Identification and correction of besouro's faults: impact on test���driven development experiments

Context. This thesis is framed in experimental software engineering. More concretely, it addresses the problems arisen when assessing process conformance in test-driven development experiments conducted by UPM's Experimental Software Engineering group. Process conformance was studied using the Eclipse's plug-in tool Besouro. It has been observed that Besouro does not work correctly in some circumstances. It creates doubts about the correction of the existing experimental data which render it useless. Aim. The main objective of this work is the identification and correction of Besouro's faults. A secondary goal is fixing the datasets already obtained in past experiments to the maximum possible extent. This way, existing experimental results could be used with confidence. Method. (1) Testing Besouro using different sequences of events (creation methods, assertions etc..) to identify the underlying faults. (2) Fix the code and (3) fix the datasets using code specially created for this purpose. Results. (1) We confirmed the existence of several fault in Besouro's code that affected to Test-First and Test-Last episode identification. These faults caused the incorrect identification of 20% of episodes. (2) We were able to fix Besouro's code. (3) The correction of existing datasets was possible, subjected to some restrictions (such us the impossibility of tracing code size increase to programming time. Conclusion. The results of past experiments dependent upon Besouro's data could no be trustable. We have the suspicion that more faults remain in Besouro's code, whose identification requires further analysis.

Contributions to the Resilience Management in the Internet of Things

El auge del "Internet de las Cosas" (IoT, "Internet of Things") y sus tecnolog��as asociadas han permitido su aplicaci��n en diversos dominios de la aplicaci��n, entre los que se encuentran la monitorizaci��n de ecosistemas forestales, la gesti��n de cat��strofes y emergencias, la dom��tica, la automatizaci��n industrial, los servicios para ciudades inteligentes, la eficiencia energ��tica de edificios, la detecci��n de intrusos, la gesti��n de desastres y emergencias o la monitorizaci��n de se��ales corporales, entre muchas otras. La desventaja de una red IoT es que una vez desplegada, ��sta queda desatendida, es decir queda sujeta, entre otras cosas, a condiciones clim��ticas cambiantes y expuestas a cat��strofes naturales, fallos de software o hardware, o ataques maliciosos de terceros, por lo que se puede considerar que dichas redes son propensas a fallos. El principal requisito de los nodos constituyentes de una red IoT es que estos deben ser capaces de seguir funcionando a pesar de sufrir errores en el propio sistema. La capacidad de la red para recuperarse ante fallos internos y externos inesperados es lo que se conoce actualmente como "Resiliencia" de la red. Por tanto, a la hora de dise��ar y desplegar aplicaciones o servicios para IoT, se espera que la red sea tolerante a fallos, que sea auto-configurable, auto-adaptable, auto-optimizable con respecto a nuevas condiciones que puedan aparecer durante su ejecuci��n. Esto lleva al an��lisis de un problema fundamental en el estudio de las redes IoT, el problema de la "Conectividad". Se dice que una red est�� conectada si todo par de nodos en la red son capaces de encontrar al menos un camino de comunicaci��n entre ambos. Sin embargo, la red puede desconectarse debido a varias razones, como que se agote la bater��a, que un nodo sea destruido, etc. Por tanto, se hace necesario gestionar la resiliencia de la red con el objeto de mantener la conectividad entre sus nodos, de tal manera que cada nodo IoT sea capaz de proveer servicios continuos, a otros nodos, a otras redes o, a otros servicios y aplicaciones. En este contexto, el objetivo principal de esta tesis doctoral se centra en el estudio del problema de conectividad IoT, m��s concretamente en el desarrollo de modelos para el an��lisis y gesti��n de la Resiliencia, llevado a la pr��ctica a trav��s de las redes WSN, con el fin de mejorar la capacidad la tolerancia a fallos de los nodos que componen la red. Este reto se aborda teniendo en cuenta dos enfoques distintos, por una parte, a diferencia de otro tipo de redes de dispositivos convencionales, los nodos en una red IoT son propensos a perder la conexi��n, debido a que se despliegan en entornos aislados, o en entornos con condiciones extremas; por otra parte, los nodos suelen ser recursos con bajas capacidades en t��rminos de procesamiento, almacenamiento y bater��a, entre otros, por lo que requiere que el dise��o de la gesti��n de su resiliencia sea ligero, distribuido y energ��ticamente eficiente. En este sentido, esta tesis desarrolla t��cnicas auto-adaptativas que permiten