Cornering the revamped BMV model with neutrino oscillation data

Using the latest global determination of neutrino oscillation parameters from~\cite{deSalas:2017kay} we examine the status of the simplest revamped version of the BMV (Babu-Ma-Valle) model, proposed in~\cite{Morisi:2013qna}. The model predicts a striking correlation between the "poorly determined" atmospheric angle $\theta_{23}$ and CP phase $\delta_{CP}$, leading to either maximal CP violation or none, depending on the preferred $\theta_{23}$ octants. We determine the allowed BMV parameter regions and compare with the general three-neutrino oscillation scenario. We show that in the BMV model the higher octant is possible only at $99\%$ C.L., a stronger rejection than found in the general case. By performing quantitative simulations of forthcoming DUNE and T2HK experiments, using only the four "well-measured" oscillation parameters and the indication for normal mass ordering, we also map out the potential of these experiments to corner the model. The resulting global sensitivities are given in a robust form, that holds irrespective of the true values of the oscillation parameters.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Coordination and Harmony in Bilateral Logic

Ian Rumfitt (2000) developed a bilateralist account of logic in which the meaning of the connectives is given by conditions on asserted and rejected sentences. An additional set of inference rules, the coordination principles, determines the interaction of assertion and rejection. Fernando Ferreira (2008) found this account defective, as Rumfitt must state the coordination principles for arbitrary complex sentences. Rumfitt (2008) has a reply, but we argue that the problem runs deeper than he acknowledges and is in fact related to the challenge of establishing proof-theoretic harmony. We motivate a distinctively bilateral criterion for harmony and show how the bilateralist can meet it. This also resolves Ferreira's complaint

Carrion's disease after blood transfusion

Bartonella bacilliformis is a pathogen that is endemic in some areas of the Andean region of Peru, southern Ecuador and southern Colombia. This pathogen causes so-called Carrion's disease, a biphasic disease with acute and chronic phases (called Oroya fever and "Peruvian wart" respectively). In the absence or delay of antibiotic treatment, the mortality rate in the acute phase is up to 88%1. The acute phase is characterised by fever and severe anaemia and may be followed, several weeks or months later, by the chronic eruptive phase due to endothelial cell proliferation2. No animal reservoir has been identified to date and it is considered that healthy carriers act as a pathogen reservoir in endemic areas

InterEvo-TR: Interactive Evolutionary Test Generation With Readability Assessment

Automated test case generation has proven to be useful to reduce the usually high expenses of software testing. However, several studies have also noted the skepticism of testers regarding the comprehension of generated test suites when compared to manually designed ones. This fact suggests that involving testers in the test generation process could be helpful to increase their acceptance of automatically-produced test suites. In this paper, we propose incorporating interactive readability assessments made by a tester into EvoSuite, a widely-known evolutionary test generation tool. Our approach, InterEvo-TR, interacts with the tester at different moments during the search and shows different test cases covering the same coverage target for their subjective evaluation. The design of such an interactive approach involves a schedule of interaction, a method to diversify the selected targets, a plan to save and handle the readability values, and some mechanisms to customize the level of engagement in the revision, among other aspects. To analyze the potential and practicability of our proposal, we conduct a controlled experiment in which 39 participants, including academics, professional developers, and student collaborators, interact with InterEvo-TR. Our results show that the strategy to select and present intermediate results is effective for the purpose of readability assessment. Furthermore, the participants' actions and responses to a questionnaire allowed us to analyze the aspects influencing test code readability and the benefits and limitations of an interactive approach in the context of test case generation, paving the way for future developments based on interactivity.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, journal pape

Mutation testing and self/peer assessment: analyzing their effect on students in a software testing course

Testing is a crucial activity in the development of software systems. With the increasing complexity of software projects, the industry requires incorporating graduates with adequate testing skills and preparation in this field. A challenge in software testing education is to make students perceive the benefits of writing tests and assess their quality with advanced testing techniques. In this paper, we present an experience integrating both mutation testing and self/peer assessment –two of the most used techniques to that end in the past– into a software testing course during three years. This experience allowed us to analyze the effect of applying these strategies on the students’ perception of their manually-written test suites. Noticeably, the computation of the mutation score significantly undermined the initial expectations they had on the developed test suites. Also, the application of peer testing helped them estimate the relative quality of two comparable test suites, as we found a notable correspondence with their respective mutation coverage. Besides, a more in-depth analysis revealed that the students' test suites with more test cases did not always achieve the highest scores, that they found more readable their own tests, and that they tended to cover the basic operations while forgetting about more advanced features. An opinion survey confirmed the impact that the use of mutants had on their perception about testing, and they mostly supported paying a higher level of attention to testing concepts in software engineering degree plans.The work was partially funded by the European Commission (FEDER), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under the project FAME (RTI2018-093608-B-C33), the European project ASSETs (612678-EPP-1-2019-1-IT-EPPKA2-SSA-B), and the University of Cádiz

