Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Geração de Testes de Desempenho e Estresse a partir de Testes Funcionais

Despite the fact that the software testing is related to quality assurance, in order to save time and resources, it is not performed in part of software projects. In the organizations where testing is performed it can be seen that functional testing is getting more common and that the stress and 1 UFPI/DIE, Teresina-PI, {ismayle,pasn}@ufpi.edu. br 2 UFMG/DCC, Belo Horizonte-MG, rodolfo@dcc.ufmg. br Geracao de Testes de Desempenho e Estresse a partir de Testes Funcionais RITA • Volume 17 • Numero 2 • 2010 175 performance tests are scarcely performed despite the increment of web-based systems where the latter are considered essential. In this article it is proposed a method and its supporting tool for stress and performance test generation of web based systems, in order to facilitate the execution of non-functional testing. The stress and performance test generation takes advantage of functional tests. Experimental studies are also presented showing that the method and the tool can generate overall effort reduction for these tests
Sparse representation based feature selection for mass spectrometry data

Mass spectrometry (MS) data has been widely analyzed for the detection of early stage cancers. Its potential for seeking proteomic biomarkers has received a great deal of attention in recent years. In the sparse representation classification (SRC) framework, a testing sample is represented as a sparse linear combination of training samples. The coefficient vector of representation is obtained by a ℓ1-norm regularized least square method. Classification results are achieved by defining discriminant functions from the coefficient vector for each category. In this paper, a novel feature selection method based on SRC was proposed. To investigate its performance, the proposed methods was tested and evaluated on the ovarian cancer database OC-WCX2a and OC-WCX2b. The experimental results showed that SRC is efficient for tumor classification. Feature selection based on sparse representation (SRFS) can select highly predictive representative feature sets.
The creation function of a junior listing venue : an empirical test on the Alternative Investment Market

Stock markets perform a creation function if the inflow of financial cap- ital in the birth of new privately-held firms is stimulated by the promise of stock market liquidity at a later point in time. Junior stock market segments, characterized by lighter listing procedures and costs, may be suited to perform a creation function, but their liquidity promise may not be reliable due information opacity. We test the creation function of the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the junior segment of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), by means of dynamic panel data models, where entry at the sectoral level is regressed on capital raised at IPO on AIM and on the LSE main market, venture capital investments, and control variables. Our sample includes UK manufacturing sectors over the 2004-2012 time span. We find that sectors that raised more capital at IPO on AIM housed more new entrants in the subsequent years, whereas the results on main market IPOs and venture capital financing are mixed. The magnitude of this effect increases as the amounts of raised capital are aggregated over longer time horizons. Results are confirmed after endogeneity tests (pseudo diff-in-diff and 2-stage residual inclusion estimators).
Vascular Disease Is Associated With the Expression of Genes for Intestinal Cholesterol Transport and Metabolism

Context Intestinal cholesterol metabolism is important in influencing postprandial lipoprotein concentrations, and might be important in the development of vascular disease. Objective This study evaluated associations between expression of intestinal cholesterol metabolism genes, postprandial lipid metabolism, and endothelial function/early vascular disease in human subjects. Design/Patients One hundred patients undergoing routine oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy were recruited. mRNA levels of Nieman-Pick C1-like 1 protein (NPC1L1), ABC-G5, ABC-G8, ABC-A1, microsomal tissue transport protein (MTTP), and sterol-regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-2 were measured in duodenal biopsies using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Postprandially, serum lipid and glycemic profiles were measured, endothelial function was assessed using fasting, and postprandial flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). Subjects were divided into those above and below the median value of relative expression of each gene, and results were compared between the groups. Results There were no between-group differences in demographic variables or classical cardiovascular risks. For all genes, the postprandial triglyceride incremental area under the curve was greater (P < 0.05) in the group with greater expression. Postprandial apolipoprotein B48 (ApoB48) levels were greater (P < 0.05) in groups with greater expression of NPC1L1, ABC-G8, and SREBP-2. For all genes, postprandial but not fasting FMD was lower (P < 0.01) in the group with greater expression. Triglyceride and ApoB48 levels correlated significantly with postprandial FMD. Carotid artery IMT was greater (P < 0.05) in groups with greater expression of MTTP, ABC-A1, and SREBP-2. Conclusion Intestinal cholesterol metabolism gene expression is significantly associated with postprandial increment in triglycerides, intestinal ApoB48, and reduced postprandial FMD. Some genes were also associated with increased IMT. These findings suggest a role of intestinal cholesterol metabolism in development of early vascular disease.
Diversity Embedded Space-Time Codes

