Software testing is a vital part of software engineering process. Automated testing makes this process more accurate and more efficient. For automated testing, many different testing tools were ...introduced. Due to the large number and the variety of testing tools, selecting the appropriate tools became a difficult confusable task. This research aims at developing a comprehensive taxonomy for testing tools that cover a broad range of testing tools criteria. This comprehensive view would help software developers and software vendors to specify the testing tool/s they need/develop accurately. In details, the framework includes two main parts: (1) comprehensive taxonomy of testing tools; (2) multi-criteria selection method. The first part covers different criteria of testing tools. Because these criteria are large in numbers, wide and variant, a taxonomy of these criteria is needed. This taxonomy will help developers distinguish among testing tools based on a wide spectrum of different criteria. The second part of the framework is a multi-criteria selection method; that enables software developers to choose the appropriate testing tool using a systematic and adequate automated manner. The selection method employs scientific two well-known methods of multi-criteria decision-making techniques; Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The testing tools taxonomy is well validated by academic professionals in software engineering and achieved good scores in terms of significance, usefulness and comprehension. Academics reported that the taxonomy is slightly complex and needs to be simplified. The selection method was validated using different scenarios to prove the quality of selection even in complex cases with many criteria and many alternatives.
As one of the major approaches in combating the COVID-19 pandemics, the availability of specific and reliable assays for the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome and its proteins is essential to identify the ...infection in suspected populations, make diagnoses in symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals, and determine clearance of the virus after the infection. For these purposes, use of the quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) for detection of the viral nucleic acid remains the most valuable in terms of its specificity, fast turn-around, high-throughput capacity, and reliability. It is critical to update the sequences of primers and probes to ensure the detection of newly emerged variants. Various assays for increased levels of IgG or IgM antibodies are available for detecting ongoing or past infection, vaccination responses, and persistence and for identifying high titers of neutralizing antibodies in recovered individuals. Viral genome sequencing is increasingly used for tracing infectious sources, monitoring mutations, and subtype classification and is less valuable in diagnosis because of its capacity and high cost. Nanopore target sequencing with portable options is available for a quick process for sequencing data. Emerging CRISPR-Cas-based assays, such as SHERLOCK and AIOD-CRISPR, for viral genome detection may offer options for prompt and point-of-care detection. Moreover, aptamer-based probes may be multifaceted for developing portable and high-throughput assays with fluorescent or chemiluminescent probes for viral proteins. In conclusion, assays are available for viral genome and protein detection, and the selection of specific assays depends on the purposes of prevention, diagnosis and pandemic control, or monitoring of vaccination efficacy.
During the COVID-19 pandemics, sensitive and reliable assays for SARS-CoV-2 detection are essential for screening the population, identifying asymptomatic individuals, making diagnoses, monitoring treatment responses, and determining viral clearance. This review summarizes the principles, advantages, disadvantages, and specific applications of currently available assays for detection of the viral nucleotide, genome or proteins, as well as host antibody responses, and provide overall guidelines for selection of optimal assays for specific usage.
To face the current COVID-19 pandemic, diagnostic tools are essential. It is recommended to use real-time RT-PCR for RNA viruses in order (a) to perform a rapid and accurate diagnostic, (b) to guide ...patient care and management and (c) to guide epidemiological strategies. Further studies are warranted to define the role of serological diagnosis and a possible correlation between serological response and prognosis.
The aim was to guide clinical microbiologists in the use of these diagnostic tests and clinicians in the interpretation of their results.
A search of literature was performed through PubMed and Google Scholar using the keywords SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnosis, SARS-CoV-2 immune response, SARS-CoV-2 serology/antibody testing, coronavirus diagnosis.
The present review discusses performances, limitations and use of current and future diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2.
Real-time RT-PCR remains the reference method for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. On the other hand, notwithstanding its varying sensitivity according to the time of infection, serology represents a valid asset (a) to try to solve possible discrepancies between a highly suggestive clinical and radiological presentation and negative RT-PCR, (b) to solve discrepancies between different PCR assays and (c) for epidemiological purposes.
Search-based optimization techniques have been applied to structural software test data generation since 1992, with a recent upsurge in interest and activity within this area. However, despite the ...large number of recent studies on the applicability of different search-based optimization approaches, there has been very little theoretical analysis of the types of testing problem for which these techniques are well suited. There are also few empirical studies that present results for larger programs. This paper presents a theoretical exploration of the most widely studied approach, the global search technique embodied by Genetic Algorithms. It also presents results from a large empirical study that compares the behavior of both global and local search-based optimization on real-world programs. The results of this study reveal that cases exist of test data generation problem that suit each algorithm, thereby suggesting that a hybrid global-local search (a Memetic Algorithm) may be appropriate. The paper presents a Memetic Algorithm along with further empirical results studying its performance.