Interactivity in the Generation of Test Cases with Evolutionary Computation

Test generation is a costly but necessary testing activity to increase the quality of software projects. Automated testing tools based on evolutionary computation principles constitute an appealing modern approach to support testing tasks. However, these tools still find difficulties to detect certain types of plausible faults in real-world projects. Besides, recent studies have shown that, in general, automatically-generated tests do not resemble those manually written and, consequently, testers are reluctant to adopt them. We observe two key issues, namely the opacity of the process and the lack of cooperation with the tester, currently hampering the acceptance of automated results. Based on these findings, we explore in this paper how the interaction between current tools and expert testers would help address the test case generation problem. More specifically, we identify a number of interaction opportunities related to the object-oriented test case design driven to boost their readability and detection power. Using EvoSuite as base implementation, we present a proof of concept focused on the possibility to integrate readability assessment of the most promising test suites into a genetic algorithm.Work partially funded by the European Commission (ERDF), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [RTI2018-093608-BC33 and RED2018-102472-T], the University of Cordoba (Plan Propio - mod. 2.4), and the University of Malag

Caracterización productiva y demográfica de la raza ovina montesina

La raza ovina Montesina se ha explotado tradicionalmente en zonas muy hostiles de alta montaña (por encima de 1.000 metros sobre nivel del mar), caracterizadas por la escasa pluviosidad y su mal reparto a lo largo del año, donde aprovecha los pastos de zonas marginales: ralos, escasos y de mala calidad. En los últimos años, el número de efectivos ha sufrido un fuerte retroceso, pasando de los 300.000 ejemplares, criados en pureza, censados durante la década de los 80 a sólo 1.366 en la actualidad. Este descenso se ha producido en beneficio de razas mejorantes como la Merina o la Segureña. En este trabajo se presentan las características del sistema de producción, el censo actual, la distribución geográfica y las principales características productivas de la raza. Según nuestros resultados, se trata de una raza explotada en régimen extensivo, de un enorme potencial cárnico, gran adaptabilidad al medio y una enorme capacidad de aprovechamiento de los recursos naturales, siendo escasa la necesidad de realizar suplementación. Es una raza con una prolificidad del 123 %, cuyos corderos tienen un peso medio al nacimiento de 3,97 kg, alcanzando su máxima tasa de crecimiento (280 g/día) hacia la 4ª semana de vida.Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria RZ-03-01

Identification of human papillomavirus as a preventive strategy for cervical cancer in asymptomatic women in the Peruvian Andes

Objective: To detect the most prevalent human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes samples of asymptomatic Peruvian women by analyzing the correlation betwe ienn c Pearvpiacnailc somlaeoaur (PAP)-stained cervical tests and PCR-sequencing. Methods: A total of 254 women attending routine gynecological examinations were included in pthaitsh ostluogdiys.t Tahned scalmaspsliefise dw ebrye tahnea Blyeztehde sbdya PsAysPt etmec.h HnPiqVu ea manpdli feicxaatmioinn ewda su nddoenre au msinicgr othsceo pprei mbeyr as specific for E1 region and positive specimens were confirmed by direct sequencing. Results: The prevalence of HPV was investigated in 254 cervical scrape samples by PCR. PAP smear showed that 94.9% cases had normal morphology and 5.1% had an inflammatory pattern; 2p0r.e5v%a lwenert eg efonuontydp teo ibne c ionrfreeclatetido nw iwthit hH PchVa, ncgoems pinri scienrgv i2c0a dl icfyfetorelongt yg.enotypes. HPV16 was the most Conclusions: Our results suggest the HPV is very frequent even in women with negative PAP, eannddo PceCrRvi csaele smasm tpol ebs.e Itdheen tbifeicsat toiopnt ioofn t htoe HdePtVe rgmeinnoety tphee inc aaussyamtipvteo magateinc tw oofm HePnV m ianyf eaclltoiown t hine nimatpulreaml henisttaotriyo no fo tfh ea pdpisroepasreia aten dp rthope hsyulbascetqicu emnet adseuvreelso pwmheicnht omf acye rhviacvael ma adliirgencatn [email protected] work has been partially supported by Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC), Instituto de Investigación Nutricional and Instituto de Investigación de Efrnomfe rtmheed pardoegsr aImnf ecciosas, Lima, Peru. JR has a fellowship I3, of the ISCIII (Grant No. CES11/012), and LJDV from the Generalitat de Catalunya (2009SGR1208).Revisión por pare