Rate and diversity impose a fundamental tradeoff in wireless communication. High-rate space-time codes come at a cost of lower reliability (diversity), and high reliability (diversity) implies a lower rate. However, wireless networks need to support applications with very different quality-of-service (QoS) requirements, and it is natural to ask what characteristics should be built into the physical layer link in order to accommodate them. In this paper, we design high-rate space-time codes that have a high-diversity code embedded within them. This allows a form of communication where the high-rate code opportunistically takes advantage of good channel realizations while the embedded high-diversity code provides guarantees that at least part of the information is received reliably. We provide constructions of linear and nonlinear codes for a fixed transmit alphabet constraint. The nonlinear constructions are a natural generalization to wireless channels of multilevel codes developed for the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel that are matched to binary partitions of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and phase-shift keying (PSK) constellations. The importance of set-partitioning to code design for the wireless channel is that it provides a mechanism for translating constraints in the binary domain into lower bounds on diversity protection in the complex domain. We investigate the systems implications of embedded diversity codes by examining value to unequal error protection, rate opportunism, and packet delay optimization. These applications demonstrate that diversity-embedded codes have the potential to outperform traditional single-layer codes in moderate signal-to-noise (SNR) regimes.
Near-Miss Reporting: A Missing Link in Safety Culture

Near-miss reporting, or the lack of it, is a controversial indicator of an organization’s safety culture. Over the years, SH&E professionals have heard concerns about the statistical validity of the many ratios published in the literature. The term itself has been widely debated—should these incidents be called near-misses, close calls, nearhits or something else? This article uses the term near-miss because the author has found that a near universal understanding occurs when it is so termed. When applying the concepts presented, SH&E professionals can certainly insert their organizations’ preferred term. This article presents a practical process that should help overcome resistance to near-miss reports becoming a useful tool to help an organization reduce injuries. Limited research is referenced, not to statistically substantiate near-miss-to-injury ratios, but rather to show a long-standing interest in using this concept as another tool to focus on eliminating workplace incidents. Let’s begin with this question: Does your organization receive about 50 near-miss reports for every minor injury suffered by workers? If not, several significant barriers within the organization’s culture may be preventing the organization from learning the lessons available from incidents that did not result in loss—at least not this time. While building a power plant in Louisiana, a major construction company used an effective near-miss reporting program to trigger safety success. Eighteen months into the project, the site had worked 3.1 million hours without a lost-time injury, had an OSHA recordable rate of 0.68 and achieved Voluntary Protection Programs status. Additionally, the site worked the first 1 million project hours without a single OSHA recordable. At the start of the near-miss reporting improvement project, the number of near misses reported averaged one or two per month (or about 0.005 per employee). Three months after initiation of the project, that number increased nearly 40 fold (to about 0.2 near-misses reported per employee). This level has continued to climb to a current level of about 230 near-misses per week (or about 0.6 per employee), which is more than 100 times the rate when the program was launched. This initiative has built trust, encouraged employee involvement, enabled the identification and control of previously unknown or unrecognized risks, and enhanced management credibility through visible, positive action. While four main leading indicators (near-miss reports, near-misses resolved, supervisor audits, manager audits) were utilized to support this accomplishment, this article focuses on the near-miss indicators and the methods employed to overcome cultural barriers that typically inhibit near-miss reporting success.
ABCA1 regulatory variants influence coronary artery disease independent of effects on plasma lipid levels

The authors have previously shown that individuals heterozygous for ABCA1 mutations have decreased high density lipoprotein cholesterol, increased triglycerides and an increased frequency of coronary artery disease (CAD), and that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the coding region of the ABCA1 gene significantly impact plasma lipid levels and the severity of CAD in the general population. They have now identified several SNPs in non‐coding regions of ABCA1 which may be important for the appropriate regulation of ABCA1 expression (i.e. in the promoter, intron 1 and the 5′ untranslated region), and have examined the phenotypic effects of these SNPs in the REGRESS population. Out of 12 SNPs, four were associated with a clinical outcome. A threefold increase in coronary events with an increased family history of CAD was evident for the G‐191C variant. Similarly, the C69T SNP was associated with a twofold increase in events. In contrast, the C‐17G was associated with a decrease in coronary events and the InsG319 was associated with less atherosclerosis. For all these SNPs, the changes in atherosclerosis and CAD occurred without detectable changes in plasma lipid levels. These data suggest that common variation in non‐coding regions of ABCA1 may significantly alter the severity of atherosclerosis, without necessarily influencing plasma lipid levels.
A Study on Farmers’ Pre-satisfaction and Follow-up Willingness of Returning Farmland in the Giant Panda Nature Reserve:A case on 124 Households Surrounding Shaanxi Changqing Nature Reserve

