This article exposes the way in which the creation of a new method for calculating the popularity of stake holders in social networks can support political data analysis experts. The definition of a new formula for estimating popularity allowed us to have a new method that, together with other previously existing ones, allows us to build a multidimensional interpretation of reality. The construction of a method that would seem like a computational scientific curiosity has significant impacts for experts who carry out political analysis. The new ranking algorithm called BOPRank made it possible to identify political actors in a different way than known algorithms. While a wellknown algorithm showed popularity as a result of the work of campaign teams on social networks, the new algorithm reflected popularity obtained as a result of the reaction of the public on social networks.

Context: Technical debt (TD) is a challenge for companies who develop software on which their critical operations depend. To properly manage TD, it is necessary to make it visible to the different stakeholders involved to support informed decisions. Objective: To validate a TD visualization approach based on hybrid Sankey diagrams that makes the TD visible by showing (a) technical and business aspects, and (b) the flow of value and TD impacts. This approach regards visualizations as boundary objects. Method: We performed a multi-case study in a large multi-industry state-owned company. The objective was to validate the effectiveness of such visualizations and to explore their possible uses in TD management. We first used a retrospective case study on a TD decision-making scenario and, later, visualization usage scenarios using focus groups to evaluate its usefulness. Results: The results suggest that the proposed approach: (a) provides a structured process for systematic TD visualization to help the decision-making process; (b) enables the communication at knowledge boundaries between stakeholders to make informed decisions; (c) uses flow representations that are important for assessing the impact in multiple functional areas; and (d) enables documentation and reuse. Conclusion: The study results suggest that TD decision-making events can benefit from using our TD visualizations based on hybrid Sankey diagrams as boundary objects to portray the impact of TD in business, services, and technical aspects.

Technical debt is a concept used to describe technical decisions that can benefit companies in the short term but can produce costs and software quality issues in the long term. Technical debt management can help enterprise profitability, sustainability, and the software industry's credibility. This paper presents a replication of the InsighTD survey (a globally distributed family of industrial surveys on causes and effects of TD), focusing on Costa Rica and comparing other regional countries. In total, 145 practitioners from the Costa Rican IT industry participated. Results show that the leading cause of technical debt is not technical (not only in Costa Rica but also in the region). On the other hand, the main effects reported are delivery delay and general dissatisfaction of the parties involved. A comparative study of InsighTD survey results in various countries is also included.

The implementation of electronic commerce as a new way of commercialization is not only a business decision, since not all companies, nor all consumers in a region are technologically prepared to adopt electronic commerce. To implement this type of trade, companies should carry out a diagnostic study, both to know if they have the technological resources internally, and to diagnose if their potential clients also have such preparation. From this perspective, this work seeks to design an instrument that allows diagnosing the technological preparation and acceptance of micro and small businesses, and their potential consumers in rural areas. For the elaboration of the instruments, an iterative process was used, composed of three iterations of design and evaluation. Academic experts with extensive experience in instrument design carried out the first evaluation; the second iteration was evaluated in a pilot field study where 6 companies and 10 consumers from regions such as Pococí and San Carlos participated. Finally, the third iteration was developed with a case study in the canton of Río Cuarto de Alajuela, 29 companies and 261 consumers from the region participated in this study. The diagnosis highlights that most of these companies state that they are not technologically prepared to implement e-commerce, while most of the participating consumers indicate that they do feel technologically prepared to use these platforms.

The agricultural sector is facing significant challenges. Producing more food while consuming fewer resources like water, fertilizers, and arable land is probably the most important. Today more than ever, farmers need specialized technological tools to achieve this goal. It is possible to improve agricultural processes by practicing technology-supported precision agriculture. However, more technology development to optimize crop yield is needed worldwide. In this research, we conducted a systematic literature review in which we studied different articles that propose optimization for agricultural processes. We identified some proposals made from multiple researchers at distinct latitudes, focused on optimizing the irrigation and management of pests and diseases. Nevertheless, there are only a few studies that focus on optimizing the crop yield. They do that by controlling the different factors that can affect it. We also found out that only a few studies have been conducted in the Latin American region. Thus, these findings show areas in which there is still a lot of opportunities to contribute to the agro sector in Latin American countries.

