The Sophi HUD: A novel visual analytics tool for news media

The Sophi Heads-up Display (HUD) is an analytics tool developed for editors at Canada's The Globe and Mail newspaper that overlays relevant data about articles' performances onto The Globe and Mail website. We describe the motivation for our research, our design process (which includes initial needs assessment through semi-structured interviews with editors, and job shadowing), and the validation of features with users. We then discuss the ongoing iterations of the Sophi HUD and how its design was informed through collaboration with The Globe and Mail employees

Polyphenol oxidase affects normal nodule development in red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) may have multiple functions in tissues depending on its cellular or tissue localisation. Here we use PPO RNAi transformants of red clover (Trifolium pratense) to determine the role PPO plays in normal development of plants, and especially in N2-fixing nodules. In red clover, PPO was not essential for either growth or nodule production, or for nodule function in plants grown under optimal, N-free conditions. However, absence of PPO resulted in a more reduced environment in all tissues, as measured by redox potential, and caused subtle developmental changes in nodules. Leaves and, to a lesser extent nodules, lacking PPO tended to accumulate phenolic compounds.A comparison of nodules of two contrasting clones by microscopy revealed that nodules lacking PPO were morphologically and anatomically subtly altered, and that phenolics accumulated in different cells and tissues. Developing nodules lacking PPO were longer, and there were more cell layers within the squashed cell layer (SCL), but the walls of these cells were less thickened and the cells were less squashed. Within the N2-fixing zone, bacteroids appeared more granular and were less tightly packed together

A Survey on Metamorphic Testing

A test oracle determines whether a test execution reveals a fault, often by comparing the observed program output to the expected output. This is not always practical, for example when a program’s input-output relation is complex and difficult to capture formally. Metamorphic testing provides an alternative, where correctness is not determined by checking an individual concrete output, but by applying a transformation to a test input and observing how the program output “morphs” into a different one as a result. Since the introduction of such metamorphic relations in 1998, many contributions on metamorphic testing have been made, and the technique has seen successful applications in a variety of domains, ranging from web services to computer graphics. This article provides a comprehensive survey on metamorphic testing: It summarises the research results and application areas, and analyses common practice in empirical studies of metamorphic testing as well as the main open challenges.European Commission (FEDER)Spanish Govermen

High Polymorphism in the K-Casein (CSN3) Gene from Wild and Domestic Caprine Species Revealed by DNA Sequencing

We assessed polymorphisms in exon IV of the k-casein gene (CSN3) in ten different breeds of domestic goat (Capra hircus) from three continents and in three related wild caprine taxa (Capra ibex, Capra sibirica and Capra aegagrus). Thirty-five DNA samples were sequenced within a 558 bp fragment of exon IV. Nine polymorphic sites were identified in domestic goat, including four new polymorphisms. In addition to four previously described polymorphic positions, a total of 13 polymorphisms allowed the identification of 13 DNA variants, corresponding to 10 protein variants. Because of conflicting nomenclature of these variants, we propose a standardized allele designation. CSN3*A, CSN3*B, and CSN3*D were found as widely distributed alleles in European goat breeds. Within Capra ibex we identified three variants and showed that the sequence of Capra aegagrus is identical to the most common Capra hircus variant, consistent with Capra aegagrus being the wild progenitor of domestic goats. A dendrogram was drawn to represent the molecular network between the caprine CSN3 variants