Enhancing similarity distances using mandatory and optional forearly fault detection

Software Product Line (SPL) describes procedures, techniques, and tools in software engineering by using a common method of production for producing a group of software systems that identical from a shared set of software assets. In SPL, the similarity-based prioritization can resemble combinatorial interaction testing in scalable and efficient way by choosing and prioritize configurations that most dissimilar. However, the similarity distances in SPL still not so much cover the basic detail of feature models which are the notations. Plus, the configurations always have been prioritized based on domain knowledge but not much attention has been paid to feature model notations. In this paper, we proposed the usage of mandatory and optional notations for similarity distances. The objective is to improve the average percentage of faults detected (APFD). We investigate four different distances and make modifications on the distances to increase APFD value. These modifications are the inclusion of mandatory and optional notations with the similarity distances. The results are the APFD values for all the similarity distances including the original and modified similarity distances. Overall, the results shown that by subtracting the optional notation value can increase the APFD by 3.71% from the original similarity distance

Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography at Henry Ford Hospital: 1972-1977

Between 7972 and /977, 440 patients underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (FRCP) at Henry Ford Hospital. The procedure was found to be most useful for identifying the site and nature of an extrahepatic obstruction, the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and the preoperative evaluation of chronic pancreatitis. One death occurred as a result of cholangitis in a patient with cancer of the pancreas. Review of the data has led us to refine our indications for FRCP. It has been shown to be a valuable technique with a low incidence of complications in evaluating pancreaticobiliary disease. Based on our study, it would be indicated for jaundiced patients without dilated ducts by echogram or with failure of or contraindication to percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), carefully selected patients with unexplained abdominal pain, preoperative evaluation of patients with chronic pancreatitis, and in patients with presumed primary biliary cirrhosis

The Effects of Cariprazine and Aripiprazole on PCP-Induced Deficits on Attention Assessed in the 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task

Attentional processing deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia, likely contributing to the persistent functional and occupational disability observed in patients with schizophrenia. The pathophysiology of schizophrenia is hypothesized to involve dysregulation of NMDA receptor-mediated glutamate transmission, contributing to disruptions in normal dopamine transmission. Preclinical investigations often use NMDA receptor antagonists, such as phencyclidine (PCP), to induce cognitive disruptions relevant to schizophrenia. We sought to test the ability of partial dopamine D-2/D-3 agonists, cariprazine and aripiprazole, to attenuate PCP-induced deficits in attentional performance. The objective of this study is to determine whether systemic administration of cariprazine or aripiprazole attenuated 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) deficits induced by repeated exposure to PCP. We utilized a repeated PCP-treatment regimen (2 mg/kg, subcutaneous [s.c.], once daily for 5 days) in rats to induce deficits in the 5-CSRTT. Rats were pre-treated with cariprazine (0.03, 0.1, or 0.3 mg/kg, oral [p.o.]) or aripiprazole (1, 3, or 10 mg/kg, p.o.) to determine whether they prevented PCP-induced deficits in the 5-CSRTT performance. PCP treatment increased inappropriate responding in the 5-CSRTT, elevating incorrect, premature, and timeout responses. Cariprazine treatment reduced PCP-induced increases in inappropriate responding. However, at higher doses, cariprazine produced non-specific response suppression, confounding interpretation of the attenuated PCP-induced deficits. Aripiprazole treatment also attenuated PCP-induced deficits; however, unlike cariprazine treatment, aripiprazole reduced correct responding and increased omissions. Cariprazine and aripiprazole both demonstrated potential in attenuating PCP-induced deficits in the 5-CSRTT performance. While both compounds produced non-specific response suppression, these effects were absent when 0.03 mg/kg cariprazine was administered

Test case prioritization approaches in regression testing: A systematic literature review

Context Software quality can be assured by going through software testing process. However, software testing phase is an expensive process as it consumes a longer time. By scheduling test cases execution order through a prioritization approach, software testing efficiency can be improved especially during regression testing. Objective It is a notable step to be taken in constructing important software testing environment so that a system's commercial value can increase. The main idea of this review is to examine and classify the current test case prioritization approaches based on the articulated research questions. Method Set of search keywords with appropriate repositories were utilized to extract most important studies that fulfill all the criteria defined and classified under journal, conference paper, symposiums and workshops categories. 69 primary studies were nominated from the review strategy. Results There were 40 journal articles, 21 conference papers, three workshop articles, and five symposium articles collected from the primary studies. As for the result, it can be said that TCP approaches are still broadly open for improvements. Each approach in TCP has specified potential values, advantages, and limitation. Additionally, we found that variations in the starting point of TCP process among the approaches provide a different timeline and benefit to project manager to choose which approaches suite with the project schedule and available resources. Conclusion Test case prioritization has already been considerably discussed in the software testing domain. However, it is commonly learned that there are quite a number of existing prioritization techniques that can still be improved especially in data used and execution process for each approach

