The set of super-stable marriages forms a distributive lattice

Relaxing the total orders of the preference lists of an instance of the stable marriage problem to arbitrary posets, we show after adjusting the notion of stability to the new problem that the set of stable marriages still forms a distributive lattice

Reinforcement Learning for Automatic Test Case Prioritization and Selection in Continuous Integration

Testing in Continuous Integration (CI) involves test case prioritization, selection, and execution at each cycle. Selecting the most promising test cases to detect bugs is hard if there are uncertainties on the impact of committed code changes or, if traceability links between code and tests are not available. This paper introduces Retecs, a new method for automatically learning test case selection and prioritization in CI with the goal to minimize the round-trip time between code commits and developer feedback on failed test cases. The Retecs method uses reinforcement learning to select and prioritize test cases according to their duration, previous last execution and failure history. In a constantly changing environment, where new test cases are created and obsolete test cases are deleted, the Retecs method learns to prioritize error-prone test cases higher under guidance of a reward function and by observing previous CI cycles. By applying Retecs on data extracted from three industrial case studies, we show for the first time that reinforcement learning enables fruitful automatic adaptive test case selection and prioritization in CI and regression testing.Comment: Spieker, H., Gotlieb, A., Marijan, D., & Mossige, M. (2017). Reinforcement Learning for Automatic Test Case Prioritization and Selection in Continuous Integration. In Proceedings of 26th International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA'17) (pp. 12--22). AC

Art History and the Global Challenge: A Critical Perspective

The challenge of globalization and the “decolonization” of our way of thinking have become a major concern for most art historians. While it is still too early to assess the impact on the discipline of the “Global turn”—a turn that is all the more timid that it materializes more slowly in public collections and public opinions than in books—we nonetheless wanted to probe scholars who are paying close attention to the new practices in global art history. Coming from different cultural milieus and academic traditions, and belonging to different generations, they agreed to answer our questions, and to share with us their insights, questions, doubts, but also hopes for the discipline. This survey must be regarded as a dialogue in progress: other conversations will follow and will contribute to widening the range of critical perspectives on art history and the Global challenge

Stakeholder Dialogues and Virtual Reality for the German Energiewende

The German energy system is in a complete overhaul. In the future energy will mainly derive from renewable sources. While in general this is largely socially accepted, new long-range power-lines, needed to distribute that energy, disquiet local communities and lead to political friction. Using stakeholder dialogues, responsible authorities and transmission operators try to direct escalating debates back onto a constructive track. This Article describes the inclusion of public participation in the recently adopted grid expansion acceleration act (NABEG) and a best practice stakeholder dialogue for a high voltage d.c. link. It contextualizes those efforts into the broader debate over citizen participation surrounding large infrastructure projects in Germany. Finally, it gives an outlook on how virtual reality technologies can further facilitate such dialogues through preparing complex issues—like the planning of new energy grids—in a comprehensible manner

CAR-T-Zellen erkennen und eliminieren den Thyreotropin-Rezeptor exprimierende differenzierte Schilddrüsenkarzinomzellen

Hintergrund: Das differenzierte Schilddrüsenkarzinom weist eine sehr gute Prognose auf. Dennoch gibt es Patienten, die refraktär auf die bereits etablier-ten Therapiemöglichkeiten der operativen Therapie, der Radioiodtherapie und der dauerhaften Thyreotropin-Suppression reagieren. Chimäre Antigenrezeptor-T-Zellen (CAR-T-Zellen) haben bereits vielversprechende Ergebnisse in der Therapie hämatoonkologischer Erkrankungen erzielt. Ziel: Diese Arbeit evaluiert das Potential von CAR-T-Zellen, die gegen den Thyreotropin-Rezeptor gerichtet sind (anti-TSHR CAR-T-Zellen), gegen das dif-ferenzierte, TSHR-positive Schilddrüsenkarzinom. Material und Methoden: Zielzellen sind die papilläre Schilddrüsenkarzinom-zelllinie K-1 und die follikuläre Schilddrüsenkarzinomzelllinie FTC-133. Zur Beur-teilung der Abtötung dieser Zellen durch anti-TSHR CAR-T-Zellen wird die Min-derung der Zielzellen in Ko-Kultur unter dem Mikroskop, dem Fluoreszenzmik-roskop (nach GFP-Markierung der Zielzellen) und mittels einer Caspase-3/7-Lumineszenz-Analyse untersucht. Ergebnisse: Für K-1-Zellen besteht ein signifikanter Unterschied zwischen anti-TSHR CAR-T-Zellen und unspezifischen CAR-T-Zellen (T-Wert = 0,01), wäh-rend anti-TSHR CAR-T-Zellen im Vergleich mit unmodifizierten T-Zellen die Sig-nifikanz knapp verfehlen (T-Wert = 0,06). Für FTC-133 Zellen besteht ein signi-fikanter Unterschied zwischen anti-TSHR CAR-T-Zellen und unmodifizierten T-Zellen (T-Wert = 0,02), während anti-TSHR CAR-T-Zellen im Vergleich mit un-spezifischen CAR-T-Zellen die Signifikanz knapp verfehlen (T-Wert = 0,06) (Signifikanzniveau α = 0,05). Fazit: Anti-TSHR CAR-T-Zellen stellen eine potentielle, neue Therapiemodalität zur Ablation gesunder und maligne transformierter Schilddrüsenzellen dar

Platelet aggregation in complex vessel geometries:An<i> in silico</i> study on cellular blood flow mechanics

Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of death worldwide. One process contributing to multiple types of cardiovascular disease is thrombosis, which refers to the pathologic growth of a blood clot inside a vessel. To avoid, slow down or reverse thrombosis, there is ongoing research focusing on anti-thrombotic therapies targeting different thrombotic pathways. One specific challenge in the development of anti-thrombotic treatments is to maintain the functionality of the healthy blood clotting process hemostasis, as both follow similar pathways including the aggregation of platelets. The aim of this thesis is to study cellular flow mechanics of whole blood in microscale vessel geometries to improve the understanding of the biomechanical pathways of platelet aggregation. To achieve this, cell-resolved blood flow simulations are deployed. Beginning in Chapter 2, the effects of micro-channel curvature on cellular blood flow are investigated and possible implications for platelet adhesion and aggregation are discussed. In Chapter 3, geometrical scale and complexity of the simulated domain are increased and the potentially hemostatic environment of a vessel micropuncture is studied. The work of Chapter 4 further increases the spatial scale of the simulations and shifts closer towards clinical application: the chapter includes the comparison between two different carotid stent designs and attempts an early assessment on potential thrombotic risk factors. Chapter 5 sets out to combine the work of the previous chapters by introducing a cellular platelet adhesion and aggregation model, to investigate the influence of a growing aggregate on the local flow environment. Finally, Chapter 6 summarizes and concludes the work of this thesis, provides overview on how investigations on the presented studies could be continued further and gives a general outlook on the possible future directions of cellular blood flow modelling