Infectious agents, Leptospira spp. and Bartonella spp., in blood donors from Cajamarca, Peru

The implementation of molecular and serological tests has led a great decline in transfusion-transmitted infections. Unfortunately, however, this has only occurred in high-income countries, whereas the scenario is different in low-income countries and in rural areas of middle-income countries, in which access to serological tests is sometimes not feasible or limited by economic factors1,2. Furthermore, in middle and low-income countries, the burden of infectious diseases tends to be higher and subjects are often weakened by various factors, including malnutrition. These factors result in a population that is more vulnerable and at increased risk of infections. Although the search for relevant pathogens that can be transmitted by blood transfusion is implemented worldwide, various pathogens that can be present in blood bank donations remain under studied, as in the case of some bacteria such as Leptospira spp. and Bartonella spp. Bartonella species are re-emerging blood-borne organisms, capable of causing prolonged infections in animals and humans3, while leptospirosis is recognised as an emerging public health problem worldwide4. Both infections are considered to be neglected tropical diseases

Planejamento dos cuidados em fim de vida: Perspectivas de oncologistas e profissionais de cuidados paliativos

El artículo aborda la perspectiva de profesionales de oncología y cuidados paliativos de Argentina sobre la planificación anticipada de los cuidados en el final de la vida de pacientes con enfermedades oncológicas avanzadas. A partir de un diseño de investigación cualitativa, basado en entrevistas semi-estructuradas con profesionales de diferentes disciplinas, se analizaron las dificultades para la participación de los y las pacientes en el proceso de toma de decisiones y en los procesos de consentimiento informado en torno a los cuidados en el final de la vida. Pese a valorar la planificación anticipada del cuidado e instrumentos como las directivas anticipadas, se identifican barreras para la implementación de estas prácticas. La falta de herramientas comunicacionales para abordar este tipo de conversaciones con los pacientes, el ocultamiento de la información sobre el diagnóstico y/o el pronóstico de la enfermedad, la falta de articulación entre equipos que realizan el seguimiento de pacientes con enfermedad avanzada, y la resistencia de familiares y pacientes, limitan los márgenes de decisión y consentimiento por parte de los pacientes.The article addresses the perspective of oncologist and palliative care professionals of Argentina on the advance end of life care planning for patients with advanced cancer. Based on semi-structured interviews with professionals from different disciplines, the paper explores barriers for the patient participation in the decision-making process in end of life care. Despite the acceptance of advance care planning and instruments such as advance directives, barriers to the implementation of these practices are identified. The lack of communication skills to deal with this type of conversation with patients, the concealment of information on the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease, the lack of coordination between teams that keep track of patients with advanced disease, and the resistance from relatives and patients, limit the margins of decision and consent by patients.O artigo aborda a perspectiva dos profissionais de oncologia e cuidados paliativos na Argentina sobre o planejamento antecipado dos cuidados de fim de vida para pacientes com doenças oncológicas avançadas. Partindo de um desenho de pesquisa qualitativa, com base em entrevistas semiestruturadas com profissionais de diferentes disciplinas, o artigo analisa as dificuldades para a participação dos pacientes no processo de tomada de decisão e nos processos de consentimento informado em torno aos cuidados de fim de vida. Apesar de valorizar o planejamento do cuidado antecipado e instrumentos como as diretrizes antecipadas, identificam-se barreiras para a implantação dessas práticas. A falta de instrumentos de comunicação para atender esse tipo de conversa com os pacientes, o encobrimento do diagnóstico e / ou prognóstico da doença, a falta de articulação entre as equipes que acompanham os pacientes com doença avançada e a resistência dos familiares e pacientes, limitam as margens de decisão e consentimento por parte dos pacientes.Fil: Macchi, Marina J.. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Gastroenterología "Dr. Carlos B. Udaondo"; ArgentinaFil: Pérez, Marisa del Valle. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Gastroenterología "Dr. Carlos B. Udaondo"; ArgentinaFil: Alonso, Juan Pedro. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Investigaciones "Gino Germani"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin