussion of these works can therefore be used to introduce OO principles, to explore the meaning of classes, methods and attributes and finally to synthesize new works of art through Java code. This research has been conducted during delivery of an “Advanced OOP (Java)” programming module at final-year Undergraduate level, and during a Masters’ OO-Programming (Java) module. This allows a comparative evaluation of novice and experienced programmers’ learning. In this paper, we identify several instructional factors which emerge from our approach, and reflect upon the associated pedagogy. A Catalogue of ArtApplets is provided at the associated web-site.

Bewertungsaspekte und Tests in Java-Programmieraufgaben für Graja im ProFormA-Aufgabenformat

Ein Autobewerter für von Studierenden eingereichte Programme führt die im ProFormA-Aufgabenformat sequentiell spezifizierten "Tests" aus, um die Einreichung zu prüfen. Bzgl. der Interpretation und Darstellung der Testausführungsergebnisse gibt es derzeit keinen graderübergreifenden Standard. Wir beschreiben eine Erweiterung des ProFormA-Aufgabenformats um eine Hierarchie von Bewertungsaspekten, die nach didaktischen Aspekten gruppiert ist und Referenzen auf die Testausführungen besitzt. Die Erweiterung wurde in Graja umgesetzt, einem Autobewerter für Java-Programme. Je nach gewünschter Detailaufschlüsselung der Bewertungsaspekte müssen in der Konsequenz Testausführungen in Teilausführungen aufgebrochen werden. Wir illustrieren unseren Vorschlag unter Einsatz der Testwerkzeuge Compiler, dynamischer Softwaretest, statische Analyse sowie unter Einsatz menschlicher Bewerter.

Graja - Autobewerter für Java-Programme

In diesem Bericht wird der Autobewerter Graja für Java-Programme vorgestellt. Wir geben einen Überblick über die unterstützten Bewertungsmethoden sowie die beteiligten Nutzerrollen. Wir gehen auf technische Einzelheiten und Randbedingungen der in Graja eingesetzten Bewertungsmethoden ein und zeigen die Einbindung von Graja in eine technische Gesamtarchitektur. An einem durchgehenden Beispiel stellen wir die Struktur einer Programmieraufgabe sowie die von Graja unterstützten Feedback-Möglichkeiten dar. Informationen zum bisherigen Einsatz des Graders runden den Bericht ab.

A large study on the effect of code obfuscation on the quality of java code

Context: Obfuscation is a common technique used to protect software against mali- cious reverse engineering. Obfuscators manipulate the source code to make it harder to analyze and more difficult to understand for the attacker. Although different ob- fuscation algorithms and implementations are available, they have never been directly compared in a large scale study. Aim: This paper aims at evaluating and quantifying the effect of several different obfuscation implementations (both open source and commercial), to help developers and project manager to decide which one could be adopted. Method: In this study we applied 44 obfuscations to 18 subject applications covering a total of 4 millions lines of code. The effectiveness of these source code obfuscations has been measured using 10 code metrics, considering modularity, size and complexity of code. Results: Results show that some of the considered obfuscations are effective in mak- ing code metrics change substantially from original to obfuscated code, although this change (called potency of the obfuscation) is different on different metrics. In the pa- per we recommend which obfuscations to select, given the security requirements of the software to be protected.

Diseño de un software educativo para televisión digital

El presente proyecto de tesis, detalla el uso de la televisión digital como proveedora de contenidos interactivos y como herramienta complementaria de la educación inicial, para lo cual, propone una metodología al desarrollar software educativo multimedia. La base pedagógica se forjó con diversas fuentes bibliográficas y la colaboración de personas expertas en el tema, siendo su experiencia y conocimiento los pilares fundamentales en la selección de contenidos. El estudio realizado contiene una descripción de la arquitectura ISDB-Tb, escogida por nuestro país como norma para la televisión digital terrestre y de su middleware GINGA, mencionando sus dos tipos de programación, la declarativa que utiliza el lenguaje NCL, que va de la mano con el lenguaje de script LUA para dotarlo de mayor funcionalidad y la procedural mediante JAVA, para cada caso se describe las herramientas necesarias para comenzar a desarrollar aplicaciones y una guía para su instalación. Con la difusión de aplicaciones para televisión digital en nuestro país en un futuro cercano, debido a la oferta y la demanda, se mejorará la cantidad y calidad de programas. Lo que pretende nuestra tesis es dejar un precedente sobre el contenido que podría trasmitirse, como diseñarlo e implementarlo, tomando en cuenta las recomendaciones que proponemos. Para obtener un resultado eficaz de este proyecto, se realizaron constantes pruebas con los niños y educadoras del Centro de Desarrollo Infantil KERYGMA, una vez concluido la aplicación, se expuso a personas conocedoras del ámbito pedagógico y a los directivos de la SUPERTEL y Centro IDI.