Despite scientific and clinical advances in the field of pharmacogenomics (PGx), application into routine care remains limited. Opportunely, several implementation studies and programs have been ...initiated over recent years. This article presents an overview of these studies and identifies current research gaps. Importantly, one such gap is the undetermined collective clinical utility of implementing a panel of PGx‐markers into routine care, because the evidence base is currently limited to specific, individual drug‐gene pairs. The Ubiquitous Pharmacogenomics (U‐PGx) Consortium, which has been funded by the European Commission's Horizon‐2020 program, aims to address this unmet need. In a prospective, block‐randomized, controlled clinical study (PREemptive Pharmacogenomic testing for prevention of Adverse drug REactions PREPARE), pre‐emptive genotyping of a panel of clinically relevant PGx‐markers, for which guidelines are available, will be implemented across healthcare institutions in seven European countries. The impact on patient outcomes and cost‐effectiveness will be investigated. The program is unique in its multicenter, multigene, multidrug, multi‐ethnic, and multihealthcare system approach.
The B.1.427/1.429 in Syrian hamsters Carroll, Timothy; Fox, Douglas; van Doremalen, Neeltje ...
PLoS pathogens,
02/2022, Volume:
18, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
As novel SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to emerge, it is critical that their potential to cause severe disease and evade vaccine-induced immunity is rapidly assessed in humans and studied in animal ...models. In early January 2021, a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant designated B.1.429 comprising 2 lineages, B.1.427 and B.1.429, was originally detected in California (CA) and it was shown to have enhanced infectivity in vitro and decreased antibody neutralization by plasma from convalescent patients and vaccine recipients. Here we examine the virulence, transmissibility, and susceptibility to pre-existing immunity for B 1.427 and B 1.429 in the Syrian hamster model. We find that both variants exhibit enhanced virulence as measured by increased body weight loss compared to hamsters infected with ancestral B.1 (614G), with B.1.429 causing the most marked body weight loss among the 3 variants. Faster dissemination from airways to parenchyma and more severe lung pathology at both early and late stages were also observed with B.1.429 infections relative to B.1. (614G) and B.1.427 infections. In addition, subgenomic viral RNA (sgRNA) levels were highest in oral swabs of hamsters infected with B.1.429, however sgRNA levels in lungs were similar in all three variants. This demonstrates that B.1.429 replicates to higher levels than ancestral B.1 (614G) or B.1.427 in the oropharynx but not in the lungs. In multi-virus in-vivo competition experiments, we found that B.1. (614G), epsilon (B.1.427/B.1.429) and gamma (P.1) dramatically outcompete alpha (B.1.1.7), beta (B.1.351) and zeta (P.2) in the lungs. In the nasal cavity, B.1. (614G), gamma, and epsilon dominate, but the highly infectious alpha variant also maintains a moderate size niche. We did not observe significant differences in airborne transmission efficiency among the B.1.427, B.1.429 and ancestral B.1 (614G) and WA-1 variants in hamsters. These results demonstrate enhanced virulence and high relative oropharyngeal replication of the epsilon (B.1.427/B.1.429) variant in Syrian hamsters compared to an ancestral B.1 (614G) variant.
Among the many software testing techniques available today, fuzzing has remained highly popular due to its conceptual simplicity, its low barrier to deployment, and its vast amount of empirical ...evidence in discovering real-world software vulnerabilities. At a high level, fuzzing refers to a process of repeatedly running a program with generated inputs that may be syntactically or semantically malformed. While researchers and practitioners alike have invested a large and diverse effort towards improving fuzzing in recent years, this surge of work has also made it difficult to gain a comprehensive and coherent view of fuzzing. To help preserve and bring coherence to the vast literature of fuzzing, this paper presents a unified, general-purpose model of fuzzing together with a taxonomy of the current fuzzing literature. We methodically explore the design decisions at every stage of our model fuzzer by surveying the related literature and innovations in the art, science, and engineering that make modern-day fuzzers effective.
Wire rope inspection by nondestructive testing methods, sensors and signal processing techniques are mainly reviewed in this paper. Owing to the difference of physical mechanism and testing ...principles, magnetic flux leakage, eddy current, acoustic emission and ultrasonic guide wave testing as well as other inspection methods for steel wire rope are summarized. Then, the commonly and frequently used testing sensors of inductive coil, hall element, magnetoresistive sensors and others are compared in the perspective of their corresponding operating principles, development situation, advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, signal processing techniques including the signal filtering techniques such as the time and frequency analysis methods, quantitative data processing methods such as the machine learning and defect classification are studied. Finally, the challenges and future developing trends of wire rope inspection in practical applications are discussed.
Background: In biomedical research, the past two decades have seen the advent of in vitro model systems based on stem cells, humanized cell lines, and engineered organotypic tissues, as well as ...numerous cellular assays based on primarily established tumor-derived cell lines and their genetically modified derivatives. Objective: There are high hopes that these systems might replace the need for animal testing in regulatory toxicology. However, despite increasing pressure in recent years to reduce animal testing, regulators are still reluctant to adopt in vitro approaches on a large scale. It thus seems appropriate to consider how we could realistically perform regulatory toxicity testing using in vitro assays only. Discussion and Conclusion: Here, we suggest an in vitro—only approach for regulatory testing that will benefit consumers, industry, and regulators alike.
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