Studies have identified perceived racism as one type of social stress that is believed to contribute to hypertension, though no studies to date have examined the relationship between perceived racism and blood pressure among foreign-born Mexicans living in the United States (U.S.). In addition, studies have shown that acculturation may increase levels of perceived discrimination among foreign-born Mexicans living in the U.S. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived racism and ambulatory blood pressure among a convenience sample of 332 foreign-born Mexicans living in Utah County, Utah controlling for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and acculturation. This was done through the use of several multiple regression analyses using archival data collected at Brigham Young University. The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire—Community Version (Brief PEDQ—CV) was used to measure perceived racism. The Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA-II) was used to measure both language and general acculturation. Four blood pressure variables, including waking systolic blood pressure (WSBP), waking diastolic blood pressure (WDBP), sleeping systolic blood pressure (SSBP), and sleeping diastolic blood pressure (SDBP) were used as outcome variables in the regression analyses. A relationship between perceived racism and any of the ambulatory blood pressure variables used in this study was not found. In addition, English-language acculturation was not found to moderate the relationship between perceived racism and blood pressure in the sample of first generation Mexicans participating in this study. A moderating effect of general acculturation on the relationship between perceived racism and blood pressure was found when controlling for age, BMI, and gender, though this moderating effect disappeared when WDBP was included in the regression model. Implications of findings, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Version Control Systems are a staple of modern software development and its usage is rapidly growing in education. Students often use Version Control Systems such as Git and GitHub during their education, though newly examined students are often found to lack mastery of industry standard practices. Manually monitoring and giving feedback to students is time consuming and requires a large amount of labor. Therefore, this paper proposes and evaluates an automated feedback system which analyses student assignment repositories an publishes feedback based on a set of data points. After the study, we attempt to measure any impact of the feedback on student performance. The study is unable to underline a significant impact. Students are also asked to reflect over the feedback and the reception was positive, further promoting future studies on the subject. / Versionshantering används idag flytigt inom mjukvaruutveckling och dess popularitet växer stadigt inom högre utbildning. Studenter får ofta lära sig att använda versionshanteringssystem såsom Git och GitHub under deras utbildning, trots detta saknar nyexaminerade studenter ofta tillräcklig kunskap om relevanta industristandarder. Att manuellt övervaka studenter och tillförse dem med respons på deras inlämningar är tidskrävande och kräver mycket arbetskraft. Mot bakgrund av detta föreslår och utvärderar vi i denna studie ett automatiskt responssystem med syftet att analysera studenters inlämningar samt återkoppla med relevant respons på ett antal datapunkter. Efter studiens slut görs en mätning av skillnader i studenternas resultat men ingen konkret slutsats kan sammanställas. Studenterna tillfrågades också att reflektera över responsen de tog del av. Deras svar samt studiens resultat pekar mot att ytterligare studier inom ämnet är väl motiverade.

In today’s digital landscape, maintaining the integrity of source code is crucial for delivering reliable and trustworthy software solutions. However, the increasing prevalence of attacks targeting source code repositories and version control systems (VCSs) poses significant challenges to source code integrity. Unauthorized access to source code repositories can lead to various security risks, including the introduction of malicious code or unauthorized approvals for pull requests. Security measures implemented on the remote server hosting the repository are typically insufficient to detect these types of attacks, resulting in changes potentially remaining undetected and becoming part of the deployed artifact. To address those issues, this study proposes GitBark, a framework that employs cryptographic methods to verify the integrity of a source code repository. GitBark achieves this by enforcing rules and policies on the commits made to the repository. Specifically, the study demonstrates that by formulating rules that utilize digital signatures, GitBark can effectively identify unauthorized changes and approvals. Moreover, GitBark prioritizes maintaining the local repository in a consistent and trustworthy state, reducing reliance on the remote server. Even if changes violating established rules are introduced to the remote repository, GitBark prevents their integration into the local repository. Consequently, users of GitBark can have confidence that their local repository remains a consistent and trustworthy version of the source code, without needing to place full trust on a remote server. An evaluation of GitBark, along with the devised rules, demonstrates its effectiveness in mitigating the threats identified in this study. Additionally, in terms of performance, GitBark incurs a modest overhead, both in time and storage. / I dagens digital värld, så är det viktigare än någonsin att källkodens integritet upprätthålls. Detta är kritiskt för att kunna leverera tillförlitlig och kvalitativ mjukvara. Den ständigt ökade förekomsten av attacker som riktar sig mot källkodsrepon och versionshanteringssystem gör dock upprätthållandet av källkodens integritet svårt. Obehörig åtkomst till källkodsrepo ger upphov till flera säkerhetsrisker såsom inkluderandet av skadlig kod eller obehöriga godkännanden av nya ändringar. De säkerhetsåtgärder som finns implementerade på värdserven där källkodsrepot lagras kan generellt sätt inte detektera dessa typer av attacker, vilket resulterar i att dessa typer av ändringar oftast förblir oupptäckta. För att adressera dessa problem, så presenterar denna studie GitBark, ett verktyg som utnyttjar kryptografiska medel för att verifiera integriteten av ett källkodsrepo. GitBark gör detta genom att kräva regler för commits som görs till källkodsrepot och validera att de upprätthålls. Mer specifikt, så visar att studien att genom att formulera regler som uttnyttjar digitala signaturer så kan GitBark effektivt identifiera oauktoriserade ändringar och godkännanden. Dessutom, prioriterar GitBark att alltid bibehålla det lokala källkodsrepot i ett konsekvent och trovärdigt tillstånd, för att minska beroendet på en remoteserver. Även ifall ändringar som inte uppfyller reglerna introduceras på remote-källkodsrepot så ser GitBark till att dessa ändringar aldrig integreras i det lokala repot. Följaktligen så kan användare av GitBark känna sig säkra i att det lokala källkodsrepot alltid förblir i ett konsekvent och trovärdigt tillstånd i relation till dem etablerade reglerna, utan att behöva förlita sig på en remoteserver. En evaluering av GitBark, tillsammans med de skapade reglerna påvisar dess effektivitet i att adressera de identifierade hoten i denna studie. Dessutom, vad gäller prestanda så har GitBark en liten påverkan både i tid och utrymme.

