Sensitivity Analysis for a Scenario-Based Reliability Prediction Model

As a popular means for capturing behavioural requirements, scenariosshow how components interact to provide system-level functionality.If component reliability information is available, scenarioscan be used to perform early system reliability assessment. Inprevious work we presented an automated approach for predictingsoftware system reliability that extends a scenario specificationto model (1) the probability of component failure, and (2) scenariotransition probabilities. Probabilistic behaviour models ofthe system are then synthesized from the extended scenario specification.From the system behaviour model, reliability predictioncan be computed. This paper complements our previous work andpresents a sensitivity analysis that supports reasoning about howcomponent reliability and usage profiles impact on the overall systemreliability. For this purpose, we present how the system reliabilityvaries as a function of the components reliabilities and thescenario transition probabilities. Taking into account the concurrentnature of component-based software systems, we also analysethe effect of implied scenarios prevention into the sensitivity analysisof our reliability prediction technique

A model driven approach for software systems reliability

The reliability assurance of software systems from design to deployment level through transformation techniques and model driven approach, is described. Once the reliability mechanisms provided by current component-based development architectures (CBDA) are designed in a platform-independent way, platform-based design and implementation models must be extended. Current CBDAs, such as Enterprise Java Beans, address a considerable range of features to support system reliability. The evaluation aims to test maturity of the approach, its applicability, and the effectiveness of reliability models. The techniques such as process algebras are generally considered time consuming, in regard to software development

Maternal Self-Efficacy and Perceived Stigma Among Mothers of Children with ASD, ADHD, and Typically Developing Children

Maternal self-efficacy (a mother\u27s beliefs about her parenting competence) is an important area of mothers\u27 wellbeing and overall family functioning. This study examined environmental factors that are related maternal self-efficacy among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD group), mothers of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD group), and mothers of typically developing children (Typical group). Environmental factors included (a) messages of criticism or blame about one\u27s parenting competence (parenting-related perceived stigma), (b) child problem behaviors, (c) maternal stress, and (d) social support. One hundred eighty mothers of school-age children living in the United States completed the measures on-line. Results showed that mothers from the ASD group and the ADHD group reported higher levels of parenting-related perceived stigma than mothers from the Typical group. Although mothers from the ASD group and the ADHD group reported lower levels of maternal self-efficacy compared mothers from the Typical group, this difference was no longer significant when child problem behaviors was controlled, indicating that maternal self-efficacy may be more related to children\u27s disruptiveness level than a diagnostic category. Perceived stigma, child problem behaviors, and social support were all associated with maternal self-efficacy. Maternal stress mediated the relationship between child problem behaviors and maternal self-efficacy, and between social support and maternal self-efficacy. This study highlights the need for accessible parent-focused supports and interventions aimed at reducing child problem behaviors and maternal stress, and promoting maternal self-efficacy. Further, this research indicates that family-focused clinicians should be aware that many mothers of children with ASD and ADHD experience perceived stigma to a greater extent than mothers of typically developing children, and that clinicians can support mothers so that stigma experiences have less impact on mothers\u27 sense of parental self-efficacy

Engaging the articulators enhances perception of concordant visible speech movements

PURPOSE This study aimed to test whether (and how) somatosensory feedback signals from the vocal tract affect concurrent unimodal visual speech perception. METHOD Participants discriminated pairs of silent visual utterances of vowels under 3 experimental conditions: (a) normal (baseline) and while holding either (b) a bite block or (c) a lip tube in their mouths. To test the specificity of somatosensory-visual interactions during perception, we assessed discrimination of vowel contrasts optically distinguished based on their mandibular (English /ɛ/-/æ/) or labial (English /u/-French /u/) postures. In addition, we assessed perception of each contrast using dynamically articulating videos and static (single-frame) images of each gesture (at vowel midpoint). RESULTS Engaging the jaw selectively facilitated perception of the dynamic gestures optically distinct in terms of jaw height, whereas engaging the lips selectively facilitated perception of the dynamic gestures optically distinct in terms of their degree of lip compression and protrusion. Thus, participants perceived visible speech movements in relation to the configuration and shape of their own vocal tract (and possibly their ability to produce covert vowel production-like movements). In contrast, engaging the articulators had no effect when the speaking faces did not move, suggesting that the somatosensory inputs affected perception of time-varying kinematic information rather than changes in target (movement end point) mouth shapes. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that orofacial somatosensory inputs associated with speech production prime premotor and somatosensory brain regions involved in the sensorimotor control of speech, thereby facilitating perception of concordant visible speech movements. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9911846R01 DC002852 - NIDCD NIH HHSAccepted manuscrip

