Formal functional test designs with a test representation language

The application of the category-partition method to the test design phase of hardware, software, or system test development is discussed. The method provides a formal framework for reducing the total number of possible test cases to a minimum logical subset for effective testing. An automatic tool and a formal language were developed to implement the method and produce the specification of test cases

Charakterisierung zellulärer Interaktionsproteine des Nebenkapsidproteins L2 humaner Papillomviren

Papillomviren sind weit über das Wirbeltierreich verbreitet. Beim Menschen wurden bereits etwa 100 verschiedene Papillomvirus-Typen charakterisiert. Diese lassen sich aufgrund genetischer oder klinischer Merkmale in verschiedene Gruppen klassifizieren. Eine besondere Bedeutung kommt einigen onkogenen Papillomviren zu, die sich für die Entstehung des Zervixkarzinoms verantwortlich gezeigt haben. Die Erkrankung ist weltweit als zweithäufigste Krebsart bei Frauen von größter Bedeutung. Impfstoffe auf der Basis des Hauptkapsidproteins L1 befinden sich in Entwicklung beziehungsweise sind bereits zugelassen. Das Kapsid des Virus besteht aus 360 Kopien L1 in Pentameren sowie wahrscheinlich 12 Kopien des Nebenkapsidproteins L2. L2 zeigt unter Anderem regulatorische Funktionen bei der spezifischen Erkennung der Wirtszellen und ist essentiell für die Infektiösität der Virionen. Nach der Infektion rekrutiert L2 die virale DNA in den Zellkern und ist wichtig für die Verpackung der DNA und die Reifung infektiöser Viruspartikel. Es wurden in vorangehenden Arbeiten zelluläre Proteine identifiziert, die mit L2 verschiedener Papillomvirus-Typen interagieren. Zwei dieser Proteine waren PLINP und PMSP. PLINP ist ein mit L2 in Assoziation zu PODs (pml oncogenic domains) interagierendes Protein, welches ubiquitär in Zelllinien und Geweben transkribiert wird und dessen Expression bei diversen Tumoren verändert ist. Im Laufe dieser Arbeit wurden Studien veröffentlicht, die PLINP als negativen Regulator des Zellzyklus und des Zellwachstums charakterisieren. Das zytoplasmatische PMSP wird durch L2 in PODs rekrutiert und wurde bisher nicht weitergehend charakterisiert. Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Charakterisierung von PLINP und PMSP in Bezug zu ihrer zellulären Funktion sowie zum Lebenszyklus des humanen Papillomvirus. Potentielle Interaktionspartner von PLINP und PMSP wurden mittels des Yeast Two- Hybrid-Verfahrens aus einer humanen Keratinozyten-cDNA-Bibliothek identifiziert und ihre subzelluläre Lokalisation analysiert. Dabei konnte ein Zusammenhang zwischen TIN-Ag-RP als Interaktionspartner von L2, PLINP und PMSP aufgeklärt werden, der möglicherweise auf einen funktionalen Komplex hindeuten könnte. Ein weiterer Interaktionskomplex, der identifiziert werden konnte, besteht zwischen PLINP, eIF3, COP9 Signalosom und dem Proteasom. Eine Analyse der subnukleären Lokalisation konnte zeigen, dass PLINP in der Zelle sehr wahrscheinlich nicht nur in PODs, sondern auch partiell mit Mitochondrien assoziiert vorliegt. Es gab keinen Hinweis auf eine SUMOylierung oder eine andere posttranslationale Modifikation des Proteins, obwohl diese vorzuliegen schien. Es war jedoch möglich, eine Interaktion zu dem POD-lokalisierten Protein Daxx aufzuzeigen und die entsprechenden Interaktionsbereiche in der Sequenz von PLINP und Daxx durch Deletionsanalysen einzugrenzen. L2 kann dabei den Effekt der veränderten Lokalisation von PLINP bei einem Daxx-knockout teilweise revidieren. Eine PLINP-RNA-Interferenz führt zu einer erhöhten Infizierbarkeit von Zellen mit HPV16 Pseudovirionen, hat aber keinen Einfluss auf die Expression oder Lokalisation der Kapsidproteine L1 und L2. Die antivirale Aktivität von PLINP scheint auch nicht durch eine Anlagerung des Proteins an virale Partikel verursacht zu werden

Perceptions of Reproductive Rights among Young Adults with Disabilities

Background: The perception that people with disabilities are asexual and lack reproductive rights has existed in the United States since the early 1900s. In the early 1900s in the U.S., approximately 42,000 institutionalized people with disabilities were lawfully sexually sterilized as a result of the Eugenics Movement. The state of California was responsible for one-third of all sterilizations during the Movement. Purpose: This study aimed to assess the perceptions of reproductive rights among young adults with disabilities. Methods: Purposive and snowball sampling was used. Twelve semi-structured interviews with eight young adults with various mental health, physical, intellectual/developmental, and learning disabilities were conducted. Results: Participants reported that their ability to have sex and their reproductive rights were commonly questioned by peers and professionals. Some internalized asexual stereotypes and questioned whether they should reproduce due to the potential that they might pass on a disability or burden their children with their own disability. Others confidently reported their desire to bear their own children. Conclusion: The asexuality stereotype of people with disabilities is pervasive and continues to be present in society today. It is important that professionals reflect on their own biases toward the reproductive rights of people with disabilities

The development and application of composite complexity models and a relative complexity metric in a software maintenance environment

A great deal of effort is now being devoted to the study, analysis, prediction, and minimization of software maintenance expected cost, long before software is delivered to users or customers. It has been estimated that, on the average, the effort spent on software maintenance is as costly as the effort spent on all other software costs. Software design methods should be the starting point to aid in alleviating the problems of software maintenance complexity and high costs. Two aspects of maintenance deserve attention: (1) protocols for locating and rectifying defects, and for ensuring that noe new defects are introduced in the development phase of the software process; and (2) protocols for modification, enhancement, and upgrading. This article focuses primarily on the second aspect, the development of protocols to help increase the quality and reduce the costs associated with modifications, enhancements, and upgrades of existing software. This study developed parsimonious models and a relative complexity metric for complexity measurement of software that were used to rank the modules in the system relative to one another. Some success was achieved in using the models and the relative metric to identify maintenance-prone modules

Some aspects of the geochemistry of high-temperature peridotites and megacrysts from the Jagersfontein kimberlite pipe, South Africa

Bibliography: pages 188-203.The Jagersfontein kimberlite contains an abundance of both deformed high-temperature peridotites and Cr-poor megacrysts. The Cr-poor megacryst suite is represented by olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and garnet. The megacrysts show features which are unique to Jagersfontein, a particularly notable feature being the absence of ilmenite and ilmenite-silicate intergrowths. Major element and REE compositions of the Cr-poor megacryst suite are consistent with a magmatic fractionation sequence. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios of the Cr-poor clinopyroxene megacrysts indicate a source similar to that of non-DUPAL ocean island basalts. Deformed peridotites at Jagersfontein have high calculated temperatures of equilibration (1132-1361°C), which are slightly lower but which overlap with those of the Cr-poor megacryst suite. Both the high-temperature peridotites and the Cr-poor megacrysts yield similar pressures of equilibration (51±2 kbar), indicating their association with a thermal perturbation and supporting a close spatial association between them. Olivine and pyroxenes in the high-temperature peridotites appear homogeneous, but compositional gradients were observed in several garnet porphyroclasts. These garnets show rim enrichments in TiO₂ and Na₂O. This zonation in the garnets is evidence for enrichment of the deformed peridotites shortly before kimberlite eruption. This enrichment is likely to be due to interaction with the megacryst magma. In addition, the high-temperature peridotites show a general enrichment in Fe, Ti, Na and Al with decreasing Ca/(Ca+Mg). Such features support a magmatic aureole model, in that temperature and degree of enrichment might be expected to increase with proximity to the megacryst magma body. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios of clinopyroxene separates from the high-temperature peridotites are similar to those from oceanic peridotites. Modal abundances and olivine forsterite contents of the high-temperature peridotites are consistent with an origin as residues of partial melting events involving basalt formation. It is suggested that partial melting events, in the upper mantle beneath Jagersfontein, resulted in the formation of a depleted protolith which underplated the base of the Archaean lithosphere. This depleted protolith was subsequently enriched by interaction with the Cr-poor megacryst magma just prior to kimberlite eruption. The high-temperature peridotites therefore represent samples from the base of the lithosphere rather than from the convecting asthenosphere

An analysis of defect densities found during software inspections

Software inspection is a technical evaluation process for finding and removing defects in requirements, design, code, and tests. Detailed data was collected during the first three years of experience at JPL on 203 inspections. Statistics are discussed for this set of inspections. Included, on a per inspection basis, are averages of: staff time expended, pages covered, major defects found, minor defects found, and inspection team size. Analysis of variance showed a significantly higher density of defects during requirements inspections. It was also observed, that the defect densities found decreased exponentially as the work products approached the coding phase. Increasing the pace of the inspection meeting decreased the density of defects found. This relationship was observed to hold for both major and minor defect densities, although it was more pronounced for minor defects. Guidelines are provided for conducting successful software inspections based upon three years of JPL experience

Liability: the complicated task of licensing law enforcement technologies

This paper discusses a situation where a company (licensor) requires a liability policy as a condition of a license agreement, when licensing law enforcement technologies. The purpose of this discussion is to evaluate the reasons behind the need for extensive liability policies to protect licensors when marketing their law enforcement technologies to private industry. Finding a solution to the problem, therefore reducing the potential for high liability insurance costs, would be desirable. Since the risks associated with most technologies are virtually unknown, and because such technologies are used in very unpredictable legal environments, alternative ways of guaranteeing research and development enterprises that they will be covered against product liability are needed. Without such protection, licensors may require licensees to indemnify them beyond the usual guarantees provided in a licensing agreement, which may make the license too costly for smaller businesses. When the share of the market is limited to larger corporations, competition suffers and ultimately the cost to law enforcement agencies increases

A Framework for Incorporating Dyads in Models of HIV-Prevention

Although HIV is contracted by individuals, it is typically transmitted in dyads. Most efforts to promote safer sex practices, however, focus exclusively on individuals. The goal of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework that specifies how models of dyadic processes and relationships can inform models of HIV-prevention. At the center of the framework is the proposition that safer sex between two people requires a dyadic capacity for successful coordination. According to this framework, relational, individual, and structural variables that affect the enactment of safer sex do so through their direct and indirect effects on that dyadic capacity. This dyadic perspective does not require an ongoing relationship between two individuals; rather, it offers a way of distinguishing between dyads along a continuum from anonymous strangers (with minimal coordination of behavior) to long-term partners (with much greater coordination). Acknowledging the dyadic context of HIV-prevention offers new targets for interventions and suggests new approaches to tailoring interventions to specific populations