Having the skill to work with Version Control Systems (VCS) is an important aspect of most software development projects in the industry. But students may lack the knowledge on how to use it. By applying requirements on first year students of the Computer Science programme at KTH, this thesis aims to examine if that is enough to improve their VCS behaviour. This can be examined by applying requirements and then examining the metadata from GitHub. The results from this thesis show that the students committed a bit more when requirements were applied, but that the best way to get the students to commit more is to give them the knowledge on how to have a good commit behaviour. This is in line with previous research in the same area. / Versionshanteringssystem är ett viktigt verktyg i de flesta mjukvaruprojekt. Därför är det också en nödvändig kunskap att kunna arbeta med dem. Trots det så kan många datateknikstudenter sakna dessa kunskaper i hur man använder versionshantering optimalt. Därför ämnar detta arbete att undersöka om det är möjligt att förbättra förstaårsstudenterna på civilingenjörsprogrammet med inriktning datateknik på KTHs commitvanor genom att ställa krav på dem om ett minst antal commits per vecka. Krav kan ställas och sen är det möjligt att använda metadatan från GitHub för att besvara frågeställningen. Resultaten från detta arbete visar att även om studenterna committade lite mer med bara kraven, så var det framförallt efter att de fått kunskaper om bra commitbeteenden som de också förbättrade sitt eget beteende. Detta stämmer väl överens med tidigare forskning på området.

This paper presents an analysis of data supplied by the US Green Buildings Council on the credits achieved by 117 LEED-certified commercial and institutional buildings. The paper quantifies several relationships, among others it explores the correlation between building energy performance, water consumption and the overall amount of points the projects has achieved. The paper also attempts to identify which credits are not usually selected by type of project, ownership, certification level and climate zone.

