Automating Requirements Traceability: Two Decades of Learning from KDD

This paper summarizes our experience with using Knowledge Discovery in Data (KDD) methodology for automated requirements tracing, and discusses our insights.Comment: The work of the second author has been supported in part by NSF grants CCF-1511117 and CICI 1642134; 4 pages; in Proceedings of IEEE Requirements Engineering 201

Mechanical Behaviour of Tendinopathic Tendon: An Engineering Perspective

Tendinopathy is a debilitating disease affecting millions of people worldwide. The aetiology of this disease is not well understood, and treatment remains difficult due to a lack of evidence-based management. This dissertation sought to quantify the mechanical behaviour of tendon in order to understand the difference between healthy and tendinopathic tendons. The findings in this dissertation offer insights that may contribute toward the development of better clinical management of tendinopathy

Hyper-Nodes for Emerging Command and Control Networks: The 8th Layer

11th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (ICCRTS), September 26-28, 2006, Cambridge, U

NEW TECHNIQUES IN DERIVATIVE DOMAIN IMAGE FUSION AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

There are many applications where multiple images are fused to form a single summary greyscale or colour output, including computational photography (e.g. RGB-NIR), diffusion tensor imaging (medical), and remote sensing. Often, and intuitively, image fusion is carried out in the derivative domain (based on image gradients). In this thesis, we propose new derivative domain image fusion methods and metrics, and carry out experiments on a range of image fusion applications. After reviewing previous relevant methods in derivative domain image fusion, we make several new contributions. We present new applications for the Spectral Edge image fusion method, in thermal image fusion (using a FLIR smartphone accessory) and near-infrared image fusion (using an integrated visible and near-infrared sensor). We propose extensions of standard objective image fusion quality metrics for M to N channel image fusion measuring image fusion performance is an unsolved problem. Finally, and most importantly, we propose new methods in image fusion, which give improved results compared to previous methods (based on metric and subjective comparisons): we propose an iterative extension to the Spectral Edge image fusion method, producing improved detail transfer and colour vividness, and we propose a new derivative domain image fusion method, based on finding a local linear combination of input images to produce an output image with optimum gradient detail, without artefacts - this mapping can be calculated by finding the principal characteristic vector of the outer product of the Jacobian matrix of image derivatives, or by solving a least-squares regression (with regularization) to the target gradients calculated by the Spectral Edge theorem. We then use our new image fusion method on a range of image fusion applications, producing state of the art image fusion results with the potential for real-time performance

Adaptive Passivity-Based Pose Tracking Control of Cable-Driven Parallel Robots for Multiple Attitude Parameterizations

The proposed control method uses an adaptive feedforward-based controller to establish a passive input-output mapping for the CDPR that is used alongside a linear time-invariant strictly positive real feedback controller to guarantee robust closed-loop input-output stability and asymptotic pose trajectory tracking via the passivity theorem. A novelty of the proposed controller is its formulation for use with a range of payload attitude parameterizations, including any unconstrained attitude parameterization, the quaternion, or the direction cosine matrix (DCM). The performance and robustness of the proposed controller is demonstrated through numerical simulations of a CDPR with rigid and flexible cables. The results demonstrate the importance of carefully defining the CDPR's pose error, which is performed in multiplicative fashion when using the quaternion and DCM, and in a specific additive fashion when using unconstrained attitude parameters (e.g., an Euler-angle sequence)

Exploring novel chemical and enzymatic labelling approaches in metabolic oligosaccharide engineering of mammalian cells

Glycoproteins have many important roles in cell signalling and diseases including cancer, neurodegeneration, and pathogenic infections. Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering has previously been used to incorporate unnatural sugar derivatives into glycoproteins and detect them with bioorthogonal labelling. Additional methods of labelling that work orthogonally to current methods, and are reversible, would allow the simultaneous investigation of multiple glycoproteins and their properties. Sortase is a transpeptidase found in Gram-positive bacteria that has been previously engineered to perform ligations of glycine- and LPXTG- bearing biomolecules. This project sought to use sortase to specifically label functional groups carried by sugar derivatives incorporated into glycoproteins. Initial incorporation of sugar derivatives bearing glycine-azide showed successful labelling with click chemistry. Subsequent attempts to label incorporated sugar derivatives bearing glycine-amine with the commercial sortase Srt5M failed. An alternative mannosamine-thiazolidine sugar was tolerated in HEK cells up to 300 μM. Live cells that had incorporated this sugar were successfully labelled using the organocatalyst-mediated protein aldol ligation. Labelling of intracellular glycoproteins was also tested but requires further optimisation. To expand the currently available sortases, 22 novel sortases were cloned and expressed from a metagenome database at the industrial partner Prozomix. Testing for the ability to ligate a range of peptides in vitro revealed two functioning enzymes, which were named Srt021 (class C) and Srt025 (class D). The two sortases were shown to function well at physiological temperature and pH, and in a range of buffers including without calcium. This represents the second class C sortase made to function in vitro, and the first class D sortase in vitro. Further characterisation and directed evolution of these two sortases should result in a wider range of tools for specific labelling of biomolecules

Partial Automation of Requirements Tracing

Requirements Tracing on Target (RETRO) is software for after-the-fact tracing of textual requirements to support independent verification and validation of software. RETRO applies one of three user-selectable information-retrieval techniques: (1) term frequency/inverse document frequency (TF/IDF) vector retrieval, (2) TF/IDF vector retrieval with simple thesaurus, or (3) keyword extraction. One component of RETRO is the graphical user interface (GUI) for use in initiating a requirements-tracing project (a pair of artifacts to be traced to each other, such as a requirements spec and a design spec). Once the artifacts have been specified and the IR technique chosen, another component constructs a representation of the artifact elements and stores it on disk. Next, the IR technique is used to produce a first list of candidate links (potential matches between the two artifact levels). This list, encoded in Extensible Markup Language (XML), is optionally processed by a filtering component designed to make the list somewhat smaller without sacrificing accuracy. Through the GUI, the user examines a number of links and returns decisions (yes, these are links; no, these are not links). Coded in XML, these decisions are provided to a "feedback processor" component that prepares the data for the next application of the IR technique. The feedback reduces the incidence of erroneous candidate links. Unlike related prior software, RETRO does not require the user to assign keywords, and automatically builds a document index

Defining young people's mental health self-care: a systematic review and co-development approach

Self-care is among the emerging types of mental health support which operate outside traditional services, although the meaning and practice of self-care for young people with mental health difficulties are currently unclear. This systematic review was pre-registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021282510) and investigated conceptualizations of self-care in academic publications which investigated or discussed self-care for young people's mental health or wellbeing. A Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) workshop facilitated young people with experience of mental health difficulties to respond to the identified concepts and co-develop a definition of self-care. Searches in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Plus, Scopus, Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, and gray literature sources resulted in 90 included publications. Content analysis indicated little conceptual consistency, with health and wellness promotion most commonly used to define self-care. The PPI workshop co-developed a definition of mental health self-care, which attendees felt should emphasize an individual process of self-awareness, self-compassion, and specific strategies to work toward emotional balance. This study highlights the gap between current academic understandings of young people's mental health self-care and young people's experience. The presented definition will enable future research to begin from an understanding of self-care which is relevant to young people with experience of mental health difficulties