Ant colony optimization for object-oriented unit test generation

Generating useful unit tests for object-oriented programs is difficult for traditional optimization methods. One not only needs to identify values to be used as inputs, but also synthesize a program which creates the required state in the program under test. Many existing Automated Test Generation (ATG) approaches combine search with performance-enhancing heuristics. We present Tiered Ant Colony Optimization (Taco) for generating unit tests for object-oriented programs. The algorithm is formed of three Tiers of ACO, each of which tackles a distinct task: goal prioritization, test program synthesis, and data generation for the synthesised program. Test program synthesis allows the creation of complex objects, and exploration of program state, which is the breakthrough that has allowed the successful application of ACO to object-oriented test generation. Taco brings the mature search ecosystem of ACO to bear on ATG for complex object-oriented programs, providing a viable alternative to current approaches. To demonstrate the effectiveness of Taco, we have developed a proof-of-concept tool which successfully generated tests for an average of 54% of the methods in 170 Java classes, a result competitive with industry standard Randoop

June: A Type Testability Transformation for Improved ATG Performance

Strings are universal containers: they are flexible to use, abundant in code, and difficult to test. String-controlled programs are programs that make branching decisions based on string input. Automatically generating valid test inputs for these programs considering only character sequences rather than any underlying string-encoded structures, can be prohibitively expensive. We present June, a tool that enables Java developers to expose any present latent string structure to test generation tools. June is an annotation-driven testability transformation and an extensible library, JuneLib, of structured string definitions. The core JuneLib definitions are empirically derived and provide templates for all structured strings in our test set. June takes lightly annotated source code and injects code that permits an automated test generator (ATG) to focus on the creation of mutable substrings inside a structured string. Using June costs the developer little, with an average of 2.1 annotations per string-controlled class. June uses standard Java build tools and therefore deploys seamlessly within a Java project. By feeding string structure information to an ATG tool, June dramatically reduces wasted effort; branches are effortlessly covered that would otherwise be extremely difficult, or impossible, to cover. This waste reduction both increases and speeds coverage. EvoSuite, for example, achieves the same coverage on June-ed classes in 1 minute, on average, as it does in 9 minutes on the un-June-ed class. These gains increase over time. On our corpus, June-ing a program compresses 24 hours of execution time into ca. 2 hours. We show that many ATG tools can reuse the same June-ed code: a few June annotations, a one-off cost, benefit many different testing regimes

Limiting the Duration of Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Addiction: Will New State Policies Help or Hurt?

This presentation details the impact of state Medicaid programs placing lifetime limits on buprenorphine therapy for individuals with opioid dependence. The research reveals that setting limits does not save money or help the patient

Cognitive demands of face monitoring: Evidence for visuospatial overload

Young children perform difficult communication tasks better face to face than when they cannot see one another (e.g., Doherty-Sneddon & Kent, 1996). However, in recent studies, it was found that children aged 6 and 10 years, describing abstract shapes, showed evidence of face-to-face interference rather than facilitation. For some communication tasks, access to visual signals (such as facial expression and eye gaze) may hinder rather than help children’s communication. In new research we have pursued this interference effect. Five studies are described with adults and 10- and 6-year-old participants. It was found that looking at a face interfered with children’s abilities to listen to descriptions of abstract shapes. Children also performed visuospatial memory tasks worse when they looked at someone’s face prior to responding than when they looked at a visuospatial pattern or at the floor. It was concluded that performance on certain tasks was hindered by monitoring another person’s face. It is suggested that processing of visual communication signals shares certain processing resources with the processing of other visuospatial information

Triplet energy differences and the low lying structure of Ga 62

Background: Triplet energy differences (TED) can be studied to yield information on isospin-non-conserving interactions in nuclei. Purpose: The systematic behavior of triplet energy differences (TED) of T=1, J\u3c0=2+ states is examined. The A=62 isobar is identified as having a TED value that deviates significantly from an otherwise very consistent trend. This deviation can be attributed to the tentative assignments of the pertinent states in Ga62 and Ge62. Methods: An in-beam \u3b3-ray spectroscopy experiment was performed to identify excited states in Ga62 using Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking In-Beam Nuclear Array with the S800 spectrometer at NSCL using a two-nucleon knockout approach. Cross-section calculations for the knockout process and shell-model calculations have been performed to interpret the population and decay properties observed. Results: Using the systematics as a guide, a candidate for the transition from the T=1, 2+ state is identified. However, previous work has identified similar states with different J\u3c0 assignments. Cross-section calculations indicate that the relevant T=1, 2+ state should be one of the states directly populated in this reaction. Conclusions: As spins and parities were not measurable, it is concluded that an unambiguous identification of the first T=1, 2+ state is required to reconcile our understanding of TED systematics

