Electrochemical biosensors combine the selectivity of electrochemical signal transducers with the specificity of biomolecular recognition strategies. Although they have been broadly studied in ...different areas of diagnostics, they are not yet fully commercialized. During the COVID-19 pandemic, electrochemical platforms have shown the potential to address significant limitations of conventional diagnostic platforms, including accuracy, affordability, and portability. The advantages of electrochemical platforms make them a strong candidate for rapid point-of-care detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by targeting not only viral RNA but antigens and antibodies. Herein, we reviewed advancements in electrochemical biosensing platforms towards the detection of SARS-CoV-2 through studying similar viruses.
•The complicated nature of conventional tests restricted the availability and distribution of COVID-19 tests.•Electrochemical detection methods can stand as potential rapid tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19.•Electrochemical biosensors combine signal selectivity and molecular specificity for rapid accurate detection of SARS-CoV-2.•The electrochemical biosensors demonstrate trail-blazing sensitivity and specificity, outmatching conventional assays.
In recent years, with the development of materials science, the joining technology is also constantly upgraded, ultrasonic testing technology can more accurately detect the defects or failures of new ...materials in the new joining process, which has extensive applications in the field of engineering joining, such as welding, mechanical joining, and adhesive bonding. This paper introduces the common non-destructive testing techniques, including magnetic particle testing, eddy current testing, penetration testing, radiographic testing, and ultrasonic testing. The main principles and devices of ultrasonic testing are introduced, including air-coupled ultrasonic testing, electromagnetic ultrasonic testing, laser ultrasonic testing, and so on. The current status of the application of ultrasonic testing in welded joints, riveted joints, bonded joints, and bolted joints is summarized and reviewed. Finally, the drawbacks of ultrasonic testing in this field are discussed, as well as prospective research directions.
Graphical user interfaces (GUIs), due to their event-driven nature, present an enormous and potentially unbounded way for users to interact with software. During testing, it is important to ..."adequately cover" this interaction space. In this paper, we develop a new family of coverage criteria for GUI testing grounded in combinatorial interaction testing. The key motivation of using combinatorial techniques is that they enable us to incorporate "context" into the criteria in terms of event combinations, sequence length, and by including all possible positions for each event. Our new criteria range in both efficiency (measured by the size of the test suite) and effectiveness (the ability of the test suites to detect faults). In a case study on eight applications, we automatically generate test cases and systematically explore the impact of context, as captured by our new criteria. Our study shows that by increasing the event combinations tested and by controlling the relative positions of events defined by the new criteria, we can detect a large number of faults that were undetectable by earlier techniques.
A fast and accurate self-testing tool for COVID-19 diagnosis has become a prerequisite to comprehend the exact number of cases worldwide and to take medical and governmental actions accordingly. ...SARS-CoV-2 (formerly, 2019-nCoV) infection was first reported in Wuhan (China) in December 2019, and then it has rapidly spread around the world, causing ~14 million active cases with ~582,000 deaths as of July 2020. The diagnosis tools available so far have been based on a) viral gene detection, b) human antibody detection, and c) viral antigen detection, among which the viral gene detection by RT-PCR has been found as the most reliable technique. In this report, the current SARS-CoV-2 detection kits, exclusively the ones that were issued an “Emergency Use Authorization” from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, were discussed. The key structural components of the virus were presented to provide the audience with an understanding of the scientific principles behind the testing tools. The methods that are still in the early research state were also reviewed in a subsection based on the reports available so far.
•The structural biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2 are described.•Viral gene, antigen, and antibody-based detection methods are discussed.•Emergency Use Authorization-issued commercial test kits are explained.•The methods at early research-stage are summarized.
Advancing Natural Language Processing in Educational Assessment examines the use of natural language technology in educational testing, measurement, and assessment. Recent developments in natural ...language processing (NLP) have enabled large-scale educational applications, though scholars and professionals may lack a shared understanding of the strengths and limitations of NLP in assessment as well as the challenges that testing organizations face in implementation. This first-of-its-kind book provides evidence-based practices for the use of NLP-based approaches to automated text and speech scoring, language proficiency assessment, technology-assisted item generation, gamification, learner feedback, and beyond. Spanning historical context, validity and fairness issues, emerging technologies, and implications for feedback and personalization, these chapters represent the most robust treatment yet about NLP for education measurement researchers, psychometricians, testing professionals, and policymakers.