The purpose of this essay is to conduct an analysis of four different classroom materials for the English 6 course in order to see the extent to which the textbooks follow accepted teaching methodology for reading, and whether or not their methodology changed after the curriculum switch in 2011. The books being analysed are Progress Gold C, Streams in Literature, Blueprint C Version 2.0, and Viewpoints 2. The analysis has been done by first looking at the teaching methodology literature in order to create a framework of questions to follow when analysing the classroom material, and from that framework looking at what reading activities are available and which model they follow, whether the texts activate different areas of knowledge for the students, and the variety of reading purposes that are available in each book. The answers have then been summarised individually for each point that has been picked out in the framework, and I have then briefly discussed whether or not there is a difference between the textbooks published prior to the curriculum change contra those published afterwards.   The conclusion of my analysis is that each of the books is strong in its own way, but that they do not all adhere to the chosen teaching methodology models – with Viewpoints 2 being the strongest in relation to the chosen framework, and Streams in Literature being the weakest. The books are all very similar at first glance, but it is clear to see that each of the authors has chosen their own way of handling the subject of reading literature in the classroom, with Streams in Literature choosing to focus almost entirely on the texts, while Progress Gold C and Blueprint C Version 2.0 have a much heavier focus on linguistics, and Viewpoints 2 strikes a balance between the two. My conclusion is that while all four of the books seem to follow the teaching methods analysed in this essay to some degree, all of them would require a good amount of revision in order to be more optimally developed towards the teaching theories presented here. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att genomföra en analys av fyra olika klassrumsmaterial som tillhör Engelska 6 kursen för att kunna se i vilken utsträckning textböckerna följer den accepterade undervisningsmetodiken kring läsning, och om metodiken ändrades efter kursplansbytet 2011 eller inte. Böckerna som analyseras är Progress Gold C, Streams in Literature, Blueprint C Version 2.0, och Viewpoints 2. Analysen har genomförts genom att först titta på litteraturen kring undervisningsmetodik för att skapa en teoretisk ram med frågor att följa när böckerna analyseras, och att sedan utifrån den ramen titta på vilka aktiviteter som finns och vilken modell de följer, om de aktiverar olika kunskapsområden hos eleverna, samt variationen mellan vilka lässyften finns i böckerna. Svaren har sedan sammanfattats individuellt för varje bok och punkt i den teoretiska ramen, och jag har då diskuterat översiktligt om det finns en skillnad mellan textböckerna som är utgivna innan kursplansbytet jämfört med de som är utgivna efter bytet.   Sammanfattningen av min analys är att varje textbok är stark på sitt eget sätt, men att inte alla följer den valda undervisningsmetodiksmodellen – förhållandet till den teoretiska ramen är starkast i Viewpoints 2 och svagast i Streams in Literature.Böckerna är vid första anblick väldigt lika, men man kan tydligt se att varje författare har valt sitt eget sätt att hantera hur man läser literatur i klassrummet. Streams in Literature väljer att fokusera nästan enbart på texterna, medans Progress Gold C och Blueprint C Version 2.0 har ett mycket tyngre fokus på lingvistik, och Viewpoints 2 har hittat en balans medan de två olika sätten. Min slutsats är att även om alla fyra textböcker verkar till en viss grad följa undervisningsmetodiken som har analyserats i denna uppsats så skulle alla behöva en stor mängd revideringar för att vara mer optimalt anpassade mot den presenterade undervisningsmetodiken.

Les polémiques ont joué un rôle important dans la réception des romans de Mordecai Richler au Québec francophone. Contrairement à l’idée reçue voulant que cet antagonisme ait empêché la lecture de l’oeuvre richlérienne, c’est plutôt à partir de la publication des essais sur le nationalisme québécois que la critique commencera à s’intéresser à l’écrivain. En effet, que ce soit avant ou après les polémiques, c’est au nom d’un rapport de correspondance au collectif que sera jugée l’oeuvre de Richler. L’abandon d’une conception restreinte de l’identité québécoise ouvre la porte à la relecture contemporaine des romans de Richler, même si cette relecture ne fait pas pour autant l’économie d’un rapport au collectif et cherche plutôt à opposer une identité québécoise exclusivement francophone à une identité prête à inclure un auteur longtemps identifié comme un ennemi public. Les mécanismes de ce rapatriement peuvent être mis en parallèle avec les conflits identitaires qui marquent le personnage richlérien. Dans Son Of A Smaller Hero (1955), Noah Adler tente de se définir en tant qu’être humain et de trouver une morale qui lui est propre en fuyant ses origines. Toutefois, cette fuite ne peut se solder que par un échec et le héros apprend que son idéal d’émancipation passe par une réinterprétation de son héritage plutôt que par l’abandon de celui-ci. Barney’s Version (1997) est en partie le récit de formation d’un écrivain tardif. Si Barney Panofsky s’en prend aux impostures collectives dans le roman, son incapacité à être totalement honnête par rapport à lui-même et à plonger dans une création et une défense sincères de ce en quoi il croit le poussera à s’aliéner ceux à qui il tient véritablement. Cette situation laisse le narrateur avec une oeuvre inachevée qui ne pourra s’accomplir que par l’intervention de ses héritiers. Dans les deux romans, la définition du personnage passe par une réappropriation herméneutique de son héritage qui rappelle, dans son rapport à la trace, au collectif et à l’illégitimité, les relectures francophones de l’oeuvre richlérienne. / Polemics have played an important role in the reception of Mordecai Richler’s novels in French Quebec. Contrary to the common idea that this opposition has prevented Quebec’s critics from reading the novelist’s work, Richler’s articles and essays on nationalism are the starting point of its reception. Whether it has been published before or just after the polemics, Richler’s writing is evaluated for the accuracy of his depiction of communities. The progressive rejection of a strictly French conception of Quebec’s identity opens the way to contemporary readings of the writer’s production. Still, these new readings are mostly attached to a conception of the collective, opposing an inclusive portrayal of Quebec’s identity, ready to let in the old enemy, to a uniquely French perspective on the imaginary. The mechanisms of this repatriation can be read in parallel with conflicting identities in Richler’s novels. In Son Of A Smaller Hero (1955), Noah Adler tries to define himself as a human being and to find his own moral standards by rejecting his origins. However, this escape path can only lead to failure and the main character learns that his ideal of freedom can only happen by a reinterpretation of his heritage rather than by its denial. Barney’s Version (1997) is, in part, the story of the education of a late writer. If Barney Panofsky attacks every collective imposture in the novel, his incapacity to be completely honest with himself and to accept a sincere creative activity and defence of his beliefs leads him to be alienated from those he truly loves. This situation leaves the narrator with an unfinished story, which can only be told by his successors. In both novels, the self definition of the character’s identity can only happen by a hermeneutical re-appropriation of his heritage that is similar to francophone readings of Richler’s work by its relation to the trace, the collective and illegitimacy.

