Coverage Based Testing for Service Level Agreements

Service level agreements (SLAs) are typically used to specify rules regarding the consumption of services that are agreed between the providers of the service-based applications (SBAs) and their consumers. An SLA includes a list of terms that contain the guarantees that must be fulfilled during the provisioning and consumption of the services. Since the violation of such guarantees may lead to the application of potential penalties, it is important to assure that the SBA behaves as expected. In this paper, we propose a proactive approach to test SLA-aware SBAs by means of identifying test requirements, which represent situations that are relevant to be tested. To address this issue, we define a four-valued logic that allows evaluating both the individual guarantee terms and their logical relationships. Grounded in this logic, we devise a test criterion based on the modified condition decision coverage (MCDC) in order to obtain a cost-effective set of test requirements from the structure of the SLA. Furthermore by analyzing the syntax and semantics of the agreement, we define specific rules to avoid non-feasible test requirements. The whole approach has been automated and applied over an eHealth case study

Identifying Test Requirements by Analyzing SLA Guarantee Terms

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are used to specify the negotiated conditions between the provider and the consumer of services. In this paper we present a stepwise method to identify and categorize a set of test requirements that represent the potential situations that can be exercised regarding the specification of each isolated guarantee term of an SLA. This identification is addressed by means of devising a set of coverage levels that allow grading the thoroughness of the tests. The utilization of these test requirements would focus on twofold objectives: (1) the generation of a test suite that allows exercising the situations described in the test requirements and (2) the support for the derivation of a monitoring plan that checks the compliance of these requirements at runtime. The approach is illustrated over an eHealth case study

Tratamiento quirúrgico de la pseudoartrosis de la apófisis odontoides: Presentación de dos casos

Se presenta nuestra experiencia de dos casos de pseudoartrosis de apófisis odontoides tratadas quirúrgicamente mediante atornillado directo a compresión por vía anterior paraesternomocleidomastoidea. El resultado final fue satisfactorio en el primer caso, teniendo que realizarse una artrodesis posterior C1-C2 en el segundo. Se discute la posibilidad de un exceso de angulación posterioSe presenta nuestra experiencia de dos casos de pseudoartrosis de apófisis odontoides tratadas quirúrgicamente mediante atornillado directo a compresión por vía anterior paraesternomocleidomastoidea. El resultado final fue satisfactorio en el primer caso, teniendo que realizarse una artrodesis posterior C1-C2 en el segundo. Se discute la posibilidad de un exceso de angulación posterior en la colocación del tornillo como causa del fracaso de la técnica.en la colocación del tornillo como causa del fracaso de la técnica.Two cases of odontoid process non-union treated by direct screw compression through an anterior approach are presented. The outcome was satisfactory in one case. The other required posterior C1-C2 union because of anterior screwing failure. An excessive posterior angulation of the screw thought to be the cause of anterior fusion failure

La siringomielia como factor de riesgo en la cirugía vertebral: Utilidad de los potenciales evocados intraoperatorios en un caso

Toda intervención quirúrgica sobra la columna vertebral conlleva un riesgo de lesión medular. Éste se multiplica cuando existe una patología medular de base. En los últimos años, gracias a la aparición de la monitorización neurofisiológica intraoperatoria, las complicaciones neurológicas intraoperatorias han disminuido. En el siguiente artículo, exponemos un caso de escoliosis secundaria a sirigomielia, en el que gracias al uso de potenciales evocados durante la cirugía, se han podido evitar lesiones neurológica irreversibles.Surgical correction of spinal deformities entails a risk of medullary dramage, and this can be higher when medullar pathology is associated. In last years, intraoperative neurological complications have decreased thanks to the intraoperative monitoring of neurophysiological parameters. In this work, we review a patient with scoliosis secondary to syringomyelia. The use of somatosensory evoked potentials during surgery allowed avoiding irreversible neurological complications

Analysis of thermal effects in endoscopic nanocarriers-based photodynamic therapy applied to esophageal diseases

In this work we propose a predictive model that allows the study of thermal effects produced when the optical radiation interacts with an esophageal or stomach disease with gold nanoparticles embedded. The model takes into account light distribution in the tumor tissue by means of a Monte Carlo method. Mie theory is used to obtain the gold nanoparticles optical properties and the thermal model employed is based on the bio-heat equation. The complete model was applied to two types of tumoral tissue (squamous cell carcinoma located in the esophagus and adenocarcinoma in the stomach) in order to study the thermal effects induced by the inclusion of gold nanoparticles.This work has been partially supported by the project MAT2012-38664-C02-01 of the Spanish Ministery of Economy and Competitiveness, by the Czech Grant Agency under grant P102/11/1376, by the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade under grant FR-TI2/705, by the Czech Ministry of Education under grant LD12067, and by the EU COST Action IC1101

Accelerated inbreeding depression suggests synergistic epistasis for deleterious mutations in Drosophila melanogaster

Epistasis may have important consequences for a number of issues in quantitative genetics and evolutionary biology. In particular, synergistic epistasis for deleterious alleles is relevant to the mutation load paradox and the evolution of sex and recombination. Some studies have shown evidence of synergistic epistasis for spontaneous or induced deleterious mutations appearing in mutation-accumulation experiments. However, many newly arising mutations may not actually be segregating in natural populations because of the erasing action of natural selection. A demonstration of synergistic epistasis for naturally segregating alleles can be achieved by means of inbreeding depression studies, as deleterious recessive allelic effects are exposed in inbred lines. Nevertheless, evidence of epistasis from these studies is scarce and controversial. In this paper, we report the results of two independent inbreeding experiments carried out with two different populations of Drosophila melanogaster. The results show a consistent accelerated inbreeding depression for fitness, suggesting synergistic epistasis among deleterious alleles. We also performed computer simulations assuming different possible models of epistasis and mutational parameters for fitness, finding some of them to be compatible with the results observed. Our results suggest that synergistic epistasis for deleterious mutations not only occurs among newly arisen spontaneous or induced mutations, but also among segregating alleles in natural populationsWe acknowledge the support by Uvigo Marine Research Centre funded by the “Excellence in Research (INUGA)” Programme from the Regional Council of Culture, Education and Universities, with co-funding from the European Union through the ERDF Operational Programme Galicia 2014-2020. This work was funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) (CGL2016-75904-C2-1-P), Xunta de Galicia (ED431C 2016-037) and Fondos Feder: “Unha maneira de facer Europa.” SD was founded by a predoctoral (FPI) grant from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, SpainS