Domain-specific functional software testing: A progress report

Software Engineering is a knowledge intensive activity that involves defining, designing, developing, and maintaining software systems. In order to build effective systems to support Software Engineering activities, Artificial Intelligence techniques are needed. The application of Artificial Intelligence technology to Software Engineering is called Knowledge-based Software Engineering (KBSE). The goal of KBSE is to change the software life cycle such that software maintenance and evolution occur by modifying the specifications and then rederiving the implementation rather than by directly modifying the implementation. The use of domain knowledge in developing KBSE systems is crucial. Our work is mainly related to one area of KBSE that is called automatic specification acquisition. One example is the WATSON prototype on which our current work is based. WATSON is an automatic programming system for formalizing specifications for telephone switching software mainly restricted to POTS, i.e., plain old telephone service. Our current approach differentiates itself from other approaches in two antagonistic ways. On the one hand, we address a large and complex real-world problem instead of a 'toy domain' as in many research prototypes. On the other hand, to allow such scaling, we had to relax the ambitious goal of complete automatic programming, to the easier task of automatic testing

Progress in Nanoporous Templates: Beyond Anodic Aluminum Oxide and Towards Functional Complex Materials

Successful synthesis of ordered porous, multi-component complex materials requires a series of coordinated processes, typically including fabrication of a master template, deposition of materials within the pores to form a negative structure, and a third deposition or etching process to create the final, functional template. Translating the utility and the simplicity of the ordered nanoporous geometry of binary oxide templates to those comprising complex functional oxides used in energy, electronic, and biology applications has been met with numerous critical challenges. This review surveys the current state of commonly used complex material nanoporous template synthesis techniques derived from the base anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) geometry

High throughput genomic sequencing of bioaerosols in broiler chicken production facilities

Chronic inhalation exposure to agricultural dust promotes the development of chronic respiratory diseases among poultry workers. Poultry dust is composed of dander, chicken feed, litter bedding and microbes. However, the microbial composition and abundance has not been fully elucidated. Genomic DNA was extracted from settled dust and personal inhalable dust collected while performing litter sampling or mortality collection tasks. DNA libraries were sequenced using a paired-end sequencing-by-synthesis approach on an Illumina HiSeq 2500. Sequencing data showed that poultry dust is predominantly composed of bacteria (64–67%) with a small quantity of avian, human and feed DNA (\u3c 2% of total reads). Staphylococcus sp. AL1, Salinicoccus carnicancri and Lactobacillus crispatus were the most abundant bacterial species in personal exposure samples of inhalable dust. Settled dust had a moderate relative abundance of these species as well as Staphylococcus lentus and Lactobacillus salivarius. There was a statistical difference between the microbial composition of aerosolized and settled dust. Unlike settled dust composition, aerosolized dust composition had little variance between samples. These data provide an extensive analysis of the microbial composition and relative abundance in personal inhalable poultry dust and settled poultry dust

Der Effekt kurzer Gestikübungen auf die Bewertung von konkreten und abstrakten Sätzen bei Patient*innen mit Schizophrenie