a una red IoT, desde la perspectiva del control de su topolog��a, ser resiliente ante fallos en sus nodos. Para ello, se utilizan t��cnicas basadas en l��gica difusa y t��cnicas de control proporcional, integral y derivativa (PID - "proportional-integral-derivative"), con el objeto de mejorar la conectividad de la red, teniendo en cuenta que el consumo de energ��a debe preservarse tanto como sea posible. De igual manera, se ha tenido en cuenta que el algoritmo de control debe ser distribuido debido a que, en general, los enfoques centralizados no suelen ser factibles a despliegues a gran escala. El presente trabajo de tesis implica varios retos que conciernen a la conectividad de red, entre los que se incluyen: la creaci��n y el an��lisis de modelos matem��ticos que describan la red, una propuesta de sistema de control auto-adaptativo en respuesta a fallos en los nodos, la optimizaci��n de los par��metros del sistema de control, la validaci��n mediante una implementaci��n siguiendo un enfoque de ingenier��a del software y finalmente la evaluaci��n en una aplicaci��n real. Atendiendo a los retos anteriormente mencionados, el presente trabajo justifica, mediante una an��lisis matem��tico, la relaci��n existente entre el "grado de un nodo" (definido como el n��mero de nodos en la vecindad del nodo en cuesti��n) y la conectividad de la red, y prueba la eficacia de varios tipos de controladores que permiten ajustar la potencia de trasmisi��n de los nodos de red en respuesta a eventuales fallos, teniendo en cuenta el consumo de energ��a como parte de los objetivos de control. As�� mismo, este trabajo realiza una evaluaci��n y comparaci��n con otros algoritmos representativos; en donde se demuestra que el enfoque desarrollado es m��s tolerante a fallos aleatorios en los nodos de la red, as�� como en su eficiencia energ��tica. Adicionalmente, el uso de algoritmos bioinspirados ha permitido la optimizaci��n de los par��metros de control de redes din��micas de gran tama��o. Con respecto a la implementaci��n en un sistema real, se han integrado las propuestas de esta tesis en un modelo de programaci��n OSGi ("Open Services Gateway Initiative") con el objeto de crear un middleware auto-adaptativo que mejore la gesti��n de la resiliencia, especialmente la reconfiguraci��n en tiempo de ejecuci��n de componentes software cuando se ha producido un fallo. Como conclusi��n, los resultados de esta tesis doctoral contribuyen a la investigaci��n te��rica y, a la aplicaci��n pr��ctica del control resiliente de la topolog��a en redes distribuidas de gran tama��o. Los dise��os y algoritmos presentados pueden ser vistos como una prueba novedosa de algunas t��cnicas para la pr��xima era de IoT. A continuaci��n, se enuncian de forma resumida las principales contribuciones de esta tesis: (1) Se han analizado matem��ticamente propiedades relacionadas con la conectividad de la red. Se estudia, por ejemplo, c��mo var��a la probabilidad de conexi��n de la red al modificar el alcance de comunicaci��n de los nodos, as�� como cu��l es el m��nimo n��mero de nodos que hay que a��adir al sistema desconectado para su re-conexi��n. (2) Se han propuesto sistemas de control basados en l��gica difusa para alcanzar el grado de los nodos deseado, manteniendo la conectividad completa de la red. Se han evaluado diferentes tipos de controladores basados en l��gica difusa mediante simulaciones, y los resultados se han comparado con otros algoritmos representativos. (3) Se ha investigado m��s a fondo, dando un enfoque m��s simple y aplicable, el sistema de control de doble bucle, y sus par��metros de control se han optimizado empleando algoritmos heur��sticos como el m��todo de la entrop��a cruzada (CE, "Cross Entropy"), la optimizaci��n por enjambre de part��culas (PSO, "Particle Swarm Optimization"), y la evoluci��n diferencial (DE, "Differential Evolution"). (4) Se han evaluado mediante simulaci��n, la mayor��a de los dise��os aqu�� presentados; adem��s, parte de los trabajos se han implementado y validado en una aplicaci��n real combinando t��cnicas de software auto-adaptativo, como por ejemplo las de una arquitectura orientada a servicios (SOA, "Service-Oriented Architecture"). ABSTRACT The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) enables a tremendous number of applications, such as forest monitoring, disaster management, home automation, factory automation, smart city, etc. However, various kinds of unexpected disturbances may cause node failure in the IoT, for example battery depletion, software/hardware malfunction issues and malicious attacks. So, it can be considered that the IoT is prone to failure. The ability of the network to recover from unexpected internal and external failures is known as "resilience" of the network. Resilience usually serves as an important non-functional requirement when designing IoT, which can further