The "returning farmland to forests and pastures program" in China has improved the environment and largely influenced regional economy as well. Particularly,the influence would be more significant to regions where the farmers are losing enormous farmland and being faced with the difficulty in obtaining employment opportunities. Ensuring the increase in farmers’ incomes is of importance not only to the program,but also to ease society construction. The authors explored the "returning farmland to forests and pastures program",which plays an important role in inhibiting a degrading environment and promoting social and economic sustainable development. With the approaching of the deadline of subsidy,the peasant household’s compensation has become the major issue which might affect the implementation and sustainability of the project after the subsidy of the project. In this paper,the authors analyzed in detail farmers’ pre-satisfaction and follow-up willingness of returning farmland in the Giant Panda Nature Reserve on the basis of 124 peasant households in communities surrounding Shaanxi Changqing Nature Reserve in Yang County. Using the logistics model,we examined the major factors affecting residents’ willingness of returning farmland. Results showed that the proportion of farmland and farmers’ follow-up willingness was slightly greater than that of the unwillingness to continue returning farmland. The farmers showed more willingness of returning farmland in relatively developed areas than those in relatively underdeveloped areas. In a variety of the factors affecting farmers’ follow-up willingness to return farmland,farmland and subsidies,the proportion of returning farmlands’ subsidies in total revenue,expecting economic benefits of forests,follow-up technical guidance,as well as the environmental awareness of the farmers showed a significant impact on farmers’ follow-up willingness of returning farmland. The study provides a basis and inspirations for further improving the achievement of previous returning farmland actions,and for perfecting the eco-compensation mechanism for giant panda nature reserves. It is pointed out that the government subsidy is the most important positive factor. Although the population is another important positive factor,its long-term positive influence may be reduced largely due to a degrading environmental condition,unsubstantial basic establishment,and poverty of corporation. Some suggestions are given,including changing the subsidy mode,optimizing the compensatory term,increasing employment opportunities,constructing output cropland,developing stockbreeding,placing more emphasis on sustainable development,and providing government support to underdeveloped areas on related issues.
Passivity analysis of complex dynamical networks with general topology

The problem of passivity analysis is investigated for a generalized complex dynamical network with time-varying delays in this paper. Several passivity criteria are derived in form of linear matrix inequalities (LMI) for complex networks by constructing some suitable Lyapunov functionals. Finally, a numerical example is given which illustrate the efficiency of the derived results.
AUTOMATIC TEST CASES GENERATION FROM UML ACTIVITY DIAGRAMS USING GRAPH TRANSFORMATION

Recently Model-based test case generation is attracting more attention of researchers in software development. This is due to the fact that this leads to the early detection of faults reducing software development time and cost. UML 2.0 activity diagram is one of the behavioral models used for test case generation. In this paper we propose an approach based on graph transformation to generate test cases from UML 2.0 activity diagrams. To this end, we propose two graph grammars. The first one transforms a UML activity diagram to an intermediate representation while the second one generates test cases from the intermediate representation. An example illustrates the approach.
A general and fast method to generate multiple site directed mutations.

Many methods have been described for site directed mutagenesis. One of the most powerful ones is the overlap extension method described by Higuchi et al. (1, 2), but this method requires two new primers for each mutagenesis and for this reason is not adapted for an extensive mutagenesis in the same DNA sequence. We have developed a rapid and efficient method derived from the overlap extension method which allows one to generate multiple site directed mutations (deletion, insertion or substitution) in a given DNA fragment. It requires three universal primers chosen in the vector and only one specific primer for each mutation.
Capture and Qualitative Analysis of the Activated Fc Receptor Complex from Live Cells

This unit describes the isolation of activated Fc receptor complexes from RAW 264.7 macrophages using live‐cell affinity receptor chromatography (LARC). The Fc receptor complex is activated and captured by IgG‐coated microbeads on the surface of live macrophages. After the cells are disrupted, the receptor complexes are isolated by washing and sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation. Soluble proteins associated with the receptor complex are then eluted from the beads using a stepwise series of salt buffers and aqueous acetonitrile. The eluted proteins and the residual insoluble proteins on the beads can then be digested with trypsin and subjected to liquid chromatography, electrospray ionization, and tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐ESI‐MS/MS). Controls include IgG‐coated beads incubated with crude cell lysates or growth medium and beads coated with oxidized LDL or bovine serum albumin. Using this method, proteins present in IgG‐FcR complexes can be distinguished from those in control scavenger receptor complexes (oxLDL or BSA). Thus, LARC is capable of detecting specific members of IgG receptor supramolecular complexes.
Abused Drugs Modulate RGS4 mRNA Levels in Rat Brain: Comparison Between Acute Drug Treatment and a Drug Challenge after Chronic Treatment

