Integrated formal verification of safety-critical software

This work presents a formal verification process based on the Systerel Smart Solver (S3) toolset for the development of safety-critical embedded software. In order to guarantee the correctness of the implementation of a set of textual requirements, the process integrates different verification techniques (inductive proof, bounded model checking, test case generation and equivalence proof) to handle different types of properties at their best capacities. It is aimed at the verification of properties at system, design, and code levels. To handle the floating-point arithmetic (FPA) in both the design and the code, an FPA library is designed and implemented in S3. This work is illustrated on an Automatic Rover Protection (ARP) system implemented on-board a robot. Focus is placed on the verification of safety and functional properties and on the equivalence proof between the design model and the generated code

The concept of mechanism from a realist approach: a scoping review to facilitate its operationalization in public health program evaluation

International audienceBackground: Public health interventions are complex by nature, and their evaluation requires unpacking their intervention logic and their interactions with open social systems. By focusing on the interrelationships between context, mechanism, and outcome, Pawson and Tilley's realist approach appears a promising innovation for public health-related evaluation works. However, and as expected of any methodological innovation, this approach is being constructed gradually by answering the multiple challenges to its operationalization that fall in its path. One of these challenges, users of this approach agree on, is the necessity of clarifying its key concept of mechanism.Method: We first collected the definitions of mechanism from published works of Pawson and colleagues. Secondly, a scoping review was conducted to identify the ones quoted by users of the realist approach for evaluating public health interventions (1997–2012). We then appraised the clarity and precision of this concept against the three dimensions defined by Daigneault and Jacobs " term, sense and referent. "Results: Of the 2344 documents identified in the scoping review, 49 documents were included. Term: Users of the realist approach use adjectives qualifying the term mechanism that were not specifically endorsed by Pawson and colleagues. Sense: None of the attributes stated by Pawson and colleagues has been listed in all of the documents analyzed, and some contributions clarified its attributes. Referent: The concept of mechanism within a realist approach can be ascribed to theory-based evaluation, complex social interventions, and critical realism.Conclusion: This review led us to reconsider the concept of mechanism within the realist approach by confronting the theoretical stance of its proponents to the practical one of its users. This resulted in a clearer, more precise definition of the concept of mechanism which may in turn trigger further improvements in the way the realist approach is applied in evaluative practice in public health and potentially beyond. A mechanism is hidden but real, is an element of reasoning and reactions of agents in regard to the resources available in a given context to bring about changes through the implementation of an intervention, and evolves within an open space-time and social system of relationships

Synthesis of globopentaose using a novel β1,3-galactosyltransferase activity of the Haemophilus influenzae β1,3-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase LgtD

AbstractWe have previously described a bacterial system for the conversion of globotriaose (Gb3) into globotetraose (Gb4) by a metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strain expressing the Haemophilus influenzae lgtD gene encoding β1,3-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase [Antoine, T., Bosso, C., Heyraud, A. Samain, E. (2005) Large scale in vivo synthesis of globotriose and globotetraose by high cell density culture of metabolically engineered Escherichia coli. Biochimie 87, 197–203]. Here, we found that LgtD has an additional β1,3-galactosyltransferase activity which allows our bacterial system to be extended to the synthesis of the carbohydrate portion of globopentaosylceramide (Galβ-3GalNAcβ-3Galα-4Galβ-4Glc) which reacts with the monoclonal antibody defining the stage-specific embryonic antigen-3. In vitro assays confirmed that LgtD had both β1,3-GalT and β1,3-GalNAcT activities and showed that differences in the affinity for Gb3 and Gb4 explain the specific and exclusive formation of globopentaose

A Sophisticated Architecture Is Indeed Necessary for the Implementation of Health in All Policies but not Enough Comment on “Understanding the Role of Public Administration in Implementing Action on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities”

In this commentary, I argue that beyond a sophisticated supportive architecture to facilitate implementation of actions on the social determinants of health (SDOH) and health inequities, the Health in All Policies (HiAP) project faces two main barriers: lack of awareness within policy networks on the social determinants of population health, and a tendency of health actors to neglect investing in other sectors’ complex problem

Health promotion research and practice require sound policy analysis models: The case of Quebec\u27s Tobacco Act

In this paper we illustrate how policy analysis models can deepen our understanding of the challenges facing health promoters advocating for policy change. Specifically we describe the factors underpinning the adoption of Québec\u27s Tobacco Act (1998) and the role played by actors from governmental public health agencies (GPHAs). Data were collected through interviews (n = 39), newspapers articles (n = 569) and documents (n \u3e 200) from GPHAs, NGOs, the Québec National Assembly, and opponents to the legislative measures. Data collection and analysis were based on Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith\u27s Advocacy Coalition Framework (1999) and Lemieux\u27s theorization of coalition structuring (1998). We explain the adoption of the Act by: (1) the broad recognition within the policy elite of the main parameters of tobacco use (i.e. lethality, addictive properties, and legitimacy of governmental intervention), (2) the impacts of a series of events (e.g. cigarette contraband crisis) that enabled tobacco control advocates to influence public debates, and the governmental agenda, (3) the critical contribution of a coalition of GPHAs pooling resources to address both the sanitary and economic aspects of the legislation while countering the opposition\u27s strategy, and (4) the failure of the opponents to present an unified voice on the definition of the tobacco policy. This study illustrates the merits of applying a policy-change model to grasp the complexity of the process. Our findings call for the development of permanent policy analysis capabilities within public health agencies and for a broader scrutiny of the non-health-related dimensions of policy debates. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

An advocacy strategy favoring the adoption of a provincial public policy in reducing smoking, a public campaign highlighting the epidemiological profiles of tobacco use, studies of the impacts of measures to reduce smoking and reports on the activities of the tobacco industry

Nous analysons le rôle joué par les données probantes dans la planification et l’implantation d’une stratégie d’advocacy visant à neutraliser l’opposition à l’adoption de la Loi sur le tabac (1998) du Québec. Ce cas illustre la nécessité de compléter les données épidémiologiques traditionnelles avec d’autres informations faisant écho aux objections (principalement économiques) formulées contre le projet de loi. Il met également en exergue l’importance pour la santé publique de s’associer à des acteurs dont la légitimité leur confère le droit de cité dans les débats publics débordant des préoccupations sanitaires

Integration and mining of malaria molecular, functional and pharmacological data: how far are we from a chemogenomic knowledge space?

The organization and mining of malaria genomic and post-genomic data is highly motivated by the necessity to predict and characterize new biological targets and new drugs. Biological targets are sought in a biological space designed from the genomic data from Plasmodium falciparum, but using also the millions of genomic data from other species. Drug candidates are sought in a chemical space containing the millions of small molecules stored in public and private chemolibraries. Data management should therefore be as reliable and versatile as possible. In this context, we examined five aspects of the organization and mining of malaria genomic and post-genomic data: 1) the comparison of protein sequences including compositionally atypical malaria sequences, 2) the high throughput reconstruction of molecular phylogenies, 3) the representation of biological processes particularly metabolic pathways, 4) the versatile methods to integrate genomic data, biological representations and functional profiling obtained from X-omic experiments after drug treatments and 5) the determination and prediction of protein structures and their molecular docking with drug candidate structures. Progresses toward a grid-enabled chemogenomic knowledge space are discussed.Comment: 43 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Malaria Journa