be broken down into "self-*" properties, such as self-adaptive, self-healing, self-configuring, self-optimization, etc. One of the consequences that node failure brings to the IoT is that some nodes may be disconnected from others, such that they are not capable of providing continuous services for other nodes, networks, and applications. In this sense, the main objective of this dissertation focuses on the IoT connectivity problem. A network is regarded as connected if any pair of different nodes can communicate with each other either directly or via a limited number of intermediate nodes. More specifically, this thesis focuses on the development of models for analysis and management of resilience, implemented through the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), which is a challenging task. On the one hand, unlike other conventional network devices, nodes in the IoT are more likely to be disconnected from each other due to their deployment in a hostile or isolated environment. On the other hand, nodes are resource-constrained in terms of limited processing capability, storage and battery capacity, which requires that the design of the resilience management for IoT has to be lightweight, distributed and energy-efficient. In this context, the thesis presents self-adaptive techniques for IoT, with the aim of making the IoT resilient against node failures from the network topology control point of view. The fuzzy-logic and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control techniques are leveraged to improve the network connectivity of the IoT in response to node failures, meanwhile taking into consideration that energy consumption must be preserved as much as possible. The control algorithm itself is designed to be distributed, because the centralized approaches are usually not feasible in large scale IoT deployments. The thesis involves various aspects concerning network connectivity, including: creation and analysis of mathematical models describing the network, proposing self-adaptive control systems in response to node failures, control system parameter optimization, implementation using the software engineering approach, and evaluation in a real application. This thesis also justifies the relations between the "node degree" (the number of neighbor(s) of a node) and network connectivity through mathematic analysis, and proves the effectiveness of various types of controllers that can adjust power transmission of the IoT nodes in response to node failures. The controllers also take into consideration the energy consumption as part of the control goals. The evaluation is performed and comparison is made with other representative algorithms. The simulation results show that the proposals in this thesis can tolerate more random node failures and save more energy when compared with those representative algorithms. Additionally, the simulations demonstrate that the use of the bio-inspired algorithms allows optimizing the parameters of the controller. With respect to the implementation in a real system, the programming model called OSGi (Open Service Gateway Initiative) is integrated with the proposals in order to create a self-adaptive middleware, especially reconfiguring the software components at runtime when failures occur. The outcomes of this thesis contribute to theoretic research and practical applications of resilient topology control for large and distributed networks. The presented controller designs and optimization algorithms can be viewed as novel trials of the control and optimization techniques for the coming era of the IoT. The contributions of this thesis can be summarized as follows: (1) Mathematically, the fault-tolerant probability of a large-scale stochastic network is analyzed. It is studied how the probability of network connectivity depends on the communication range of the nodes, and what is the minimum number of neighbors to be added for network re-connection. (2) A fuzzy-logic control system is proposed, which obtains the desired node degree and in turn maintains the network connectivity when it is subject to node failures. There are different types of fuzzy-logic controllers evaluated by simulations, and the results demonstrate the improvement of fault-tolerant capability as compared to some other representative algorithms. (3) A simpler but more applicable approach, the two-loop control system is further investigated, and its control parameters are optimized by using some heuristic algorithms such as Cross Entropy (CE), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Differential Evolution (DE). (4) Most of the designs are evaluated by means of simulations, but part of the proposals are implemented and tested in a real-world application by combining the self-adaptive software technique and the control algorithms which are presented in this thesis.