¿Una comparación entre Java y .NET?

En este artículo se presentan una serie de reflexiones frente a las comparaciones que pueden hacerse entre dos plataformas de software: Java y .NET. Para ello se trata de hacer un breve recuento histórico de ambos casos, y después se presentan algunas de las diferencias que la autora ha encontrado entre ellas, mirando aspectos que tienen relación directa con la programación orientada a objetos, o con otros aspectos del lenguaje. Por último se presenta una breve aclaración, desde el punto de vista de la autora, frente al tema de portabilidad que ambos reclaman como la diferencia más relevante entre ellos.

Page Composition using PPML as a Link-editing Script

The advantages of a COG (Component Object Graphic) approach to the composition of PDF pages have been set out in a previous paper [1]. However, if pages are to be composed in this way then the individual graphic objects must have known bounding boxes and must be correctly placed on the page in a process that resembles the link editing of a multi-module computer program. Ideally the linker should be able to utilize all declared resource information attached to each COG. We have investigated the use of an XML application called Personalized Print Markup Language (PPML) to control the link editing process for PDF COGs. Our experiments, though successful, have shown up the shortcomings of PPML's resource handling capabilities which are currently active at the document and page levels but which cannot be elegantly applied to individual graphic objects at a sub-page level. Proposals are put forward for modifications to PPML that would make easier any COG-based approach to page composition.

Implementación de una API para la interacción del guante P5 con entornos de realidad virtual desarrollados en Java y Java 3D

Este artículo presenta el proceso de implementación de una API (Application Programming Interface) que permite la interacción del guante P5 de Essential Reality1 con un entorno virtual desarrollado en el lenguaje de programación Java y su librería Java 3D.2 Por otra parte, se describe un ejemplo implementado, haciendo uso de la API en cuestión. Con base en este ejemplo se presentan los resultados de la ejecución de pruebas de requerimientos de recursos físicos como la CPU y memoria física. Finalmente, se especifican las conclusiones y resultados obtenidos.

JCML: A specification language for the runtime verification of Java Card programs

COSTA, Umberto Souza; MOREIRA, Anamaria Martins; MUSICANTE, Matin A.; SOUZA NETO, Plácido A. JCML: A specification language for the runtime verification of Java Card programs. Science of Computer Programming. [S.l]: [s.n], 2010.

Specification and Runtime Verification of Java Card Programs

COSTA, Umberto Souza da; MOREIRA, Anamaria Martins; MUSICANTE, Martin A. Specification and Runtime Verification of Java Card Programs. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. [S.l:s.n], 2009.

Orthogonal persistence in Java supported by aspect- oriented programming and reflection

The persistence concern implemented as an aspect has been studied since the appearance of the Aspect-Oriented paradigm. Frequently, persistence is given as an example that can be aspectized, but until today no real world solution has applied that paradigm. Such solution should be able to enhance the programmer productivity and make the application less prone to errors. To test the viability of that concept, in a previous study we developed a prototype that implements Orthogonal Persistence as an aspect. This first version of the prototype was already fully functional with all Java types including arrays. In this work the results of our new research to overcome some limitations that we have identified on the data type abstraction and transparency in the prototype are presented. One of our goals was to avoid the Java standard idiom for genericity, based on casts, type tests and subtyping. Moreover, we also find the need to introduce some dynamic data type abilities. We consider that the Reflection is the solution to those issues. To achieve that, we have extended our prototype with a new static weaver that preprocesses the application source code in order to introduce changes to the normal behavior of the Java compiler with a new generated reflective code.