Proportional sampling strategy: A compendium and some insights

There have been numerous studies on the effectiveness of partition and random testing. In particular, the proportional sampling (PS) strategy has been proved, under certain conditions, to be the only form of partition testing that outperforms random testing regardless of where the failure-causing inputs are. This paper provides an integrated synthesis and overview of our recent studies on the PS strategy and its related work. Through this synthesis, we offer a perspective that properly interprets the results obtained so far, and present some of the interesting issues involved and new insights obtained during the course of this research. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.postprin

5W+1H pattern: A perspective of systematic mapping studies and a case study on cloud software testing

postprin

Is XML-based test case prioritization for validating WS-BPEL evolution effective in both average and adverse scenarios?

In real life, a tester can only afford to apply one test case prioritization technique to one test suite against a service-oriented workflow application once in the regression testing of the application, even if it results in an adverse scenario such that the actual performance in the test session is far below the average. It is unclear whether the factors of test case prioritization techniques known to be significant in terms of average performance can be extrapolated to adverse scenarios. In this paper, we examine whether such a factor or technique may consistently affect the rate of fault detection in both the average and adverse scenarios. The factors studied include prioritization strategy, artifacts to provide coverage data, ordering direction of a strategy, and the use of executable and non-executable artifacts. The results show that only a minor portion of the 10 studied techniques, most of which are based on the iterative strategy, are consistently effective in both average and adverse scenarios. To the best of our know-ledge, this paper presents the first piece of empirical evidence regarding the consistency in the effectiveness of test case prioritization techniques and factors of service-oriented workflow applications between average and adverse scenarios.published_or_final_versio

Neuroprotective effects of minocycline on double-stranded RNA-induced neurotoxicity in cultured cortical neurons

1. Minocycline, memantine,and glycoconjugate were assessed for their ability to protect cultured primary cortical neurons against double-stranded RNA-induced neurotoxicity. 2. Minocycline but not memantine or glycoconjugate protected cultured cells and warrants further investigation.published_or_final_versio

Joint product numerical range and geometry of reduced density matrices

© 2016, Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. The reduced density matrices of a many-body quantum system form a convex set, whose three-dimensional projection Θ is convex in R3. The boundary ∂Θ of Θ may exhibit nontrivial geometry, in particular ruled surfaces. Two physical mechanisms are known for the origins of ruled surfaces: symmetry breaking and gapless. In this work, we study the emergence of ruled surfaces for systems with local Hamiltonians in infinite spatial dimension, where the reduced density matrices are known to be separable as a consequence of the quantum de Finetti’s theorem. This allows us to identify the reduced density matrix geometry with joint product numerical range Π of the Hamiltonian interaction terms. We focus on the case where the interaction terms have certain structures, such that a ruled surface emerges naturally when taking a convex hull of Π. We show that, a ruled surface on ∂Θ sitting in Π has a gapless origin, otherwise it has a symmetry breaking origin. As an example, we demonstrate that a famous ruled surface, known as the oloid, is a possible shape of Θ, with two boundary pieces of symmetry breaking origin separated by two gapless lines

Evolutionary analysis of mitochondrially encoded proteins of toad-headed lizards, Phrynocephalus, along an altitudinal gradient.

BACKGROUND: Animals living at high altitude must adapt to environments with hypoxia and low temperatures, but relatively little is known about underlying genetic changes. Toad-headed lizards of the genus Phrynocephalus cover a broad altitudinal gradient of over 4000 m and are useful models for studies of such adaptive responses. In one of the first studies to have considered selection on mitochondrial protein-coding regions in an ectothermic group distributed over such a wide range of environments, we analysed nineteen complete mitochondrial genomes from all Chinese Phrynocephalus (including eight genomes sequenced for the first time). Initial analyses used site and branch-site model (program: PAML) approaches to examine nonsynonymous: synonymous substitution rates across the mtDNA tree. RESULTS: Ten positively selected sites were discovered, nine of which corresponded to subunits ND2, ND3, ND4, ND5, and ND6 within the respiratory chain enzyme mitochondrial Complex I (NADH Coenzyme Q oxidoreductase). Four of these sites showed evidence of general long-term selection across the group while the remainder showed evidence of episodic selection across different branches of the tree. Some of these branches corresponded to increases in altitude and/or latitude. Analyses of physicochemical changes in protein structures revealed that residue changes at sites that were under selection corresponded to major functional differences. Analyses of coevolution point to coevolution of selected sites within the ND4 subunit, with key sites associated with proton translocation across the mitochondrial membrane. CONCLUSIONS: Our results identify mitochondrial Complex I as a target for environment-mediated selection in this group of lizards, a complex that frequently appears to be under selection in other organisms. This makes these lizards good candidates for more detailed future studies of molecular evolution

