Can aid switch gears to respond to sudden forced displacement? The case of Haut-Uele, DRC

How does the aid system respond when insecurity and suddenforced displacement occur in what has long been considered a stable, development context? Can longer-term aid interventions adapt when challenged to “shift gears” to address acute needs resulting from forced displacement? Based on observations from Médecins Sans Frontières projects in Haut-Uélé in northeastern DRC in 2008–2009, this article examines assistance to displaced populations and the residents hosting them in LRA-affected areas—above all, the stakes and dilemmas involved in responding to such a sudden-onset emergency in what international donors and the national government considered an area in development. Initially, a much-needed response to violence and displacement failed to materialize, with little permanent humanitarian presence on the ground, while development approaches failed to adapt and meet emergency needs. Short-term contingency support was provided through development NGOs, but with limited scope and maintaining cost-recovery schemes for health toward an impoverished population facing an increasingly precarious situation. A long-term development approach was simply unable to respond to the sudden population increase and a fragile health situation.Comment réagit le système d’aide lorsque l’insécurité et le déplacement forcé soudain se manifestent dans un contexte qui a longtemps été considéré comme stable et propice au développement? L’intervention humanitaire à long terme peut-elle s’adapter quand il lui faut « changer de vitesse » pour répondre aux besoins aigus résultant des déplacements forcés? S’appuyant sur l’étude de projets de Médecins Sans Frontières dans le Haut-Uélé, dans le nord-est de la RDC en 2008–2009, cet article examine l’aide aux populations déplacées et aux résidents qui les accueillent en zones touchées par l’Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA), plus particulièrement les enjeux et dilemmes liés à la réaction envers une situation d’urgence apparue soudai-nement dans une zone que les donateurs internationaux et le gouvernement national considéraient comme une zone de développement. Au départ, une réponse fort nécessaire à la violence et au déplacement ne s’est pas concrétisée, avec une faible présence humanitaire permanente sur le terrain, alors que les approches de développement n’ont su s’adapter et répondre aux besoins d’urgence. Des ONG de développement ont apporté un soutien d’urgence à court terme mais de portée limitée et le maintien d’un système de recouvrement des coûts pour les régimes de santé à l’intention d’une population appauvrie confronté à une situation de plus en plus précaire. Une approche de développement à long terme était tout simplement incapable de répondre à l’augmentation soudaine de la population et une situation de santé précaire

Automated unique input output sequence generation for conformance testing of FSMs

This paper describes a method for automatically generating unique input output (UIO) sequences for FSM conformance testing. UIOs are used in conformance testing to verify the end state of a transition sequence. UIO sequence generation is represented as a search problem and genetic algorithms are used to search this space. Empirical evidence indicates that the proposed method yields considerably better (up to 62% better) results compared with random UIO sequence generation

Improved test quality using robust unique input/output circuit sequences (UIOCs)

In finite state machine (FSM) based testing, the problem of fault masking in the unique input/ output (UIO) sequence may degrade the test performance of the UIO based methods. This paper investigates this problem and proposes the use of a new type of unique input/output circuit (UIOC) sequence for state verification, which may help to overcome the drawbacks that exist in the UIO based techniques. When constructing a UIOC, overlap and internal state observation schema are used to increase the robustness of a test sequence. Test quality is compared by using the forward UIO method (F-method), the backward UIO method (B-method) and the UIOC method (C-method) separately. Robustness of the UIOCs constructed by the algorithm given in this paper is also compared with those constructed by the algorithm given previously. Experimental results suggest that the C-method outperforms the F- and the B-methods and the UIOCs constructed by the Algorithm given in this paper, are more robust than those constructed by other proposed algorithms

Constructing multiple unique input/output sequences using metaheuristic optimisation techniques

Multiple unique input/output sequences (UIOs) are often used to generate robust and compact test sequences in finite state machine (FSM) based testing. However, computing UIOs is NP-hard. Metaheuristic optimisation techniques (MOTs) such as genetic algorithms (GAs) and simulated annealing (SA) are effective in providing good solutions for some NP-hard problems. In the paper, the authors investigate the construction of UIOs by using MOTs. They define a fitness function to guide the search for potential UIOs and use sharing techniques to encourage MOTs to locate UIOs that are calculated as local optima in a search domain. They also compare the performance of GA and SA for UIO construction. Experimental results suggest that, after using a sharing technique, both GA and SA can find a majority of UIOs from the models under test