Störungen der Kommunikation stellen ein stabiles Merkmal der Schizophrenie dar. Sowohl Sprache als auch Gestik scheinen in ihrer Produktion und Perzeption (d.h. Verstehen und Interpretation) beeinträchtigt. Dabei wurde vielfach beschrieben, dass es vor allem bei abstrakten (im Vergleich zu konkreten) Inhalten zu Verständnisschwierigkeiten kommt. Medikamentöse und psychotherapeutische Ansätze richten sich bislang hauptsächlich gegen die produktiven Symptome der Schizophrenie, umso wichtiger ist es, das Augenmerk in möglichen Therapieoptionen auch auf die Negativsymptomatik zu legen. Entsprechend sollten erstmals die Effekte einer kurzen Sprach-Gestik- Intervention auf dysfunktionale Sprachverarbeitungsprozesse bei Schizophreniepatient*innen untersucht werden. Methoden Die Studie beinhaltet eine 30-minütige Sprach-Gestik-Intervention, welche mit 30 Schizophreniepatient*innen durchgeführt wurde. Ziel war es, zu explorieren, ob und inwiefern Patient*innen bei der Bearbeitung einer Sprachkategorisierungsaufgabe (Zuordnung eines Satzes zur Kategorie „abstrakt“ oder „konkret“) von koverbal perzipierter und produzierter Gestik profitieren. Dabei wurden als Messinstrument die behavioralen Daten „Reaktionszeit“ und „Richtigkeit“ herangezogen, welche jeweils vor und nach der Intervention erhoben wurden. Durch einen stufenartigen Aufbau der Intervention erhoffen wir uns, den Effekt der koverbalen Gestik auf das Sprachverständnis extrahieren zu können. Ergebnisse Die erhobenen Daten zeigten signifikante interventionsabhängige Effekte auf beide abhängigen Variablen: schnellere Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit abstrakter und konkreter Sätze und mehr richtige Kategorisierungen abstrakter Sätze. Die Effektstärke nahm zumindest nominell bei abstrakten Sätzen (Richtigkeit) sowie bei abstrakten und konkreten Sätzen (Reaktionszeit) graduell mit dem Ausmaß der Intervention (Kontrolle < Sprachperzeption < Sprach-und Gestikperzeption < Sprach-und Gestikperzeption und Produktion) zu. 84 Dies deutet auf einen positiven Effekt von sowohl koverbal perzipierter als auch produzierter Gestik auf das Sprachverständnis hin. Diskussion Die durch die Intervention herbeigeführte Verbesserung konkreter und abstrakter Sätze bezüglich der Reaktionszeit kann im Sinne eines besseren Erinnerungspfades oder eines schnelleren semantischen Zugriffs gedeutet werden. Der interventionsabhängige Effekt abstrakter Sätze hinsichtlich der Zunahme an richtigen Bewertungen legt einen positiven Einfluss koverbaler Gestik auf das Generieren abstrakter Konzepte nahe. Diese Beobachtung ist von besonderer Bedeutung, da bei Patient*innen eine dysfunktionale Integration von abstrakter Gestik beschrieben wurde. Die Daten in unserem Patientenkollektiv deuten jedoch darauf hin, dass Patient*innen dennoch von koverbaler, abstrakter Gestik profitieren und somit die funktionale Verarbeitung abstrakter Konzepte trainiert werden könnte. Der Interventionseffekt wurde für spezifische Sätze beobachtet, die Teil der Sprach-Gestik-Intervention waren. Würde durch die Sprach-Gestik- Intervention ein genereller Mechanismus trainiert werden, müssten die Patient*innen ebenfalls in der Kontrollbedingung Verbesserungen in der Sprachkategorisierungsaufgabe zeigen. Obwohl die Gestik- Interventionsbedingungen nominell die größten Effekte zeigten, kann aus den aktuellen Daten aufgrund fehlender Signifikanzen (bzw. allenfalls Trends) in den Post-hoc-Analysen noch nicht zweifelsfrei geschlossen werden, dass die beobachteten Verbesserungen auf die Perzeption und Produktion koverbaler Gestik zurückzuführen sind. Dies könnte unter anderem an der großen Varianz innerhalb der Stichprobe liegen, weshalb künftige Studien explorieren sollten, ob innerhalb des heterogenen Störungsbildes der Schizophrenie möglicherweise Patient*innen mit bestimmten Symptomkomplexen (wie z.B. sprachassoziierten Defiziten) besonders profitieren könnten. Schlussfolgerung Zusammenfassend konnten wir mit der Durchführung der Studie zeigen, dass bereits eine kurze Sprach-Gestik-Intervention bei Schizophreniepatient*innen die Sprachkategorisierungsleistung verbessern kann, was im Hinblick auf künftige Studien, die zudem neuronale Daten und soziale Auswirkungen berücksichtigen, äußerst vielversprechend erscheint

Integrated non-planar ferroelectric nanostructures

Ferroelectrics (FEs) exhibit stable spontaneous polarization states in the absence of an applied electric field, analogous to other ferroic systems such as ferromagnetics and ferroelastics. Incomplete screening of surface charges along the FE-electrode interface creates a potential gradient across the FE layer. This yields a depolarizing field which greatly suppresses polarization, particularily in systems approaching finite sizes, where surface and interface effects exhibit far more inuence than in the bulk. Identifying mechanisms for reducing the detrimental effects of the depolarizing field and maintaining FE stability in finite dimensions remains the largest obstacle in FEs realizing their potential as next generation devices such as electocaloric coolers, actuators, sensors, photovoltaics, and non-volatile memory elements.This thesis aims to develop a reproducible, versatile synthetic approach towards conductive core-ferroelectric perovskite oxide shell nanostructures. A test structure fabrication approach will then be developed, yielding working conductive inner nanowire core electrodes for interrogation of FE properties across the finite (radial) dimension. Here, mapping of the normal ferroelectric polar components within low dimensional FE, with consideration of surface chemical environment effects will be explored. The effects of finite-curvature and its resulting stress gradients in stabilizing ferroelectricity at the nanoscale will also be identified and explored. The nonvolatile gating effects of the FE layer on the transport propertiesof a low-dimensional semiconductor channel will be investigated. Finally, FE switching will be correlated with system leakage currents, and the effects of oxygen partial pressure, as basis for potential resistive switching memories.Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering -- Drexel University, 201