No description available.

The goal of this work is to design a generally useful versioning system for the administration of different types of electronics documents, to design in detail and to implement the client part of this system (based on the client-server model). The implementation is built on .NET platform. This text also describes general approaches to versioning in different systems and shows a survey over the principles of the existing versioning systems with respect to the interaction with user.

En génie logiciel collaboratif, les systèmes de contrôle de version (SCV) jouent un rôle crucial dans la gestion des changements de code, la promotion de la collaboration et la garantie de l'intégrité des projets partagés. Cette importance s'étend à l'ingénierie dirigée par les modèles (IDM), où les experts du domaine conçoivent des modèles spécifiques au domaine (MSD). Dans ce contexte, la collaboration avec les SCV permet de coordonner les changements de modèles et de préserver l'intégrité des MSD. Cependant, les solutions existantes se concentrent principalement sur des approches génériques, considérant les modèles comme du texte générique. Ces SCV rapportent les différences entre les versions des modèles d'une manière abstraite et non intuitive pour les experts du domaine. Cela pose également des défis lors de la résolution des conflits et de la fusion des modèles, ce qui ajoute de la complexité au flux de travail des experts du domaine. L'objectif de cette thèse est de fournir des SCV spécifiques à un domaine donné en se concentrant sur les deux principaux composants des SCV, à savoir la différenciation et la fusion. Nous présentons DSMCompare, un outil de comparaison de modèles spécifique au domaine, intégré avec des capacités de détection, de résolution et de fusion de conflits de triplets de versions. DSMCompare fournit des représentations concises des différences et conflits à différents niveaux de granularité, tout en utilisant la syntaxe graphique des MSD originaux. Dans nos évaluations, DSMCompare a démontré des améliorations notables par rapport aux solutions génériques de différenciation et de fusion, notamment une réduction de la verbosité des différences rapportée, des différences exprimée en utilisant la sémantique du domaine, une détection précise des différences sémantiques et des conflits entre différentes versions d’un modèle, une résolution correcte des conflits, une diminution des interactions manuelles requises et une amélioration globale de l'efficacité pour les experts du domaine. / In the context of collaborative software engineering, version control systems (VCS) play a crucial role in managing code changes, promoting collaboration, and ensuring the integrity of shared projects. This significance extends to model-driven engineering (MDE), where domain experts design domain-specific models (DSM). In this context, collaborating with VCS aids in coordinating model changes and preserving the integrity of DSMs. However, existing solutions primarily focus on generic approaches, considering models as generic text. VCS report the differences between model versions in an abstract and unintuitive way for domain experts. This also poses challenges when resolving conflicts and merging models, adding complexity to the workflow of domain experts. The goal of this thesis is to provide domain-specific VCS for domain experts, focusing on the two main components of VCS, namely differencing and merging. We introduce DSMCompare, a domain-specific model comparison tool integrated with three-way conflict detection, resolution, and merging capabilities. DSMCompare provides concise representations of differences and conflicts at different levels of granularity, while using the graphical syntax of the original DSMs. In our evaluations, DSMCompare demonstrated significant improvements over generic differencing and merging solutions, including a reduction in reported difference verbosity, differences expressed using the semantics of the domain, accurate detection of semantic differences and conflicts between different versions of a model, correct conflict resolution, a reduction in manual interactions needed, and an overall improvement in efficiency for domain experts.