Software architecture decisions hinge more on non-functional requirements (NFRs) than on functional ones, since the architecture stipulates which software to build. Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) aims to automate the derivation/generation of software from high level architectural specifications, but most current MDA implementations start from software design (i.e. how to build a software piece...

In a recent editorial in Biostatistics, Peng (2009) introduced a system for making data and computer code from papers in the journal publicly available so that other researchers can reproduce the statistical analyses in the paper. The editors explain in a short accompanying note (Diggle and Zeger, 2009) that ‘we wish to encourage the practice of making research published in the journal reproduc...

Most policy-based access control frameworks explicitly model whether execution of certain actions (read, write, etc.) on certain assets should be permitted or denied and usually assume that such actions are disjoint from each other, i.e. there does not exist any explicit or implicit dependency between actions of the domain. This in turn means, that conflicts among rules or policies can only occ...

Like Archimedes who demanded a place to stand so that he could move the Earth, scientific journals also need a firm point to stand on. We use this example because it stresses the importance of determining the journal’s specific research field by editorial policies. One of the basic strategies for medical journals is to define their scope, which helps them to target specific readership, attract ...

Statistical significance tests (SSTs) have been the object of much controversy among social scientists. Proponents have hailed SSTs as an objective means for minimizing the likelihood that chance factors have contributed to research results; critics have both questioned the logic underlying SSTs and bemoaned the widespread misapplication and misinterpretation of the results of these tests. The ...

The author describes a system for defining conversation policies that allows conversants to exchange explicit representations of how they use messages to get things done. This system allows conversation policies to be defined for one or more conversation partners. It does not require that every partner be aware of the other’s conversation policies; however, it does provide more capabilities if ...

A proposal is presented to enhance the usability of shape grammars by using explicit constraints and policies on rule selection.

the issue of convergence or divergence of productivity has important policy for regional poverty reduction and increasing standards of living. if productivity converges to a common level without intervention, there is little need for explicit policies in lagging regions to promote catch up. on the other hand, productivity has divergence trend, then explicit policies would be needed to prevent f...

Schumpeter chastised Ricardo for his alleged "vice" - the so-called "Ricardian Vice" - of drawing far reaching policy conclusions from utterly simplistic models, which, moreover, were underdetermined. The paper first argues that Schumpeter saw Ricardo's approach to the theory of value and distribution through a marginalist lens and therefore arrived at a distorted picture of the latter. Several...