Evidence of the presence of bias in subjective metrics: analysis within a family of experiments

Context: Measurement is crucial and important to empirical software engineering. Although reliability and validity are two important properties warranting consideration in measurement processes, they may be influenced by random or systematic error (bias) depending on which metric is used. Aim: Check whether, the simple subjective metrics used in empirical software engineering studies are prone to bias. Method: Comparison of the reliability of a family of empirical studies on requirements elicitation that explore the same phenomenon using different design types and objective and subjective metrics. Results: The objectively measured variables (experience and knowledge) tend to achieve more reliable results, whereas subjective metrics using Likert scales (expertise and familiarity) tend to be influenced by systematic error or bias. Conclusions: Studies that predominantly use variables measured subjectively, like opinion polls or expert opinion acquisition.

A systematic mapping study on testing technique experiments: has the situation changed since 2000?

Context: Empirical Software Engineering (ESE) replication researchers need to store and manipulate experimental data for several purposes, in particular analysis and reporting. Current research needs call for sharing and preservation of experimental data as well. In a previous work, we analyzed Replication Data Management (RDM) needs. A novel concept, called Experimental Ecosystem, was proposed to solve current deficiencies in RDM approaches. The empirical ecosystem provides replication researchers with a common framework that integrates transparently local heterogeneous data sources. A typical situation where the Empirical Ecosystem is applicable, is when several members of a research group, or several research groups collaborating together, need to share and access each other experimental results. However, to be able to apply the Empirical Ecosystem concept and deliver all promised benefits, it is necessary to analyze the software architectures and tools that can properly support it.

Topic selection in industry experiments

This paper shares our experience with initial negotiation and topic elicitation process for conducting industry experiments in six software development organizations in Finland. The process involved interaction with company representatives in the form of both multiple group discussions and separate face-to-face meetings. Fitness criteria developed by researchers were applied to the list of generated topics to decide on a common topic. The challenges we faced include diversity of proposed topics, communication gaps, skepticism about research methods, initial disconnect between research and industry needs, and lack of prior work relationship. Lessons learned include having enough time to establish trust with partners, importance of leveraging the benefits of training and skill development that are inherent in the experimental approach, uniquely positioning the experimental approach within the landscape of other validation approaches more familiar to industrial partners, and introducing the fitness criteria early in the process.

Riskm��tica: Una tecnolog��a educativa desarrollada con Unity

Historically, teachers have always searched for a connection with their students to make education interesting and a vital experience. In the 19th century, pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi taught children how to sum using wood blocks. His successors have followed his legacy and today they use a wide variety of media, including board games, in order to reach out to their students. These methods are denominated educational technologies, which are defined as the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources. With the advent of the information technologies, teachers have at their disposal new media with which they can increase the interest of their students. This technologic revolution is changing the present educational model. The objective of this dissertation is to develop an educational videogame in order to help students learn mathematics. To reach this goal, the videogame has been developed with the game engine Unity as the main tool. Additionally, agile software development methodologies as well as other software engineering techniques have also been used. The result is Riskmatica, an educational videogame based on geographical domination in which knowledge is the best weapon. The players must conquer enemy teritories answering correctly a mathecatical question. Moreover the videogame has the functionality required to configure a new game and input new questions. To conclude, this project has created an educational technology which greatly appeals to students and that can be used by the educators to improve their lessons in mathematics.---RESUMEN---A lo largo de la historia, los educadores siempre han buscado conectar con los alumnos para poder captar su inter��s y hacer que la educaci��n se convierta en una experiencia vital. El pedagogo Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi consegu��a esto en el siglo XIX, ense��ando a ni��os a contar con bloques de madera. Sus sucesores han seguido su legado y hoy en d��a utilizan variedad de medios con los que motivar a sus alumnos, en algunos casos los juegos de mesa. Estos m��todos son denominados tecnolog��as educativas, que se definen como los estudios y pr��cticas ��ticas que facilitan y mejoran la ense��anza, mediante la creaci��n, el uso y el empleo de procesos y recursos tecnol��gicos. Con el advenimiento de las tecnolog��as de la informaci��n, los educadores tienen a su disposici��n un nuevo medio con el que llegar al alumnado. Esta revoluci��n tecnol��gica est�� cambiando el modelo educativo actual. El objetivo de este proyecto es el de crear un videojuego educativo que ayude a los alumnos a estudiar matem��ticas. Para lograrlo se ha utilizado el popular motor de videojuego Unity como herramienta principal. Tambi��n se han empleado metodolog��as ��giles de desarrollo adem��s de otras t��cnicas de ingenier��a del software. El resultado es Riskm��tica, un videojuego educativo de dominaci��n geogr��fica en el que el arma m��s eficaz es el conocimiento. Los jugadores deber��n conquistar territorios a sus adversarios mediante la respuesta de preguntas de car��cter matem��tico. Adem��s el videojuego cuenta con la funcionalidad necesaria para configurar una partida e introducir nuevas preguntas. Como conlusi��n, este proyecto ha logrado crear una tecnolog��a educativa muy atractiva para los alumnos con la que los profesores pueden mejorar la ense��anza de las matem��ticas.

