Android as a cloud ticket validator

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores

RCAAP Validator v.2

Poster at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Using the Common Cartridge profile to enhance learning content interoperability

The concept of Learning Object (LO) is crucial for the standardization on eLearning. The latest LO standard from IMS Global Learning Consortium is the IMS Common Cartridge (IMS CC) that organizes and distributes digital learning content. By analyzing this new specification we considered two interoperability levels: content and communication. A common content format is the backbone of interoperability and is the basis for content exchange among eLearning systems. Communication is more than just exchanging content; it includes also accessing to specialized systems and services and reporting on content usage. This is particularly important when LOs are used for evaluation. In this paper we analyze the Common Cartridge profile based on the two interoperability levels we proposed. We detail its data model that comprises a set of derived schemata referenced on the CC schema and we explore the use of the IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) to allow remote tools and content to be integrated into a Learning Management System (LMS). In order to test the applicability of IMS CC for automatic evaluation we define a representation of programming exercises using this standard. This representation is intended to be the cornerstone of a network of eLearning systems where students can solve computer programming exercises and obtain feedback automatically. The CC learning object is automatically generated based on a XML dialect called PExIL that aims to consolidate all the data need to describe resources within the programming exercise life-cycle. Finally, we test the generated cartridge on the IMS CC online validator to verify its conformance with the IMS CC specification.

Implementació d'una funcionalitat en un framework per una aplicació J2EE

En el present projecte utilitzarem els coneixements sobre els frameworks adquirits al llarg del treball per complir la raó última d'aquest projecte: la modificació d'un framework per tal d'ampliar o millorar el seu rendiment en l'aplicació J2EE. En concret consistirà en la implementació d¿un validador en el framework JSF.

Validador de políticas de acceso abierto

MELIBEA és un directori i validador de polítiques en favor de l'accés obert a la producció científico-acadèmica. Com a directori, descriu les polítiques institucionals existents relacionades amb l'accés obert (AO) a la producció científica i acadèmica. Com a validador, les sotmet a una anàlisi qualitatiu i quantitatiu basat en el compliment d'un conjunt d'indicadors que reflecteixen les bases en què es fonamenta una política institucional. El validador indica una puntuació i un percentatge de compliment per a cada una de les polítiques analitzades. Això es realitza a partir dels valors assignats a certs indicadors i la seva ponderació en funció de la seva importància relativa. La suma dels valors ponderats de cadascun dels indicadors s'ajusta a una escala percentual i condueix al que hem anomenat "Percentatge validat d'accés obert", el càlcul del qual s'exposa en l'apartat de Metodologia. Els tipus d'institucions que s'analitzen són universitats, centres de recerca, agències finançadores i organitzacions governamentals.

Estudio y construcción de herramientas de validación HTML

The Final Year Project consists of two essentially different parts, which share acommon theme: HTML code validation. The first of these two parts focuses on the study of the validation process. It supplies a brief introduction to the evolution of HTML and XHTML, the new tags introduced in HTML5 and the most common errors found in today's websites. Already developed HTML validation tools are analyzed and examined in detail in order to compare their features and evaluate their performances. Lastly, a comparison of the parsing process in the most common browsers found nowadays is provided. In the second part of the project the focus of the project is shifted towards the development of a XHTML5 validation tool. The input is a XHTML5 file whose content may or may not comply with the W3C specification, and therefore, may or may not be a valid XHTML5 document. The output provided by this tool will be a fixed XHTML5 document and an error log returned in the form of a XML file. Information as to the course of action pursued to fix the error and its location will also be included.

Exploring the proposed DSM-5 diagnostic threshold and severity scale for the alcohol use disorder

Aims :¦Several studies have questioned the validity of separating the diagnosis of alcohol abuse from that of alcohol dependence, and the DSM-5 task force has proposed combining the criteria from these two diagnoses to assess a single category of alcohol use disorders (AUD). Furthermore, the DSM-5 task force has proposed including a new 2-symptom threshold and a severity scale based on symptom counts for the AUD diagnosis. The current study aimed to examine these modifications in a large population-based sample.¦Method :¦Data stemmed from an adult sample (N=2588 ; mean age 51.3 years (s.d.: 0.2), 44.9% female) of current and lifetime drinkers from the PsyCoLaus study, conducted in the Lausanne area in Switzerland. AUDs and validating variables were assessed using a semi-structured diagnostic interview for the assessment of alcohol¦and other major psychiatric disorders. First, the adequacy of the proposed 2- symptom threshold was tested by comparing threshold models at each possible cutoff and a linear model, in relation to different validating variables. The model with the smallest Akaike Criterion Information (AIC) value was established as the best¦model for each validating variable. Second, models with varying subsets of individual AUD symptoms were created to assess the associations between each symptom and the validating variables. The subset of symptoms with the smallest AIC value was established as the best subset for each validator.¦Results :¦1) For the majority of validating variables, the linear model was found to be the best fitting model. 2) Among the various subsets of symptoms, the symptoms most frequently associated with the validating variables were : a) drinking despite having knowledge of a physical or psychological problem, b) having had a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control drinking and c) craving. The¦least frequent symptoms were : d) drinking in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended, e) spending a great deal of time in obtaining, using or recovering from alcohol use and f) failing to fulfill major role obligations.¦Conclusions :¦The proposed DSM-5 2-symptom threshold did not receive support in our data. Instead, a linear AUD diagnosis was supported with individuals receiving an increasingly severe AUD diagnosis. Moreover, certain symptoms were more frequently associated with the validating variables, which suggests that these¦symptoms should be considered as more severe.

Interoperability specifications and an automatic validation tool as a key factor for the support of a repository ecosystem

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Irrational Beliefs and Psychological Distress: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Since the cognitive revolution of the early 1950s, cognitions have been discussed as central components in the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses. Even though there is an extensive literature on the association between therapy-related cognitions such as irrational beliefs and psychological distress over the past 60 years, there is little meta-analytical knowledge about the nature of this association. Methods: The relationship between irrational beliefs and distress was examined based on a systematic review that included 100 independent samples, gathered in 83 primary studies, using a random-effect model. The overall effects as well as potential moderators were examined: (a) distress measure, (b) irrational belief measure, (c) irrational belief type, (d) method of assessment of distress, (e) nature of irrational beliefs, (f) time lag between irrational beliefs and distress assessment, (g) nature of stressful events, (h) sample characteristics (i.e. age, gender, income, and educational, marital, occupational and clinical status), (i) developer/validator status of the author(s), and (k) publication year and country. Results: Overall, irrational beliefs were positively associated with various types of distress, such as general distress, anxiety, depression, anger, and guilt (omnibus: r = 0.38). The following variables were significant moderators of the relationship between the intensity of irrational beliefs and the level of distress: irrational belief measure and type, stressful event, age, educational and clinical status, and developer/validator status of the author. Conclusions: Irrational beliefs and distress are moderately connected to each other; this relationship remains significant even after controlling for several potential covariates.

A unified approach to architecture conformance checking

Architectural decisions can be interpreted as structural and behavioral constraints that must be enforced in order to guarantee overarching qualities in a system. Enforcing those constraints in a fully automated way is often challenging and not well supported by current tools. Current approaches for checking architecture conformance either lack in usability or offer poor options for adaptation. To overcome this problem we analyze the current state of practice and propose an approach based on an extensible, declarative and empirically-grounded specification language. This solution aims at reducing the overall cost of setting up and maintaining an architectural conformance monitoring environment by decoupling the conceptual representation of a user-defined rule from its technical specification prescribed by the underlying analysis tools. By using a declarative language, we are able to write tool-agnostic rules that are simple enough to be understood by untrained stakeholders and, at the same time, can be can be automatically processed by a conformance checking validator. Besides addressing the issue of cost, we also investigate opportunities for increasing the value of conformance checking results by assisting the user towards the full alignment of the implementation with respect to its architecture. In particular, we show the benefits of providing actionable results by introducing a technique which automatically selects the optimal repairing solutions by means of simulation and profit-based quantification. We perform various case studies to show how our approach can be successfully adopted to support truly diverse industrial projects. We also investigate the dynamics involved in choosing and adopting a new automated conformance checking solution within an industrial context. Our approach reduces the cost of conformance checking by avoiding the need for an explicit management of the involved validation tools. The user can define rules using a convenient high-level DSL which automatically adapts to emerging analysis requirements. Increased usability and modular customization ensure lower costs and a shorter feedback loop.