Response to Nauenberg's "Critique of Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness"

Nauenberg's extended critique of Quantum Enigma rests on fundamental misunderstandings.Comment: To be published in Foundations of Physic

A model to design and verify context-aware adaptive service composition.

The introduction of mobile clients and context-aware behaviours intoWeb Service compositions may generate faults and inconsistencies. We introduce an extension of a composition model where context-awareness is made explicit and a number of correctness properties are verifiable. In particular, our extended model enables the verification of properties commonly used to validate context dependent applications. We also propose a set of algorithms to verify these properties efficiently

Algorithms for efficient symbolic detection of faults in context-aware applications.

Context-aware and adaptive applications running on mobile devices pose new challenges for the verification community. Current verification techniques are tailored for different domains (mostly hardware) and the kind of faults that are typical of applications running on mobile devices are difficult (or impossible) to encode using the patterns of ldquotraditionalrdquo verification domains. In this paper we present how techniques similar to the ones used in symbolic model checking can be applied to the verification of context-aware and adaptive applications. More in detail, we show how a model of a context-aware application can be encoded by means of ordered binary decision diagrams and we introduce symbolic algorithms for the verification of a number of properties

Fabrication of minority-carrier-limited n-Si/insulator/metal diodes

A photoelectrochemical anodization technique has been used to fabricate n-Si/insulator/metal (MIS) diodes with improved electrical properties. MIS structures fabricated with Au have provided the first experimental observation of a solid-state n-Si surface barrier device whose open circuit voltage Voc is controlled by minority-carrier bulk diffusion/recombination processes. For these diodes, variation of the minority-carrier diffusion length and majority-carrier dopant density produced changes in Voc that were in accord with bulk diffusion/recombination theory. Additionally, the variation in Voc in response to changes in the work function of the metal overlayer indicated that these MIS devices were not subject to the Fermi level pinning restrictions observed for n-Si Schottky structures. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic characterization of the anodically grown insulator indicated 8.2±0.9 Å of a strained SiO2 layer as the interfacial insulator resulting from the photoanodization process

The Matrix-Valued HpH^{p} Corona Problem in the Disk and Polydisk

In this paper we consider the matrix-valued $H^{p}$ corona problem in the disk and polydisk. The result for the disk is rather well known, and is usually obtained from the classical Carleson Corona Theorem by linear algebra. Our proof provides a streamlined way of obtaining this result and allows one to get a better estimate on the norm of the solution. In particular, we were able to improve the estimate found in the recent work of T. Trent. Note that, the solution of the $H^{\infty}$ matrix corona problem in the disk can be easily obtained from the $H^{2}$ corona problem either by factorization, or by the Commutant Lifting Theorem. The $H^{p}$ corona problem in the polydisk was originally solved by K.C. Lin. The solution used Koszul complexes and was rather complicated because one had to consider higher order $\bar{\partial}$-equations. Our proof is more transparent and it improves upon Lin's result in several ways. First, we were able to show that the norm of the solution is independent of the number of generators. Additionally, we illustrate that the norm of the solution grows at most proportionally to the dimension of the polydisk. Our approach is based on one that was originated by M. Andersson. In the disk it essentially depends on Green's Theorem and duality to obtain the estimate. In the polydisk we use Riesz projections to reduce the problem to the disk case.Comment: 27 page