Wafer-Scale Nanopatterning and Translation into High-Performance Piezoelectric Nanowires

The development of a facile method for fabricating one-dimensional, precisely positioned nanostructures over large areas offers exciting opportunities in fundamental research and innovative applications. Large-scale nanofabrication methods have been restricted in accessibility due to their complexity and cost. Likewise, bottom-up synthesis of nanowires has been limited in methods to assemble these structures at precisely defined locations. Nanomaterials such as PbZr_xTi_(1−x)O_3 (PZT) nanowires (NWs)—which may be useful for nonvolatile memory storage (FeRAM), nanoactuation, and nanoscale power generation—are difficult to synthesize without suffering from polycrystallinity or poor stoichiometric control. Here, we report a novel fabrication method which requires only low-resolution photolithography and electrochemical etching to generate ultrasmooth NWs over wafer scales. These nanostructures are subsequently used as patterning templates to generate PZT nanowires with the highest reported piezoelectric performance (d_(eff) ~ 145 pm/V). The combined large-scale nanopatterning with hierarchical assembly of functional nanomaterials could yield breakthroughs in areas ranging from nanodevice arrays to nanodevice powering

Synthesis of phosphonic acid ligands for nanocrystal surface functionalization and solution processed memristors

Here, we synthesized 2-ethylhexyl, 2-hexyldecyl, 2-[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethyl, oleyl, and n-octadecyl phosphonic acid and used them to functionalize CdSe and HfO2 nanocrystals. In contrast to branched carboxylic acids, postsynthetic surface functionalization of CdSe and HfO2 nanocrystals was readily achieved with branched phosphonic acids. Phosphonic acid capped HfO2 nanocrystals were subsequently evaluated as memristors using conductive atomic force microscopy. We found that 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid is a superior ligand, combining a high colloidal stability with a compact ligand shell that results in a record-low operating voltage that is promising for application in flexible electronics

Probing vacancy behavior across complex oxide heterointerfaces

Oxygen vacancies () play a critical role as defects in complex oxides in establishing functionality in systems including memristors, all-oxide electronics, and electrochemical cells that comprise metal-insulator-metal or complex oxide heterostructure configurations. Improving oxide-oxide interfaces necessitates a direct, spatial understanding of vacancy distributions that define electrochemically active regions. We show vacancies deplete over micrometer-level distances in Nb-doped SrTiO3 (Nb:SrTiO3) substrates due to deposition and post-annealing processes. We convert the surface potential across a strontium titanate/yttria-stabilized zirconia (STO/YSZ) heterostructured film to spatial (\u3c100 \u3enm) vacancy profiles within STO using (T = 500°C) in situ scanning probes and semiconductor analysis. Oxygen scavenging occurring during pulsed laser deposition reduces Nb:STO substantially, which partially reoxidizes in an oxygen-rich environment upon cooling. These results (i) introduce the means to spatially resolve quantitative vacancy distributions across oxide films and (ii) indicate the mechanisms by which oxide thin films enhance and then deplete vacancies within the underlying substrate

Prevalence and changes in chronic diseases among South Korean farmers: 1998 to 2005

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Epidemiologic studies have suggested a unique pattern of disease among farmers in Western countries, but limited information is available about the magnitude of disease prevalence and their changes over time in Asian farmers. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence and changes in chronic diseases among farmers with those of other occupational groups in South Korea.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using data from three consecutive cross-sectional national surveys: the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1998 (n = 39,060), 2001 (n = 37,769), and 2005 (n = 34,145), we calculated age and gender-standardized prevalence of chronic diseases by the direct method and compared the prevalence changes from 1998 to 2005.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Female farmers had significantly higher chronic disease prevalence than other occupational groups in all three surveys. Arthritis was the most prevalent chronic disease among farmers for both men and women. Compared with other populations, farmers demonstrated a higher prevalence of arthritis and intervertebral disc disorders. Farmers showed higher prevalence changes for intervertebral disc disorders than other occupational workers.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings support that South Korean farmers have a distinct pattern of diseases prevalence from other populations. More detailed studies investigating the risk of musculoskeletal diseases and intensive intervention efforts to reduce the prevalence these diseases, particularly among female farmers, are required.</p