Adopting the Appropriate Performance Measures for Soft Computing-based Estimation by Analogy

Soft Computing based estimation by analogy is a lucrative research domain for the software engineering research community. There are a considerable number of models proposed in this research area. Therefore, researchers are of interest to compare the models to identify the best one for software development effort estimation. This research showed that most of the studies used mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE) and percentage of prediction (PRED) for the comparison of their estimation models. Still, it was also found in this study that there are quite a number of criticisms done on accuracy statistics like MMRE and PRED by renowned authors. It was found that MMRE is an unbalanced, biased, and inappropriate performance measure for identifying the best among competing estimation models. The accuracy statistics, e.g., MMRE and PRED, are still adopted in the evaluation criteria by the domain researchers, stating the reason for “widely used,” which is not a valid reason. This research study identified that, since there is no practical solution provided so far, which could replace MMRE and PRED, the researchers are adopting these measures. The approach of partitioning the large dataset into subsamples was tried in this paper using estimation by analogy (EBA) model. One small and one large dataset were considered for it, such as Desharnais and ISBSG release 11. The ISBSG dataset is a large dataset concerning Desharnais. The ISBSG dataset was partitioned into subsamples. The results suggested that when the large datasets are partitioned, the MMRE produces the same or nearly the same results, which it produces for the small dataset. It is observed that the MMRE can be trusted as a performance metric if the large datasets are partitioned into subsamples

Effects of cariprazine on extracellular levels of glutamate, GABA, dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin in the medial prefrontal cortex in the rat phencyclidine model of schizophrenia studied by microdialysis and simultaneous recordings of locomotor activity

Aberrant glutamatergic, dopaminergic, and GABAergic neurotransmission has been implicated in schizophrenia. Cariprazine reverses the behavioral effects observed in the rat phencyclidine (PCP)-induced model of schizophrenia; however, little is known about its in vivo neurochemistry. The study aims to compare the effects of cariprazine and aripiprazole on PCP-induced changes in the extracellular levels of glutamate, dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, and GABA in the rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and on locomotor activation. Microdialysis was performed in awake rats with probes placed into the mPFC. Rats (n = 7/group) received vehicle (saline), cariprazine (0.05, 0.2, or 0.8 mg/kg), or aripiprazole (3 or 20 mg/kg) via gavage. After 60 min, 5 mg/kg PCP was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.). Samples were taken before drug administration, during pretreatment, and after PCP injection. Locomotor activity recording and microdialysis sampling occurred simultaneously. PCP treatment increased extracellular levels of all the neurotransmitters tested except GABA, for which there were no significant changes. Cariprazine and aripiprazole dose-dependently inhibited the PCP-induced increases of tested neurotransmitters. Overall effects were significant for higher cariprazine doses and both aripiprazole doses for glutamate and noradrenaline, for higher cariprazine doses and 20 mg/kg aripiprazole for dopamine, and for 0.8 mg/kg cariprazine and 20 mg/kg aripiprazole for serotonin and locomotor activity. Both cariprazine and aripiprazole dose-dependently attenuated PCP-induced hyperlocomotion and acute increases in glutamate, dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin levels in the mPFC; cariprazine was approximately 5-fold more potent than aripiprazole

Strategy for scalable scenarios modeling and calculation in early software reliability engineering

System scenarios derived from requirements specification play an important role in the early software reliability engineering. A great deal of research effort has been devoted to predict reliability of a system at early design stages. The existing approaches are unable to handle scalability and calculation of scenarios reliability for large systems. This paper proposes modeling of scenarios in a scalable way by using a scenario language that describes system scenarios in a compact and concise manner which can results in a reduced number of scenarios. Furthermore, it proposes a calculation strategy to achieve better traceability of scenarios, and avoid computational complexity. The scenarios are pragmatically modeled and translated to finite state machines, where each state machine represents the behaviour of component instance within the scenario. The probability of failure of each component exhibited in the scenario is calculated separately based on the finite state machines. Finally, the reliability of the whole scenario is calculated based on the components’ behaviour models and their failure information using modified mathematical formula. In this paper, an example related to a case study of an automated railcar system is used to verify and validate the proposed strategy for scalability of system modeling

Long-term effects of aripiprazole exposure on monoaminergic and glutamatergic receptor subtypes: comparison with cariprazine