Online programming judges are considered useful and sometimes indispensable tools to support competitive programming, professionals' recruiting, and programming education. In this last field, the scientific literature on these tools focuses on the learners' needs, but neglects the requirements of the professors, even though they are who mainly decide whether or not an educational tool is adopted in the courses they teach. This article collected 132 functional requirements for educative online judges, from the scientific literature and programming teachers with experience in the use of this type of tool. To know the degree of support, the requirements were grouped into 27 categories, and a requirements verification was performed with four available educative online judges reported in a recent systematic literature review. A low degree of satisfaction of requirements was found. This result encourages future research to create tools that better support teaching-learning processes and the requirements collected are a useful contribution as a starting point for such research.

The objective of this work is to detect Alzheimer’s disease using Magnetic Resonance Imaging. For this, we use a three-dimensional densenet-121 architecture. With the use of only freely available tools, we obtain good results: a deep neural network showing metrics of 87% accuracy, 87% sensitivity (micro-average), 88% specificity (micro-average), and 92% AUROC (micro-average) for the task of classifying five different classes (disease stages). The use of tools available for free means that this work can be replicated in developing countries.

Program visualizations help students understand the runtime behavior of other programs. They are educational tools to complement lectures or replace inefficient static drawings. A recent survey found 46 program visualizations developed from 1979 to 2012 reported that their effectiveness is unclear. They also evaluated learner engagement strategies implemented by visualization systems, but other learning principles were not considered. Learning principles are potential key factors in the success of program visualization as learning tools. In this paper, we identified 16 principles that may contribute to the effectiveness of a learning tool based on Vygotsky's learning theory. We hypothesize that some of these principles could be supported by incorporating visual concrete allegories and gamification. We conducted a literature review to know if these principles are supported by existing solutions. We found six new systems between 2012 and 2015. Very few systems consider a learning theory as theoretical framework. Only two out the 16 learning principles are supported by existing visualizations. All systems use unconnected visual metaphors, two use concrete visual metaphors, and one implemented a gamification principle. We expect that using concrete visual allegories and gamification in future program visualizations will significantly improve their effectiveness.

In order to learn a programming language, a correct understanding of its notional machine is mandatory. Students acquire that comprehension mainly through visual and verbal explanations provided by professors, books, videos, and other instructional materials. This research applied the conceptual contraposition technique and program memory tracing technique to the prevalent teaching method in our country: the lecture. The understanding of the C++ notional machine was evaluated on students of a Programming II (CS2) course that implemented the mentioned methods. Results revealed that these techniques applied to the lecture are insufficient to help students develop satisfactory mental models of the C++ notional machine.

Learning to program a computer is a difficult task for many Computer Science students. Constructivism theory states that learning is unavoidably done through association of new concepts with existing ones. In order to learn abstract programming concepts, like memory indirection and execution threads, students must build them upon life experience concepts. We hypothesize that easing the association process by using metaphors, and letting students program them directly through video games, can foster learning of abstract concepts. We propose a methodology to design video games under this principle, and provide an example using metaphors for difficult abstract programming concepts.

There is evidence that women tend to be underrepresented in computer science programs (CS) in many countries. Based on this fact, we analyzed the gender situation in Costa Rica finding that this situation also applies to the four public universities in the country. Furthermore, similar to the case of the U.S., the percentage of women graduating from CS programs from such universities is decreasing. Based on previous studies, we attempt to explain the gender gap in Costa Rican public universities, and present recommendations to reduce it.

The development of digital government should not be isolated from the political environment that affects it. Under an analytical approach to characterize strategic actors, this article demonstrates how objectives of government information technology projects could be at risk. The case of Costa Rican state procurement is studied. The experience developed in Chile is referred also to clarify the Costa Rican case study.