Developing GUI Applications in a Verified Setting

Although there have been major achievements in verified software, work on verifying graphical user interfaces (GUI) applications is underdeveloped relative to their ubiquity and societal importance.In this paper, we present a library for the development of verified, state-dependent GUI applications in the dependently typed programming language Agda. The library uses Agda's expressive type system to ensure that the GUI, its controller, and the underlying model are all consistent, significantly reducing the scope for GUI-related bugs.We provide a way to specify and prove correctness properties of GUI applications in terms of user interactions and state transitions. Critically, GUI applications and correctness properties are not restricted to finite state machines and may involve the execution of arbitrary interactive programs. Additionally, the library connects to a standard, imperative GUI framework, enabling the development of native GUI applications with expected features, such as concurrency.We present applications of our library to building GUI applications to manage healthcare processes. The correctness properties we consider are the following: (1) That a state can only be reached by passing through a particular intermediate state, for example, that a particular treatment can only be reached after having conducted an X-Ray. (2) That one eventually reaches a particular state, for example, that one eventually decides on a treatment. The specification of such properties is defined in terms of a GUI application simulator, which simulates all possible sequences of interactions carried out by the user

Turing-completeness totally free

In this paper, I show that general recursive definitions can be represented in the free monad which supports the ‘effect’ of making a recursive call, without saying how these calls should be executed. Diverse semantics can be given within a total framework by suitable monad morphisms. The Bove-Capretta construction of the domain of a general recursive function can be presented datatype-generically as an instance of this technique. The paper is literate Agda, but its key ideas are more broadly transferable

The Effect of Locally Delivered Controlledâ Release Doxycycline or Scaling and Root Planing on Periodontal Maintenance Patients Over 9 Months

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142157/1/jper0022.pd

Two Multiâ Center Studies Evaluating Locally Delivered Doxycycline Hyclate, Placebo Control, Oral Hygiene, and Scaling and Root Planing in the Treatment of Periodontitis

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142011/1/jper0490.pd

Vegetation management with fire modifies peatland soil thermal regime

Vegetation removal with fire can alter the thermal regime of the land surface, leading to significant changes in biogeochemistry (e.g. carbon cycling) and soil hydrology. In the UK, large expanses of carbon-rich upland environments are managed to encourage increased abundance of red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica) by rotational burning of shrub vegetation. To date, though, there has not been any consideration of whether prescribed vegetation burning on peatlands modifies the thermal regime of the soil mass in the years after fire. In this study thermal regime was monitored across 12 burned peatland soil plots over an 18-month period, with the aim of (i) quantifying thermal dynamics between burned plots of different ages (from <2 to 15+years post burning), and (ii) developing statistical models to determine the magnitude of thermal change caused by vegetation management. Compared to plots burned 15+years previously, plots recently burned (<2-4 years) showed higher mean, maximum and range of soil temperatures, and lower minima. Statistical models (generalised least square regression) were developed to predict daily mean and maximum soil temperature in plots burned 15+years prior to the study. These models were then applied to predict temperatures of plots burned 2, 4 and 7 years previously, with significant deviations from predicted temperatures illustrating the magnitude of burn management effects. Temperatures measured in soil plots burned <2 years previously showed significant statistical disturbances from model predictions, reaching+6.2°C for daily mean temperatures and+19.6°C for daily maxima. Soil temperatures in plots burnt 7 years previously were most similar to plots burned 15+years ago indicating the potential for soil temperatures to recover as vegetation regrows. Our findings that prescribed peatland vegetation burning alters soil thermal regime should provide an impetus for further research to understand the consequences of thermal regime change for carbon processing and release, and hydrological processes, in these peatlands

Genome-Wide Association Study Implicates Chromosome 9q21.31 as a Susceptibility Locus for Asthma in Mexican Children

Many candidate genes have been studied for asthma, but replication has varied. Novel candidate genes have been identified for various complex diseases using genome-wide association studies (GWASs). We conducted a GWAS in 492 Mexican children with asthma, predominantly atopic by skin prick test, and their parents using the Illumina HumanHap 550 K BeadChip to identify novel genetic variation for childhood asthma. The 520,767 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) passing quality control were tested for association with childhood asthma using log-linear regression with a log-additive risk model. Eleven of the most significantly associated GWAS SNPs were tested for replication in an independent study of 177 Mexican case–parent trios with childhood-onset asthma and atopy using log-linear analysis. The chromosome 9q21.31 SNP rs2378383 (p = 7.10×10−6 in the GWAS), located upstream of transducin-like enhancer of split 4 (TLE4), gave a p-value of 0.03 and the same direction and magnitude of association in the replication study (combined p = 6.79×10−7). Ancestry analysis on chromosome 9q supported an inverse association between the rs2378383 minor allele (G) and childhood asthma. This work identifies chromosome 9q21.31 as a novel susceptibility locus for childhood asthma in Mexicans. Further, analysis of genome-wide expression data in 51 human tissues from the Novartis Research Foundation showed that median GWAS significance levels for SNPs in genes expressed in the lung differed most significantly from genes not expressed in the lung when compared to 50 other tissues, supporting the biological plausibility of our overall GWAS findings and the multigenic etiology of childhood asthma

Current status of the multinational Arabidopsis community

The multinational Arabidopsis research community is highly collaborative and over the past thirty years these activities have been documented by the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC). Here, we (a) highlight recent research advances made with the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana; (b) provide summaries from recent reports submitted by MASC subcommittees, projects and resources associated with MASC and from MASC country representatives; and (c) initiate a call for ideas and foci for the “fourth decadal roadmap,” which will advise and coordinate the global activities of the Arabidopsis research community

The Problematization of Sexuality among Women Living with HIV and a New Feminist Approach for Understanding and Enhancing Women’s Sexual Lives

In the context of HIV, women’s sexual rights and sexual autonomy are important but frequently overlooked and violated. Guided by community voices, feminist theories, and qualitative empirical research, we reviewed two decades of global quantitative research on sexuality among women living with HIV. In the 32 studies we found, conducted in 25 countries and composed mostly of cis-gender heterosexual women, sexuality was narrowly constructed as sexual behaviours involving risk (namely, penetration) and physiological dysfunctions relating to HIV illness, with far less attention given to the fullness of sexual lives in context, including more&nbsp;positive and rewarding experiences such as satisfaction and pleasure. Findings suggest that women experience declines in sexual activity, function, satisfaction, and pleasure following HIV diagnosis, at least for some period. The extent of such declines, however, is varied, with numerous contextual forces shaping women’s sexual well-being. Clinical markers of HIV (e.g., viral load, CD4 cell count) poorly predicted sexual outcomes, interrupting widely held assumptions about sexuality for women with HIV. Instead, the effects of HIV-related stigma intersecting with inequities related to trauma, violence, intimate relations, substance use, poverty, aging, and other social and cultural conditions primarily influenced the ways in which women experienced and enacted their sexuality. However, studies framed through a medical lens tended to pathologize outcomes as individual “problems,” whereas others driven by a public health agenda remained primarily preoccupied with protecting the public from HIV. In light of these findings, we present a new feminist approach for research, policy, and practice toward understanding and enhancing women’s sexual lives—one that affirms sexual diversity; engages deeply with society, politics, and history; and is grounded in women’s sexual rights