Software product line engineering for consumer electronics:Keeping up with the speed of innovation

During the last decade consumer electronics products have changed radically. Traditionally these products were used for a few dedicated tasks, and were implemented through hardware. Nowadays, these products are used for a variety of tasks and are largely implemented through software. Furthermore there is an increasing amount of variants needed to serve the market and a continuous pressure on development cost, quality, and time-to-market. These trends have drastically changed the way that software product lines for these products are being developed. This thesis shows that nowadays it is unfeasible for an individual company to develop the software on its own and consequently consumer electronics products are built using software components from a large variety of specialized firms. For developing the software that is embedded in these products, the software supply chain is the dominant industry structure. To support applications from third parties, an ecosystem centric approach is used. This thesis continues with solutions for managing the variability in a software supply chain. Modelling approaches are introduced to model multiple product lines, to combine the variability of different suppliers, to automate the integration of components from different suppliers and to deal with large feature models. This thesis ends with solutions to address the challenge of ensuring a sufficient quality. Methods are introduced to improve the test efficiency by identifying which functions and variation points are most heavily used and to use this information during different phases of the test process. Finally, the testing of highly innovative products is discussed

Transport Out of the Antarctic Polar Vortex from a Three-dimensional Transport Model

[1] A three-dimensional chemical transport model is utilized to study the transport out of the Antarctic polar vortex during the southern hemisphere spring. On average, over five consecutive years between 1993 and 1997, horizontal transport out of the vortex into the midlatitude stratosphere is smaller than vertical transport into the troposphere. However, there is significant interannual variability in the magnitude of mass exchange, which is related to year-to-year fluctuations in planetary wave activity. In 1994 the net loss of the vortex tracer mass in September is similar to that in October. However, the relative mass flux entering the midlatitude stratosphere and the troposphere differ between the two months. The ratio of horizontal transport out of the vortex to vertical transport into the troposphere is about 3:7 in September and 5:5 in October, indicating the higher permeability of the vortex in October compared to September. The September mass flux into the troposphere is larger than in October, consistent with the fact that stronger diabatic cooling occurs in September than October over Antarctica. The estimated ozone change at southern midlatitudes due to the intrusion of ozone-depleted air from high latitudes during September–October 1994 is about −0.44% per decade, which could contribute up to 10% of observed ozone decline at southern midlatitudes in spring. This amount is an underestimate of the dilution effect from high latitudes during the spring season, as it does not include the vortex breakup in late spring

Feline Morbillivirus: Clinical Relevance of a Widespread Endemic Viral Infection of Cats

Feline morbillivirus (FeMV) was first isolated in 2012 from stray cats in Hong Kong. It has been found in association with tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN), the most common cause of feline chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, viral host spectrum and virus tropism go beyond the domestic cat and kidney tissues. The viral genetic diversity of FeMV is extensive, but it is not known if this is clinically relevant. Urine and kidney tissues have been widely tested in attempts to confirm associations between FeMV infection and renal disease, but samples from both healthy and sick cats can test positive and some cross-sectional studies have not found associations between FeMV infection and CKD. There is also evidence for acute kidney injury following infection with FeMV. The results of prevalence studies differ greatly depending on the population tested and methodologies used for detection, but worldwide distribution of FeMV has been shown. Experimental studies have confirmed previous field observations that higher viral loads are present in the urine compared to other tissues, and renal TIN lesions associated with FeMV antigen have been demonstrated, alongside virus lymphotropism and viraemia-associated lymphopenia. Longitudinal field studies have revealed persistent viral shedding in urine, although infection can be cleared spontaneously

Functional and clinical relevance of VLA-4 (CD49d/CD29) in ibrutinib-treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib, which antagonizes B cell receptor (BCR) signals, demonstrates remarkable clinical activity in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The lymphocytosis experienced by most patients under ibrutinib has previously been attributed to inhibition of BTK-dependent integrin and chemokine cues operating to retain the tumor cells in nodal compartments. Here, we show that the VLA-4 integrin, as expressed by CD49d-positive CLL, can be inside-out activated upon BCR triggering, thus reinforcing the adhesive capacities of CLL cells. In vitro and in vivo ibrutinib treatment, although reducing the constitutive VLA-4 activation and cell adhesion, can be overcome by exogenous BCR triggering in a BTK-independent manner involving PI3K. Clinically, in three independent ibrutinib-treated CLL cohorts, CD49d expression identifies cases with reduced lymphocytosis and inferior nodal response and behaves as independent predictor of shorter progression-free survival, suggesting the retention of CD49d-expressing CLL cells in tissue sites via activated VLA-4. Evaluation of CD49d expression should be incorporated in the characterization of CLL undergoing therapy with BCR inhibitors