Characteristics Associated With Differences in Survival Among Black and White Women With Breast Cancer

Importance Difference in breast cancer survival by race is a recognized problem among Medicare beneficiaries. Objective To determine if racial disparity in breast cancer survival is primarily attributable to differences in presentation characteristics at diagnosis or subsequent treatment. Design, Setting, and Patients Comparison of 7375 black women 65 years and older diagnosed between 1991 to 2005 and 3 sets of 7375 matched white control patients selected from 99 898 white potential controls, using data for 16 US Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) sites in the SEER-Medicare database. All patients received follow-up through December 31, 2009, and the black case patients were matched to 3 white control populations on demographics (age, year of diagnosis, and SEER site), presentation (demographics variables plus patient comorbid conditions and tumor characteristics such as stage, size, grade, and estrogen receptor status), and treatment (presentation variables plus details of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy). Main Outcomes and Measures 5-Year survival. Results The absolute difference in 5-year survival (blacks, 55.9%; whites, 68.8%) was 12.9% (95% CI, 11.5%-14.5%; P \u3c .001) in the demographics match. This difference remained unchanged between 1991 and 2005. After matching on presentation characteristics, the absolute difference in 5-year survival was 4.4% (95% CI, 2.8%-5.8%; P \u3c .001) and was 3.6% (95% CI, 2.3%-4.9%; P \u3c .001) lower for blacks than for whites matched also on treatment. In the presentation match, fewer blacks received treatment (87.4% vs 91.8%; P \u3c .001), time from diagnosis to treatment was longer (29.2 vs 22.8 days; P \u3c .001), use of anthracyclines and taxols was lower (3.7% vs 5.0%; P \u3c .001), and breast-conserving surgery without other treatment was more frequent (8.2% vs 7.3%; P = .04). Nevertheless, differences in survival associated with treatment differences accounted for only 0.81% of the 12.9% survival difference. Conclusions and Relevance In the SEER-Medicare database, differences in breast cancer survival between black and white women did not substantially change among women diagnosed between 1991 and 2005. These differences in survival appear primarily related to presentation characteristics at diagnosis rather than treatment differences

Body composition and body fat distribution are related to cardiac autonomic control in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Heart rate recovery (HRR), a cardiac autonomic control marker, was shown to be related to body composition (BC), yet this was not tested in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients. The aim of this study was to determine if, and to what extent, markers of BC and body fat (BF) distribution are related to cardiac autonomic control in NAFLD patients. SUBJECTS/METHODS: BC was assessed with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in 28 NAFLD patients (19 men, 51±13 years, and 9 women, 47±13 years). BF depots ratios were calculated to assess BF distribution. Subjects’ HRR was recorded 1 (HRR1) and 2 min (HRR2) immediately after a maximum graded exercise test. RESULTS: BC and BF distribution were related to HRR; particularly weight, trunk BF and trunk BF-to-appendicular BF ratio showed a negative relation with HRR1 (r 1⁄4 0.613, r 1⁄4 0.597 and r 1⁄4 0.547, respectively, Po0.01) and HRR2 (r 1⁄4 0.484, r 1⁄4 0.446, Po0.05, and r 1⁄4 0.590, Po0.01, respectively). Age seems to be related to both HRR1 and HRR2 except when controlled for BF distribution. The preferred model in multiple regression should include trunk BF-to-appendicular BF ratio and BF to predict HRR1 (r2 1⁄4 0.549; Po0.05), and trunk BF-to-appendicular BF ratio alone to predict HRR2 (r2 1⁄4 0.430; Po0.001). CONCLUSIONS: BC and BF distribution were related to HRR in NAFLD patients. Trunk BF-to-appendicular BF ratio was the best independent predictor of HRR and therefore may be best related to cardiovascular increased risk, and possibly act as a mediator in age-related cardiac autonomic control variation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio