Mightyl: A compositional translation from mitl to timed automata

Metric Interval Temporal Logic (MITL) was first proposed in the early 1990s as a specification formalism for real-time systems. Apart from its appealing intuitive syntax, there are also theoretical evidences that make MITL a prime real-time counterpart of Linear Temporal Logic (LTL). Unfortunately, the tool support for MITL verification is still lacking to this day. In this paper, we propose a new construction from MITL to timed automata via very-weak one-clock alternating timed automata. Our construction subsumes the well-known construction from LTL to Büchi automata by Gastin and Oddoux and yet has the additional benefits of being compositional and integrating easily with existing tools. We implement the construction in our new tool MightyL and report on experiments using Uppaal and LTSmin as back-ends

Structural and Functional Dissection of Mif2p, a Conserved DNA-binding Kinetochore Protein

Mif2p is the budding-yeast orthologue of the mammalian centromere-binding protein CENP-C. We have mapped domains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mif2p and studied the phenotyptic consequences of their deletion. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we have further shown that Mif2p binds in the CDEIII region of the budding-yeast centromere, probably in close spatial association with Ndc10p. Moreover, ChIP experiments show that Mif2p recruits to yeast kinetochores a substantial subset of inner and outer kinetochore proteins, but not the Ndc80 or Spc105 complexes. We have determined the crystal structure of the C-terminal, dimerization domain of Mif2p. It has a "cupin" fold, extremely similar both in polypeptide chain conformation and in dimer geometry to the dimerization domain of a bacterial transcription factor. The Mif2p dimer seems to be part of an enhanceosome-like structure that nucleates kinetochore assembly in budding yeast.Molecular and Cellular Biolog

Addressing Mood Disorder Diagnosis' Stigma With an Honest, Open, Proud (HOP)-Based Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: The public stigma and self-stigma contribute to the dilemma of disclosing or not one's own mental illness diagnosis. Studies suggest that revealing it diminishes stress, besides helping with self-esteem. Honest, Open, Proud (HOP) is a group program that aids in the process of deciding on it, reducing its impact. Considering the relevance of this issue, the present study aimed to apply a HOP-based intervention in a group of patients diagnosed with mood disorders. Methods: A randomized controlled clinical trial was used, including 61 patients with mood disorders, of whom 31 were diagnosed with depression and 30 were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. They were randomly placed on the intervention (HOP) or the control group (unstructured psychoeducation). The evaluations occurred before (T0) and after (T1) the sessions. We administered eight scales, from which three presented relevant results: Coming Out with Mental Illness Scale (COMIS), Cognitive Appraisal of Stigma as a Stressor (CogApp), and Authenticity Scale. Results: The intervention groups (depression and bipolar) did not present a significant change regarding the decision to disclose their diagnostics. However, the depression group showed a decrease on the perception of stigma as a stressor (T0 = 0.50 vs. T1 = -1.45; p = 0.058). Improvements in post-intervention results were seen for both groups (depression and bipolar) on the Authenticity Scale-self-alienation subscale (T0 = 10.40 vs. T1 = 12.37, p = 0.058). Conclusion: Our HOP-based intervention appeared to be an important program to aid patients in facing stigma stress, showing positive effects, whether helping to diminish stress or to improve self-conscience, both of which have indirect effects on self-stigma. As it is a compact program, it can bring benefits when applying to public health institutions

Development of a 3D dynamic flood web GIS visualisation tool

Low elevation coastal areas are vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise and to an increase in the frequency and severity of storm surge events due to climate change.Coastal urban areas are at risk because coastal flooding causes extensive damage to energy and transportation infrastructure, disruptions to the delivery of services, devastating tolls on the public’s health and,occasionally, significant loss of life. Although scientists widely stress the compelling need to mitigate and adapt to climate change, public awareness lags behind. Because WebGIS maps (web-based geographic information systems) quickly convey strong messages, condense complex information, engage people on issues of environmental change, and motivate personal actions, this paper focuses on searching the ideal flood assessment WebGIS method to encourage people to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Surveys demonstrated that 3D visualisations have an enormous added value because they are more vivid and therefore more understandable and make it easier to imagine the consequences of a flood than2D visualisations. In this research, the WebGIS will be created using Ol3-Cesium and openlayers to visualise a flood event by dynamic layers in a 2D/3D environment

Robust Model-Checking of Linear-Time Properties in Timed Automata

International audienceFormal verification of timed systems is well understood, but their \emphimplementation is still challenging. Recent works by Raskin \emphet al. have brought out a model of parameterized timed automata that can be used to prove \emphimplementability of timed systems for safety properties. We define here a more general notion of robust model-checking for linear-time properties, which consists in verifying whether a property still holds even if the transitions are slightly delayed or expedited. We provide PSPACE algorithms for the robust model-checking of Büchi-like and LTL properties. We also verify bounded-response-time properties