Forehead EEG in Support of Future Feasible Personal Healthcare Solutions: Sleep Management, Headache Prevention, and Depression Treatment

© 2013 IEEE. There are current limitations in the recording technologies for measuring EEG activity in clinical and experimental applications. Acquisition systems involving wet electrodes are time-consuming and uncomfortable for the user. Furthermore, dehydration of the gel affects the quality of the acquired data and reliability of long-term monitoring. As a result, dry electrodes may be used to facilitate the transition from neuroscience research or clinical practice to real-life applications. EEG signals can be easily obtained using dry electrodes on the forehead, which provides extensive information concerning various cognitive dysfunctions and disorders. This paper presents the usefulness of the forehead EEG with advanced sensing technology and signal processing algorithms to support people with healthcare needs, such as monitoring sleep, predicting headaches, and treating depression. The proposed system for evaluating sleep quality is capable of identifying five sleep stages to track nightly sleep patterns. Additionally, people with episodic migraines can be notified of an imminent migraine headache hours in advance through monitoring forehead EEG dynamics. The depression treatment screening system can predict the efficacy of rapid antidepressant agents. It is evident that frontal EEG activity is critically involved in sleep management, headache prevention, and depression treatment. The use of dry electrodes on the forehead allows for easy and rapid monitoring on an everyday basis. The advances in EEG recording and analysis ensure a promising future in support of personal healthcare solutions

Formation of sp³ bonding in nanoindented carbon nanotubes and graphite

Author name used in this publication: C. H. Woo2004-2005 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Synthesis and Application of Carbon–Iron Oxide Microspheres’ Black Pigments in Electrophoretic Displays

Carbon–iron oxide microspheres’ black pigments (CIOMBs) had been prepared via ultrasonic spray pyrolysis of aqueous solutions containing ferrous chloride and glucose. Due to the presence of carbon, CIOMBs not only exhibited remarkably acid resistance, but also could be well dispersed in both polar solvents and nonpolar solvent. Finally, dispersions of hollow CIOMBs in tetrachloroethylene had successfully been applied in electrophoretic displays

Health-related quality of life as measured with EQ-5D among populations with and without specific chronic conditions: A population-based survey in Shaanxi province, China

© 2013 Tan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as measured by EQ-5D and to investigate the influence of chronic conditions and other risk factors on HRQoL based on a distributed sample located in Shaanxi Province, China. Methods: A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method was performed to select subjects. EQ-5D was employed to measure the HRQoL. The likelihood that individuals with selected chronic diseases would report any problem in the EQ-5D dimensions was calculated and tested relative to that of each of the two reference groups. Multivariable linear regression models were used to investigate factors associated with EQ VAS. Results: The most frequently reported problems involved pain/discomfort (8.8%) and anxiety/depression (7.6%). Nearly half of the respondents who reported problems in any of the five dimensions were chronic patients. Higher EQ VAS scores were associated with the male gender, higher level of education, employment, younger age, an urban area of residence, access to free medical service and higher levels of physical activity. Except for anemia, all the selected chronic diseases were indicative of a negative EQ VAS score. The three leading risk factors were cerebrovascular disease, cancer and mental disease. Increases in age, number of chronic conditions and frequency of physical activity were found to have a gradient effect. Conclusion: The results of the present work add to the volume of knowledge regarding population health status in this area, apart from the known health status using mortality and morbidity data. Medical, policy, social and individual attention should be given to the management of chronic diseases and improvement of HRQoL. Longitudinal studies must be performed to monitor changes in HRQoL and to permit evaluation of the outcomes of chronic disease intervention programs. © 2013 Tan et al.National Nature Science Foundation (No. 8107239