Microservices are gaining popularity as an architectural paradigm for service-oriented applications, especially suited for highly dynamic contexts requiring loosely-coupled independent services, ...frequent software releases, decentralized governance and data management. Because of the high flexibility and evolvability characterizing microservice architectures (MSAs), it is difficult to estimate their reliability at design time, as it changes continuously due to the services' upgrades and/or to the way applications are used by customers. This paper presents a testing method for on-demand reliability estimation of microservice applications in their operational phase. The method allows to faithfully assess, upon request, the reliability of a MSA-based application under a scarce testing budget, at any time when it is in operation, and exploit field data about microservice usage and failing/successful demands. A new in-vivo testing algorithm is developed based on an adaptive web sampling strategy, named Microservice Adaptive Reliability Testing (MART). The method is evaluated by simulation, as well as by experimentation on an example application based on the Netflix Open Source Software MSA stack, with encouraging results in terms of estimation accuracy and, especially, efficiency.
Adapting Educational and Psychological Tests for Cross-Cultural Assessment critically examines and advances new methods and practices for adapting tests for cross-cultural assessment and research. ...The International Test Commission (ITC) guidelines for test adaptation and conceptual and methodological issues in test adaptation are described in detail, and questions of ethics and concern for validity of test scores in cross-cultural contexts are carefully examined. Advances in test translation and adaptation methodology, including statistical identification of flawed test items, establishing equivalence of different language versions of a test, and methodologies for comparing tests in multiple languages, are reviewed and evaluated. The book also focuses on adapting ability, achievement, and personality tests for cross-cultural assessment in educational, industrial, and clinical settings.
This book furthers the ITC's mission of stimulating research on timely topics associated with assessment. It provides an excellent resource for courses in psychometric methods, test construction, and educational and/or psychological assessment, testing, and measurement. Written by internationally known scholars in psychometric methods and cross-cultural psychology, the collection of chapters should also provide essential information for educators and psychologists involved in cross-cultural assessment, as well as students aspiring to such careers.
Contents: Preface. Part I: Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Educational and Psychological Tests: Theoretical and Methodological Issues. R.K. Hambleton, Issues, Designs, and Technical Guidelines for Adapting Tests Into Multiple Languages and Cultures. F.J.R. van de Vijver, Y.H. Poortinga, Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Adapting Tests. T. Oakland, Selected Ethical Issues Relevant to Test Adaptations. S.G. Sireci, L. Patsula, R.K. Hambleton, Statistical Methods for Identifying Flaws in the Test Adaptation Process. S.G. Sireci, Using Bilinguals to Evaluate the Comparability of Different Language Versions of a Test. L.L. Cook, A.P. Schmitt-Cascallar, Establishing Score Comparability for Tests Given in Different Languages. L.L. Cook, A.P. Schmitt-Cascallar, C. Brown, Adapting Achievement and Aptitude Tests: A Review of Methodological Issues. Part II: Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Educational and Psychological Tests: Applications to Achievement, Aptitude, and Personality Tests. C.T. Fitzgerald, Test Adaptation in a Large-Scale Certification Program. C.Y. Maldonado, K.F. Geisinger, Conversion of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Into Spanish: An Early Test Adaption Effort of Considerable Consequence. N.K. Tanzer, Developing Tests for Use in Multiple Languages and Cultures: A Plea for Simultaneous Development. F. Drasgow, T.M. Probst, The Psychometrics of Adaptation: Evaluating Measurement Equivalence Across Languages and Cultures. M. Beller, N. Gafni, P. Hanani, Constructing, Adapting, and Validating Admissions Tests in Multiple Languages: The Israeli Case. P.F. Merenda, Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Educational and Psychological Testing. C.D. Spielberger, M.S. Moscoso, T.M. Brunner, Cross-Cultural Assessment of Emotional States and Personality Traits.
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