Supervisi��n de un sistema de tiempo real distribuido

En el presente proyecto se propone la definici��n e implementaci��n de un subsistema de monitorizaci��n para un sistema de tiempo real distribuido. Este monitor supervisar�� el estado de todos los componentes software y hardware del sistema original, y permitir�� el arranque y parada de cada componente individualmente o del subsistema completo. Constar�� de dos componentes b��sicos: un supervisor local para cada subsistema, y un supervisor central con interfaz gr��fica. El supervisor local es un componente software asociado a cada subsistema que realizar�� las funciones de monitorizaci��n, arranque/parada de los componentes y env��o de informes al supervisor central. Atender�� adem��s a los comandos de arranque y parada provenientes del supervisor central. El supervisor central recibir�� los informes de estado de cada uno de los supervisores locales y permitir�� el arranque y parada de los subsistemas. Contar�� con un interfaz gr��fico a modo de posici��n de control. El sistema ser�� desarrollado ��ntegramente (salvo la posici��n gr��fica) en ADA95, y podr�� ejecutarse en cualquiera de las distribuciones Linux m��s extendidas. En el contexto de Ingenier��a de Software, se seguir�� un desarrollo en cascada, aport��ndose los requisitos, el dise��o, la codificaci��n y un plan de pruebas. Abstract In this project, the definition and implementation of a monitoring system is proposed for a previously defined real-time distributed system. This supervisory system will monitor the status of each subsystem and its software and hardware components. This new system will also be able to start and stop each individual component and start or stop the entire system. It will consist of two basic components: a local supervisor for each subsystem, and a central supervisor with a graphical unit interface (GUI). The local supervisor will be a software component attached to each original subsystem, which will perform functions such as components monitoring, start and stop the associated subsystem, and sending reports to the central supervisor. It also will attend the start and stop commands from the central supervisor. The central supervisor will receive status reports from each of the local supervisors and will allow starting and stopping the subsystems. It will offer a graphical interface to be used as a main control panel. The system will be developed in ADA 95 (except the graphical position), and should work on any of the most common Linux distributions. In the context of Software Engineering, the project will be developed following a waterfall life cycle. Reports on the stages of requirements, design, coding and testing plan shall be provided.

