Contributions of tester experience and a checklist guideline to the identification of categories and choices for software testing

An early step for most black-box testing methods is to identify a set of categories and choices (or their equivalents) from the specification. The identification is often performed in an ad hoc manner, thus the quality of categories and choices is in doubt. Poorly identified categories and choices will affect the comprehensiveness of test cases. In this paper, we describe several comparative studies using three commercial specifications and discuss the major results. The objectives of our studies are (a) to investigate the differences in the types and amounts of mistakes made between inexperienced and experienced software testers in an ad hoc identification approach and (b) to determine the extent of mistake reduction after discussing the mistakes with the software testers and providing them with an identification checklist. © 2010 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 31 May 201

Luck and virtues in the Xunzi

會議主題: 文化跨界與哲學論述 – 回顧與展望Subject of the Conference: Interculturality and Philosophic Discourse - Retrospect and ProspectTheme 3: Philosophy, art, and ethicsThis paper investigates the conception of luck in the Xunzi. In particular the paper explores how luck is related to the cultivation of virtues. While there is no exact equivalence of the concept of luck in the Xunzi, the frequent employment of concepts such as xing (幸), ming (命), jie (節), and yu (遇) shows that Xunzi has an acute awareness of life’s vicissitudes. What is Xunzi’s advice on accommodating life’s fortunes and misfortunes? Unsurprisingly Xunzi suggests that the noble man concentrates on the cultivation of virtues irrespective of circumstances. Yet in what sense virtues help one to face the destiny of life? Do virtues make one invulnerable to life’s accidentality? Or maybe human lives are fragile as ever, but the cultivation of virtues points to a part of life that is truly under one’s own control. This paper suggests that Xunzi follows the Confucian distinction between destiny (ming 命) and righteousness (yi 義) and carries it to a logical conclusion, which is a distinction between nature (xing 性) and artifice (wei 偽). Interpreted in this light, the distinction between nature and artifice might be seen as a distinction between the realm of human agency and the realm of luck, the latter being nonetheless amenable to human contrivance to a certain extent.postprin

On the identification of categories and choices for specification-based test case generation

HKU CS Tech Report TR 2004-02The category-partition method and the classification-tree method help construct test cases from specifications. In both methods, an early step is to identify a set of categories (or classifications) and choices (or classes). This is often performed in an ad hoc manner due to the absence of systematic techniques. In this paper, we report and discuss three empirical studies to investigate the common mistakes made by software testers in such an ad hoc approach. The empirical studies serve three purposes: (a) to make the knowledge of common mistakes known to other testers so that they can avoid repeating the same mistakes, (b) to facilitate researchers and practitioners develop systematic identification techniques, and (c) to provide a means of measuring the effectiveness of newly developed identification techniques. Based on the results of our studies, we also formulate a checklist to help testers detect such mistakes. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.postprin

Effects of Age on Plasma Glucose Levels in Non-diabetic Hong Kong Chinese

Aim: To analyze the relationship between age and plasma glucose levels in Hong Kong Chinese population. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study with 15 603 non-diabetic subjects from the community of Hong Kong. Plasma glucose concentration was measured in blood specimens from the subjects. The time of blood taking varied, depending on the availability of the patients. Results: There were 11 148 (71.4%) women and 4455 (28.6%) men (mean age: 50.1 ± 16.1 years). There were 6901 (44.2%) patients who had plasma glucose measured in the fasting condition, 2999 (19.2%) who were 2-hour post-prandial, and 5703 (36.6%) who had plasma glucose measured at a random time. The correlation coefficients between age and plasma glucose levels in fasting, 2-hour post-prandial, and random group of patients were 0.159, 0.169, and 0.114, respectively (adjusted for body mass index, smoking, and gender; all P values <0.001). Fasting and random plasma glucose level increased by 0.15 mmol/L, while 2-hour post-prandial plasma glucose level increased by 0.26 mmol/L per decade-increase in age. Conclusion: Plasma glucose levels progressively increase with age in Hong Kong Chinese non-diabetic subjects

Rapid aneuploidy testing (knowing less) versus traditional karyotyping (knowing more) for advanced maternal age: What would be missed, who should decide?

Objectives The application of rapid aneuploidy testing as a stand-alone approach in prenatal diagnosis is much debated. The major criticism of this targeted approach is that it will not detect other chromosomal abnormalities that will be picked up by traditional karyotyping. This study aimed to study the nature of such chromosomal abnormalities and whether parents would choose to terminate affected pregnancies. Design Retrospective study on a cytogenetic database. Setting Eight public hospitals in Hong Kong. Participants The karyotype results of 19 517 amniotic fluid cultures performed for advanced maternal age (≥35 years) from 1997 to 2002 were classified according to whether they were detectable by rapid aneuploidy testing. The outcomes of pregnancies with abnormal karyotypes were reviewed from patient records. Results In all, 333 (1.7%) amniotic fluid cultures yielded abnormal karyotypes; 175 (52.6%) of these were detected by rapid aneuploidy testing, and included trisomy 21 (n=94, 28.2%), trisomy 18 or 13 (n=21, 6.3%), and sex chromosome abnormalities (n=60, 18.0%). The other 158 (47.4%) chromosomal abnormalities were not detectable by rapid aneuploidy testing, of which 63 (18.9%) were regarded to be of potential clinical significance and 95 (28.5%) of no clinical significance. Pregnancy outcomes in 327/333 (98.2%) of these patients were retrieved. In total, 143 (42.9%) of these pregnancies were terminated: 93/94 (98.9%) for trisomy 21, 20/21 (95.2%) for trisomy 18 or 13, 19/60 (31.7%) for sex chromosome abnormalities, and 11/63 (17.5%) for other chromosomal abnormalities with potential clinical significance. There were no terminations in the 95 pregnancies in which karyotyping results were regarded to be of no clinical significance. Conclusions 'Knowing less' by the rapid aneuploidy stand-alone testing could miss about half of all chromosomal abnormalities detectable by amniocentesis performed for advanced maternal age. Findings from two fifths of the latter were of potential clinical significance, and the parents chose to terminate one out of six of the corresponding pregnancies. If both techniques are available, parents could have enhanced autonomy to choose.published_or_final_versio

Sample Size Determination for Interval Estimation of the Prevalence of a Sensitive Attribute Under Randomized Response Models

National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11871124); Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (projects UGC/FDS14/P06/17 and UGC/FDS14/P02/18)

Observation of white-light amplified spontaneous emission from carbon nanodots under laser excitation

Author name used in this publication: Li Bin TangAuthor name used in this publication: Siu Fung YuAuthor name used in this publication: Shu Ping LauVersion of RecordPublishe

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for rapid identification of mold and yeast cultures of Penicillium marneffei

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Diagnostic yield of array CGH in patients with autism spectrum disorder in Hong Kong

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Digenean parasites of Chinese marine fishes: a list of species, hosts and geographical distribution

In the literature, 630 species of Digenea (Trematoda) have been reported from Chinese marine fishes. These belong to 209 genera and 35 families. The names of these species, along with their hosts, geographical distribution and records, are listed in this paper