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the chronic effects of aripiprazole and cariprazine on serotonin (5-HT1A and 5-HT2A) and glutamate (NMDA and AMPA) receptor subtypes. In addition, the effects of aripiprazole on D2 and D3 receptors were tested and compared with previously reported cariprazine data. METHODS: Rats received vehicle, aripiprazole (2, 5, or 15 mg/kg), or cariprazine (0.06, 0.2, or 0.6 mg/kg) for 28 days. Receptor levels were quantified using autoradiographic assays on brain sections from the medial prefrontal cortex (MPC), dorsolateral frontal cortex (DFC), nucleus accumbens (NAc), caudate-putamen medial (CPu-M), caudate-putamen lateral (CPu-L), hippocampal CA1 (HIPP-CA1) and CA3 (HIPP-CA3) regions, and the entorhinal cortex (EC). RESULTS: Similar to previous findings with cariprazine, aripiprazole upregulated D2 receptor levels in various regions; D3 receptor changes were less than those reported with cariprazine. All aripiprazole doses and higher cariprazine doses increased 5-HT1A receptors in the MPC and DFC. Higher aripiprazole and all cariprazine doses increased 5-HT1A receptors in HIPP-CA1 and HIPP-CA3. Aripiprazole decreased 5-HT2A receptors in the MPC, DFC, HIPP-CA1, and HIPP-CA3 regions. Both compounds decreased NMDA receptors and increased AMPA receptors in select brain regions. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term administration of aripiprazole and cariprazine had similar effects on 5-HT1A, NMDA, and AMPA receptors. However, cariprazine more profoundly increased D3 receptors while aripiprazole selectively reduced 5-HT2A receptors. These results suggest that the unique actions of cariprazine on dopamine D3 receptors, combined with its effects on serotonin and glutamate receptor subtypes, may confer the clinical benefits, safety, and tolerability of this novel compound in schizophrenia and bipolar mania

DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND BIOLOGICAL SCREENING OF AMINOACETYLENIC TETRAHYDROPHTHALIMIDE ANALOGUES AS NOVEL CYCLOOXYGENASE (COX) INHIBITORS

Objective: To design and synthesise a new amino acetylenic tetrahydro phthalimide derivative and investigate their selective inhibitory activity to COXs.Methods: Aminoacetylenic tetrahydro phthalimide derivatives were synthesised by alkylation of tetrahydro phthalimide with propargyl bromide afforded 2-(prop-2-yn-1-yl)-2,3,3a,4,7,7a-hexahydro-1H-isoindole-1,3-dione. The alkylated tetrahydro phthalimide was subjected to Mannich reaction afforded the desired amino acetylenic tetra phthalimide derivatives (AZ 1-6). The elemental analysis was indicated by the EuroEA elemental analyzer and biological characterization was via IR, 1H-NMR, [13]C-NMR, DSC was determined with the aid of Bruker FT-IR and Varian 300 MHz spectrometer and DMSO-d6 as a solvent, molecular docking was done using the Autodock Tool software (version 4.2). ChemBioDraw was used in the drawing of our schemes.Results: The IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, DSC and elemental analysis were consistent with the assigned structures. The designers of the compounds as COXs inhibitor activity were based on the nationalisation of the important criteria that provide effective inhibitory binding with COXs–receptor. The results indicated that the synthesised compounds (AZ1-6) showed a close similarity in the binding affinity to both COXs and may be more specific to COX-1. AZ-5 showed the highest % of inhibition for COX-1 even better than aspirin. Which may suggest that the aryl group is required for COX-2 inhibition.Conclusion: For the first time, we indicate the requirement of aromaticity in COX-2 structural inhibitory activity.Â

Phytochemical analysis and evaluation of antibacterial activity of Moringa oleifera extracts against gram-negative bacteria: an in vitro and molecular docking studies

Moringa oleifera seed and leaf are used traditionally for the treatment of various healthproblems (among others, hypertension, scrapes, skin infection, diabetes, genitourinaryillnesses), and to boost the immune system, as well as to act as a contraceptive. Inthis study, the antibacterial activity of seed and leaf M. oleifera extracts on three-gramnegative bacteria was investigated, and phytochemical analysis for the association ofantibacterial activity with the active constituents in the plant was determined. Moreover,understanding of the mechanism of action was achieved by applying the Auto DockVina technique. The phytochemical screening of M. oleifera seed and leaf extractsexhibited the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, cardioactive glycosides, flavonoids,tannins, phenols, steroids and terpenoids. In silico results revealed that compounds(4-O-caffeoyl quinic acid, 4-(α-L-rhamnopyranosyloxyl)-benzylisothiocyanate);(Isoquercitrin, 4-(α-L-rhamnopyranosyloxy) benzyl glucosinolate); and (Astragalin,4-(α-L-rhamnopyranosyloxy) benzyl glucosinolate) from leaf and seed have the highestbinding affinity and very good interactions with Transcriptional Activator Protein (LasR),Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC), and Malonyl-CoA-acyl carrier proteintransacylase (FabD), respectively