Desarrollo de una aplicaci��n para la escalada y oferta de servicios web

El autor de este proyecto es miembro reciente de la asociaci��n SoloBoulder, dedicada a la modalidad de escalada boulder, noticias y actualidad, contenido multimedia, promoci��n de un equipo de escaladores y defensa de valores medioambientales en la monta��a. El principal canal de distribuci��n de contenidos es una p��gina web existente previa a este proyecto. La asociaci��n ha detectado una escasez y mala calidad de recursos en internet en cuanto a gu��as de zonas donde poder practicar el boulder. Tal circunstancia impulsa la iniciativa de este proyecto fin de carrera. El objetivo general es el desarrollo de una nueva aplicaci��n que proporcione a los usuarios a nivel mundial una gu��a interactiva de boulder y otros puntos de inter��s, una red social que permita la creaci��n cooperativa y org��nica de contenido, y servicios web para el consumo de la informaci��n desde otras plataformas u organizaciones. El nuevo software desarrollado es independiente de la p��gina web de SoloBoulder previa. No obstante, ambas partes se integran bajo el mismo domino web y aspecto. La nueva aplicaci��n ofrece a escaladores y turistas un servicio informativo e interactivo de calidad, con el que se espera aumentar el n��mero de visitas en todo el sitio web y poder ampliar la difusi��n de valores medioambientales, diversificar las zonas de boulder y regular las masificadas, favorecer el deporte y brindar al escalador una oportunidad de autopromoci��n personal. Una gran motivaci��n para el autor tambi��n es el proceso de investigaci��n y formaci��n en tecnolog��as, patrones arquitecturales de dise��o y metodolog��as de trabajo adaptadas a las tendencias actuales en la ingenier��a de software, con especial curiosidad hacia el mundo web. A este respecto podemos destacar: metodolog��a de trabajo en proyectos, an��lisis de proyectos, arquitecturas de software, dise��o de software, bases de datos, programaci��n y buenas pr��cticas, seguridad, interfaz gr��fica web, dise��o gr��fico, Web Performance Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, etc. En resumen, este proyecto constituye un aprendizaje y puesta en pr��ctica de diversos conocimientos adquiridos durante la ejecuci��n del mismo, as�� como afianzamiento de materias estudiadas en la carrera. Adem��s, el producto desarrollado ofrece un servicio de calidad a los usuarios y favorece el deporte y la autopromoci��n del escalador. ABSTRACT. The author of this Project is recent member of the association SoloBoulder, dedicated to a rock climbing discipline called bouldering, news, multimedia content, promotion of a team of climbers and defense of environmental values in the mountain. The main content distribution channel is a web page existing previous to this project. The association has detected scarcity and bad quality of resources on the internet about guides of bouldering areas. This circumstance motivates the initiative of this project. The general objective is the development of a new application which provides a worldwide, interactive bouldering guide, including other points of interest, a social network which allows the cooperative and organic creation of content, and web services for consumption of information from other platforms or organizations. The new software developed is independent of the previous SoloBoulder web page. However, both parts are integrated under the same domain and appearance. The new application offers to climbers and tourists a quality informative and interactive service, with which we hope to increase the number of visits in the whole web site and be able to expand the dissemination of environmental values, diversify boulder areas and regulate the overcrowded ones, encourage sport and offer to the climber an opportunity of self-promotion. A strong motivation for the author is also the process of investigation and education in technologies, architectural design patterns and working methodologies adapted to the actual trends in software engineering, with special curiosity about the web world. In this regard we could highlight: project working methodologies, project analysis, software architectures, software design, data bases, programming and good practices, security, graphic web interface, graphic design, Web Performance Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, etc. To sum up, this project constitutes learning and practice of diverse knowledge acquired during its execution, as well as consolidation of subjects studied in the degree. In addition, the product developed offers a quality service to the users and favors the sport and the selfpromotion of the climber.

Development of a tool for designing tests based on statistics and metadata

Background: This project���s idea arose derived of the need of the professors of the department ���Computer Languages and Systems and Software Engineering (DLSIIS)��� to develop exams with multiple choice questions in a more productive and comfortable way than the one they are currently using. The goal of this project is to develop an application that can be easily used by the professors of the DLSIIS when they need to create a new exam. The main problems of the previous creation process were the difficulty in searching for a question that meets some specific conditions in the previous exam files; and the difficulty for editing exams because of the format of the employed text files. Result: The results shown in this document allow the reader to understand how the final application works and how it addresses successfully every customer need. The elements that will help the reader to understand the application are the structure of the application, the design of the different components, diagrams that show the workflow of the application and some selected fragments of code. Conclusions: The goals stated in the application requirements are finally met. In addition, there are some thoughts about the work performed during the development of the application and how it improved the author skills in web development.

