A Critical Review of "Automatic Patch Generation Learned from Human-Written Patches": Essay on the Problem Statement and the Evaluation of Automatic Software Repair

At ICSE'2013, there was the first session ever dedicated to automatic program repair. In this session, Kim et al. presented PAR, a novel template-based approach for fixing Java bugs. We strongly disagree with key points of this paper. Our critical review has two goals. First, we aim at explaining why we disagree with Kim and colleagues and why the reasons behind this disagreement are important for research on automatic software repair in general. Second, we aim at contributing to the field with a clarification of the essential ideas behind automatic software repair. In particular we discuss the main evaluation criteria of automatic software repair: understandability, correctness and completeness. We show that depending on how one sets up the repair scenario, the evaluation goals may be contradictory. Eventually, we discuss the nature of fix acceptability and its relation to the notion of software correctness.Comment: ICSE 2014, India (2014

The 23: Racial and Other Demographic Differences in the Assignment of Risk Factors for Individuals Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity in Virginia

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) acquittees uniquely walk the line of involvement in both the criminal justice and mental health systems, both of which have literature indicating the presence of underlying racial biases related to practices and outcomes. The current study examined 366 forensic charts from an inpatient psychiatric hospital in Virginia to examine potential differences in the number of risk factors assigned for NGRI acquittees based on a variety of demographic variables. Information about demographic characteristics, psychiatric history, and criminal history was recorded and analyzed. It was hypothesized that younger age, male gender, a psychotic diagnosis, violent NGRI offense, and identifying as Black would all be associated with more assigned risk factors. It was also expected that race would account for additional variance in the assignment of risk factors above and beyond other salient demographic variables. Results indicated that Black participants were assigned more risk factors than their White counterparts, men were assigned more risk factors than women, and individuals with a felony offense stayed longer in the hospital than individuals with a misdemeanor offense. Race also accounted for additional variance in the assignment of risk factors above and beyond age, gender, diagnosis, and type of criminal offense. Implications of this study include the need to consider incorporating cultural sensitivity training, specifically related to race, and education around implicit biases into forensic examiner training that may impact risk assessment and clinical judgment

Prenatal identification of trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome)

PhDThis thesis is a critical literature review of trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), focused on maternal serum and ultrasound markers between 10 and 20 weeks’ gestation. Based on comprehensive meta-analyses, existing findings are clarified, new knowledge has emerged, and novel statistical modeling demonstrates clinically useful algorithms to guide screening policies. Trisomy 18 is, after Down syndrome, the autosomal aneuploidy with the highest birth prevalence, about 2.4/10,000. Only 1 in 5 live born survives to two weeks, with 1 in 20 surviving one year. Strategies for identifying trisomy 18 in early pregnancy rely on reinterpretation of markers measured as part of Down syndrome screening. Diagnosis requires collecting fetal or placental material obtained from an invasive procedure (amniocentesis or a chorionic villus sampling) and subsequent karyotyping or specific aneuploidy testing such as fluorescent in situ hybridization. The second trimester Triple Test (serum markers alpha-fetoprotein, unconjugated estriol and human chorionic gonadotropin [hCG]) has an 81% detection rate at a 0.4% false positive rate. Adding pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) is effective; the detection rate improves to 88% while false positives are reduced to 0.1%. In the first trimester Combined Test, the serum markers (free β hCG and PAPP) in combination with unbiased estimates of ultrasound marker nuchal translucency (NT) thickness, yields detection and false positive rates of 86% and 0.2%, respectively. For these tests, hCG and free β hCG measurements are essentially interchangeable. Combining existing markers from both trimesters into a Full Integrated Test (NT, PAPP-A, and the Triple Test), also yields high performance (91% detection rate at 0.2% false positive rate). Ultrasound markers, apart from NT, are not suitable for routine practice, but some could be used in specialist centers. In the future, testing of circulating cell free nucleic acids in maternal plasma may allow for a reduction in the use of invasive procedures

Frequency of 22q11 deletions in patients with conotruncal defects

AbstractObjectives. This study was designed to determine the frequency of 22q11 deletions in a large, prospectively ascertained sample of patients with conotruncal defects and to evaluate the deletion frequency when additional cardiac findings are also considered.Background. Chromosome 22q11 deletions are present in the majority of patients with DiGeorge, velocardiofacial and conotruncal anomaly face syndromes in which conotruncal defects are a cardinal feature. Previous studies suggest that a substantial number of patients with congenital heart disease have a 22q11 deletion.Methods. Two hundred fifty-one patients with conotruncal defects were prospectively enrolled into the study and screened for the presence of a 22q11 deletion.Results. Deletions were found in 50.0% with interrupted aortic arch (IAA), 34.5% of patients with truncus arteriosus (TA), and 15.9% with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Two of 6 patients with a posterior malalignment type ventricular septal defect (PMVSD) and only 1 of 20 patients with double outlet right ventricle were found to have a 22q11 deletion. None of the 45 patients with transposition of the great arteries had a deletion. The frequency of 22q11 deletions was higher in patients with anomalies of the pulmonary arteries, aortic arch or its major branches as compared to patients with a normal left aortic arch regardless of intracardiac anatomy.Conclusions. A substantial proportion of patients with IAA, TA, TOF and PMVSD have a deletion of chromosome 22q11. Deletions are more common in patients with aortic arch or vessel anomalies. These results begin to define guidelines for deletion screening of patients with conotruncal defects

Inside Lawyers: Friends or Gatekeepers?

Part I of this Article sets the stage by contrasting two alternative proposals to reform the inside lawyer\u27s role—my reform and Hamermesh\u27s counterreform. Part II discusses the primary empirical disagreements between the two approaches. Part III interrogates the propriety and the utility of invoking the “lawyer as friend” analogy as a model to guide inside counsel\u27s relationships with managers

Diagnostic error, overconfidence and self-knowledge

According to the overconfidence hypothesis (OH), physician overconfidence is a major factor contributing to diagnostic error in medicine. This paper argues that (OH) can be read as offering a personal, a sub-personal or a systemic explanation of diagnostic error. It is argued that personal level overconfidence is an ‘epistemic vice’. The hypothesis that diagnostic errors due to overconfidence can be remedied by increasing physician self-knowledge is shown to be questionable. Some epistemic vices or cognitive biases, including overconfidence, are ‘stealthy’ in the sense that they obstruct their own detection. Even if the barriers to self-knowledge can be overcome, some problematic traits are so deeply entrenched that even well-informed and motivated individuals might be unable to correct them. One such trait is overconfidence. Alternative approaches to ‘debiasing’ are considered and it is argued that overconfidence is blameworthy only if it is understood as a personal level epistemic vice rather than a sub-personal cognitive bias