While different classes of abused drugs interact with distinct signaling substrates, it appears that all utilize receptors in the mesolimbic dopamine system to mediate their reinforcing effects. The regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins modulate G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling by increasing the rate of GTP hydrolysis of G proteins. This study was undertaken to determine whether morphine, cocaine, or amphetamine would modulate RGS4 mRNA levels in relevant brain regions. Acute administration of morphine and cocaine decreased levels of RGS4 mRNA in the reticulotegmental pontine nucleus (RtTg) and locus coeruleus (LC). Increases in RGS 4 mRNA levels were observed in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and dorsal central gray (CGD). Acute drug challenge after chronic drug administration increased RGS4 mRNA in the CGD and decreased RGS4 levels in the red nucleus and RtTg. Interestingly, the LC exhibited biphasic modulation, with decreased RGS4 mRNA levels after acute administration and increased levels after chronic administration. These findings indicate that RGS4 mRNA levels are modulated in a similar manner by different drugs of abuse and imply that a common substrate could mediate some effects of abused drugs.
SAMPLING-BASED MOTION PLANNING FOR COOPERATIVE AERIAL MANIPULATION

This paper focuses on the optimal motion planning problem for cooperative aerial manipulation. We use the rapidly exploring random trees star (RRT*) algorithm that finds feasible paths quickly and optimizes them. For local planning within RRT*, we developed a trajectory planner using Bezier-curve which utilizes the differential flatness property of the aerial manipulator. Time-parameterization is performed to represent the curve as a function of time.
Trauma of Pregnancy Loss and Infertility Among Mothers and Involuntarily Childless Women in the United States

Recent studies have repeatedly associated posttraumatic symptoms with women's experience of pregnancy loss. Using a nationally representative sample of American women (N = 2,894) from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, the current study examines long-term psychological outcomes and reactions to pregnancy loss and infertility among mothers and involuntarily childless women. In general, childless women who had experienced pregnancy loss or failure to conceive reported the lowest life satisfaction and highest levels of depression despite a considerable period of time (7 years) since the loss or first year without a conception. However, women with the dual experience of pregnancy loss and involuntary childlessness reported the most fertility-related distress. Results of the current study suggest that the “non-event” of involuntary childlessness may serve as an additional stressor in the traumatic experience of pregnancy loss.
An efficient load-balancing technique for overlay Application Layer Multicast

For rapid deployment of multicast application, Application Layer Multicast (ALM) is an alternate choice of IP multicast, as it supports group communication independent of network layer support. Previous studies on ALM mainly focused on achieving high throughput for bandwidth intensive applications and unfairness of communication quality is still a serious issue in multi-source communication. In this paper, we present an autonomous distributed scheme to construct an ALM tree to improve fairness and overall communication quality among the participants in a multi-source multimedia communication. Extensive simulation shows that our proposed scheme increases the incoming bitrate of the lowest recipient among all the nodes, as well as improving fairness for all receivers.
Enantiomer separation by capillary electrochromatography on a cyclodextrin‐modified monolith

A chiral monolithic stationary phase was prepared by packing a capillary with bare porous silica and sintering the silica bed at high temperature. The resulting silica monolith was polymer‐coated with Chirasil‐Dex, a permethylated β‐cyclodextrin covalently linked via an octamethylene spacer to dimethylpolysiloxane. Subsequently, Chirasil‐Dex was thermally immobilized on the silica support and a chiral monolith of very high stability (30 kV, more than 400 bar pressure) was obtained. The enantiomer separation of various chiral compounds by monolithic (rod) capillary electrochromatography (rod‐CEC) was feasible. This method was compared with capillary liquid chromatography (LC) in a single‐column mode using unified equipment. About two to three times higher efficiency was found in the rod‐CEC mode as compared to rod‐LC. The influence of pressure‐driven flow support on efficiency, resolution, elution time and baseline stability was investigated. The amount and nature of organic modifier strongly influences efficiency and resolution.