GEST��O DO CONHECIMENTO: UM ESTUDO SOBRE A RELA����O ENTRE A LIDERAN��A TRANSFORMACIONAL, A CONVERS��O DO CONHECIMENTO E A EFIC��CIA ORGANIZACIONAL

Este estudo teve como objetivo principal analisar a rela����o entre a Lideran��a Transformacional, a Convers��o do Conhecimento e a Efic��cia Organizacional. Foram considerados como pressupostos te��ricos conceitos consolidados sobre os temas desta rela����o, al��m de recentes pesquisas j�� realizadas em outros pa��ses e contextos organizacionais. Com base nisto identificou-se potencial estudo de um modelo que relacionasse estes tr��s conceitos. Para tal considera-se que as organiza����es que buscam atingir Vantagem Competitiva e incorporam a Knowledge-Based View possam conquistar diferencia����o frente a seus concorrentes. Nesse contexto o conhecimento ganha maior destaque e papel protagonista nestas organiza����es. Dessa forma criar conhecimento atrav��s de seus colaboradores, passa a ser um dos desafios dessas organiza����es ao passo que sugere melhoria de seus indicadores Econ��micos, Sociais, Sist��micos e Pol��ticos, o que se define por Efic��cia Organizacional. Portanto os modos de convers��o do conhecimento nas organiza����es, demonstram relev��ncia, uma vez que se cria e se converte conhecimentos atrav��s da intera����o entre o conhecimento existente de seus colaboradores. Essa convers��o do conhecimento ou modelo SECI possui quatro modos que s��o a Socializa����o, Externaliza����o, Combina����o e Internaliza����o. Nessa perspectiva a lideran��a nas organiza����es apresenta-se como um elemento capaz de influenciar seus colaboradores, propiciando maior din��mica ao modelo SECI de convers��o do conhecimento. Se identifica ent��o na lideran��a do tipo Transformacional, caracter��sticas que possam influenciar colaboradores e entende-se que esta rela����o entre a Lideran��a Transformacional e a Convers��o do Conhecimento possa ter influ��ncia positiva nos indicadores da Efic��cia Organizacional. Dessa forma esta pesquisa buscou analisar um modelo que explorasse essa rela����o entre a lideran��a do tipo Transformacional, a Convers��o do Conhecimento (SECI) e a Efic��cia Organizacional. Esta pesquisa teve o car��ter quantitativo com coleta de dados atrav��s do m��todo survey, obtendo um total de 230 respondentes v��lidos de diferentes organiza����es. O instrumento de coleta de dados foi composto por afirmativas relativas ao modelo de rela����o pesquisado com um total de 44 itens. O perfil de respondentes concentrou-se entre 30 e 39 anos de idade, com a predomin��ncia de organiza����es privadas e de departamentos de TI/Telecom, Doc��ncia e Recursos Humanos respectivamente. O tratamento dos dados foi atrav��s da An��lise Fatorial Explorat��ria e Modelagem de Equa����es Estruturais via Partial Least Square Path Modeling (PLS-PM). Como resultado da an��lise desta pesquisa, as hip��teses puderam ser confirmadas, concluindo que a Lideran��a Transformacional apresenta influ��ncia positiva nos modos de Convers��o do Conhecimento e que; a Convers��o do Conhecimento influencia positivamente na Efic��cia Organizacional. Ainda, concluiu-se que a percep����o entre os respondentes n��o apresenta resultado diferente sobre o modelo desta pesquisa entre quem possui ou n��o fun����o de lideran��a.

Desenvolvimento de sistema automatizado de monitoramento de ambientes de produ����o animal, utilizando uma rede de sensores sem fio