Estimating the feasibility of transition paths in extended finite state machines

There has been significant interest in automating testing on the basis of an extended finite state machine (EFSM) model of the required behaviour of the implementation under test (IUT). Many test criteria require that certain parts of the EFSM are executed. For example, we may want to execute every transition of the EFSM. In order to find a test suite (set of input sequences) that achieves this we might first derive a set of paths through the EFSM that satisfy the criterion using, for example, algorithms from graph theory. We then attempt to produce input sequences that trigger these paths. Unfortunately, however, the EFSM might have infeasible paths and the problem of determining whether a path is feasible is generally undecidable. This paper describes an approach in which a fitness function is used to estimate how easy it is to find an input sequence to trigger a given path through an EFSM. Such a fitness function could be used in a search-based approach in which we search for a path with good fitness that achieves a test objective, such as executing a particular transition, and then search for an input sequence that triggers the path. If this second search fails then we search for another path with good fitness and repeat the process. We give a computationally inexpensive approach (fitness function) that estimates the feasibility of a path. In order to evaluate this fitness function we compared the fitness of a path with the ease with which an input sequence can be produced using search to trigger the path and we used random sampling in order to estimate this. The empirical evidence suggests that a reasonably good correlation (0.72 and 0.62) exists between the fitness of a path, produced using the proposed fitness function, and an estimate of the ease with which we can randomly generate an input sequence to trigger the path

Constraint-Based Heuristic On-line Test Generation from Non-deterministic I/O EFSMs

We are investigating on-line model-based test generation from non-deterministic output-observable Input/Output Extended Finite State Machine (I/O EFSM) models of Systems Under Test (SUTs). We propose a novel constraint-based heuristic approach (Heuristic Reactive Planning Tester (xRPT)) for on-line conformance testing non-deterministic SUTs. An indicative feature of xRPT is the capability of making reasonable decisions for achieving the test goals in the on-line testing process by using the results of off-line bounded static reachability analysis based on the SUT model and test goal specification. We present xRPT in detail and make performance comparison with other existing search strategies and approaches on examples with varying complexity.Comment: In Proceedings MBT 2012, arXiv:1202.582

Using genetic algorithms to generate test sequences for complex timed systems

The generation of test data for state based specifications is a computationally expensive process. This problem is magnified if we consider that time con- straints have to be taken into account to govern the transitions of the studied system. The main goal of this paper is to introduce a complete methodology, sup- ported by tools, that addresses this issue by represent- ing the test data generation problem as an optimisa- tion problem. We use heuristics to generate test cases. In order to assess the suitability of our approach we consider two different case studies: a communication protocol and the scientific application BIPS3D. We give details concerning how the test case generation problem can be presented as a search problem and automated. Genetic algorithms (GAs) and random search are used to generate test data and evaluate the approach. GAs outperform random search and seem to scale well as the problem size increases. It is worth to mention that we use a very simple fitness function that can be eas- ily adapted to be used with other evolutionary search techniques

Repair, regenerative and supportive therapies of the annulus fibrosus: achievements and challenges

Lumbar discectomy is a very effective therapy for neurological decompression in patients suffering from sciatica due to hernia nuclei pulposus. However, high recurrence rates and persisting post-operative low back pain in these patients require serious attention. In the past decade, tissue engineering strategies have been developed mainly targeted to the regeneration of the nucleus pulposus (NP) of the intervertebral disc. Accompanying techniques that deal with the damaged annulus fibrous are now increasingly recognised as mandatory in order to prevent re-herniation to increase the potential of NP repair and to confine NP replacement therapies. In the current review, the requirements, achievements and challenges in this quickly emerging field of research are discussed

Humanitarian responses in the protection gap

Often a combination of factors pushes people to leave their country, and the voluntary character of their departure remains debatable, challenging humanitarians both to meet needs and to adapt to changing categories of forced displacement