As redes de sensores sem fio, aplicadas �� automa����o do controle de ambientes representam um paradigma emergente da computa����o, onde m��ltiplos n��s providos de sensores, sistemas computacionais aut��nomos e capacidade de comunica����o sem fio, conformam uma rede cuja topologia altamente din��mica permite adquirir informa����es sobre sistemas complexos sendo monitorados. Um dos fatores essenciais para obter um ganho na produtividade av��cola �� o controle da ambi��ncia animal. Atualmente os m��todos utilizados para o monitoramento e controle ambiental n��o podem considerar a grande quantidade de microambientes internos nos ambientes de produ����o animal e tamb��m requerem infraestruturas cabeadas complexas. Dentro desse contexto o objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver e testar um sistema automatizado de controle ambiental, atrav��s da utiliza����o de sensores sem fio, que auxilie e proporcione maior seguran��a no controle de ambientes automatizados. O sistema monitora vari��veis que influenciam na produtividade de aves, tais como temperatura e umidade e outras vari��veis f��sico-qu��micas do avi��rio. A infraestrutura desenvolvida foi testada em um avi��rio experimental e resultou em um sistema seguro e com grande escalabilidade, que �� capaz de controlar e monitorar o ambiente e ainda coletar e gravar dados. Foi utilizado o protocolo ZigBee® para gerenciar o fluxo de dados do sistema. Foram feitas an��lises da efici��ncia de comunica����o do sistema no avi��rio, monitorando os pacotes de dados perdidos. Os testes demonstraram uma perda de dados de aproximadamente 2% dos pacotes enviados, demonstrando a efici��ncia das redes ZigBee® para gerenciar o fluxo de dados no interior do avi��rio. Desta forma, pode-se concluir que �� poss��vel e vi��vel a implanta����o de uma rede ZigBee®, para automatizar ambientes de produ����o animal com coleta de dados em tempo real, utilizando um sistema integrado via internet, que compreende: instrumenta����o eletr��nica, comunica����o sem fio e engenharia de software\".

Data normalization and integration in robotic systems using web services technologies

The robotics is one of the most active areas. We also need to join a large number of disciplines to create robots. With these premises, one problem is the management of information from multiple heterogeneous sources. Each component, hardware or software, produces data with different nature: temporal frequencies, processing needs, size, type, etc. Nowadays, technologies and software engineering paradigms such as service-oriented architectures are applied to solve this problem in other areas. This paper proposes the use of these technologies to implement a robotic control system based on services. This type of system will allow integration and collaborative work of different elements that make up a robotic system.

Creaci��n autom��tica de sistemas de b��squeda de respuestas en dominios restringidos

Los sistemas de b��squeda de respuestas (BR) se pueden considerar como potenciales sucesores de los buscadores tradicionales de informaci��n en la Web. Para que sean precisos deben adaptarse a dominios concretos mediante el uso de recursos sem��nticos adecuados. La adaptaci��n no es una tarea trivial, ya que deben integrarse e incorporarse a sistemas de BR existentes varios recursos heterog��neos relacionados con un dominio restringido. Se presenta la herramienta Maraqa, cuya novedad radica en el uso de t��cnicas de ingenier��a del software, como el desarrollo dirigido por modelos, para automatizar dicho proceso de adaptaci��n a dominios restringidos. Se ha evaluado Maraqa mediante una serie de experimentos (sobre el dominio agr��cola) que demuestran su viabilidad, mejorando en un 29,5% la precisi��n del sistema adaptado.

A Unified Approach to Automatic Testing of Architectural Constraints

Architectural decisions are often encoded in the form of constraints and guidelines. Non-functional requirements can be ensured by checking the conformance of the implementation against this kind of invariant. Conformance checking is often a costly and error-prone process that involves the use of multiple tools, differing in effectiveness, complexity and scope of applicability. To reduce the overall effort entailed by this activity, we propose a novel approach that supports verification of human- readable declarative rules through the use of adapted off-the-shelf tools. Our approach consists of a rule specification DSL, called Dicto, and a tool coordination framework, called Probo. The approach has been implemented in a soon to be evaluated prototype.

Towards moldable development tools

Developers commonly ask detailed and domain-specific questions about the software systems they are developing and maintaining. Integrated development environments (IDEs) form an essential category of tools for developing software that should support software engineering decision making. Unfortunately, rigid and generic IDEs that focus on low-level programming tasks, that promote code rather than data, and that suppress customization, offer limited support for informed decision making during software development. We propose to improve decision making within IDEs by moving from generic to context-aware IDEs through moldable tools. In this paper, we promote the idea of moldable tools, illustrate it with concrete examples, and discuss future research directions.