To develop a tool for testing internal validity of discrete choice experiment (DCE) data, deploy the program, and collect summary test results from a sample of active health researchers to ...demonstrate the practical utility of the tool in a wide range of health applications.
A previously developed Gauss program had been in use for testing internal validity. The program was translated to MATLAB and adapted, compiled, and deployed. Sixty-seven authors who had coauthored one or more published DCE studies between 2013 and 2016 were contacted by email; provided access to the tool, instructions, and an example data file; and invited to submit test summaries for tabulation.
Twenty-one researchers from 10 countries contributed test results from a total of 55 DCE data sets. Fifty-one studies included at least two out of a possible six tests. Attribute dominance was the most common test, and stability had the highest failure incidence. Only three summaries included a transitivity test, and no failures were detected.
It was possible to evaluate multiple internal validity checks for most data sets even when the experimental design did not explicitly include tests. Nevertheless, internal validity is rarely reported. Free availability of the tool for testing data quality could improve both reporting and more careful design of DCE studies to help validate and interpret stated preference data.
In For various pipe manufacturing processes, information on the pipe circumferential strain and stress state is needed (e.g. in the oil industry, the process of manufacturing seamless pipes with a ...conical shaft). This study's objective is to create a method for analyzing the strain and stress behavior of a pipe ring tensile specimen (PRTS) in the hoop direction. The potential for the creation of a PRTS is indicated by the absence of official standardized testing procedures. The use of the digital image correlation approach to test plastic PRTS is discussed in the paper. A steel instrument with two D blocks that has been particularly constructed is used to test PRTS. Over two D-shaped mandrels that are fixed to a tensile tool and a tensile testing machine, a 3D- printed PRTS is inserted. Three-dimensional Digital image correlation (3D DIC) method was used to record the strain evolution in the gage length of the specimens. All of the specimens are 3D scanned to verify the geometry of the cross-section of the PRTS following fracture. Five single PRTS were examined for the study. The results demonstrate that the DIC system, 3D printer, and scanner approach are efficient tools for characterizing the mechanical properties of pipes by mapping complete strain fields in steel PRTS.
Acute organophosphorus poisoning continues to be a detrimental problem and a potential cause of mortality especially in developing countries. Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase enzyme is the main ...mechanism of toxicity of such pesticides and measurement of acetylcholinesterase activity is the commonly used laboratory diagnosis approved for the purpose. It is now proved beyond any doubt that early intervention is beneficial for cases of acute organophosphorus poisoning and, therefore, considerable current interest has been generated for development of point of care testing tool for screening of the same. However, to the best of our knowledge so far the matter is not reviewed from the view of point of care testing tool development. In this paper, this subject is reviewed highlighting the methodological aspects and point of care testing tool development in the context of organophosphorus poisoning.
•Organophosphorus poisoning is common.•Early intervention is beneficial.•Specific antidote present•No approved point of care testing tool is present.
Soda-lime glass is widely used in many areas of daily life because of it is inexpensive, chemically stable, reasonably hard, extremely workable, and has excellent optical properties.
In use, it is ...subject to weathering degradation. This causes surface changes that reduce its optical properties. After carrying out a spectral characterization of their effects, we highlight that the changes produced have a specific signature in the LWIR band due to the IR absorbing properties of the glass. Therefore, LWIR cameras used as radiometers are perfectly suited for their quantification by a non-contact measurement of their LWIR apparent emissivity. The LWIR apparent emissivity is provided in a quantitative thermographic approach. Based on the imaging capabilities of the thermal camera, it is possible to generate a 2D mapping of the surface changes in the form of an emissogram.
The metrological capabilities of LWIR bolometric thermal cameras are then tested under laboratory conditions (strict control of influence temperatures) and under outdoor conditions. Under laboratory conditions, LWIR apparent emissivity is capable of quantifying specral anomalies as small as A=5%μm. The indicator is suitable for managing the effects of erosion and hydration of glass, respectively from 8 % of the eroded surface and from 100h of humid heat (2 years of natural exposure in a temperate climate). In outdoor conditions, the reflected temperature is an advantage because it improves the Type B accuracy of LWIR apparent emissivity measurements. Assuming a 3 °C non-uniformity of surface temperature, as it is the case for PV systems with active cooling, we conclude that erosion effects should be quantifiable from 48 % of the eroded surface, allowing optical transmittance losses of glass to be detected from 10 %. The effects of glass hydration remain difficult to manage due to the weakness of the spectral anomalies they produce.
BACKGROUND: A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance of the cortical neurons in the brain, which can cause changes in behavior, movements, feelings, and consciousness. Clinical ...signs and symptoms before, during, and after a seizure can help to determine the seizure onset. The use of standardized clinical testing tools has been reported as being valuable, although also challenging, by some institutions. This study investigated the effectiveness of implementing a new clinical testing tool designed with an emphasis on simplicity for use during and after seizures. METHODS: A pre-and-post evaluation study was conducted from January 2020 to November 2020 in the epilepsy monitoring unit/neurology unit at a hospital in Sydney, Australia. The primary outcome of interest was the incidence of clinical testing during seizures. The secondary outcome of interest was nurse knowledge about clinical testing during a seizure. This knowledge was measured via testing before and after clinical education sessions. The third outcome of interest was nurse confidence regarding the use of the clinical testing tool. The confidence level was measured via posteducation session follow-up surveying. RESULTS: Forty-seven nursing staff (10 neurophysiology nurse technologists and 37 neurology unit nurses) participated in the education program. Forty-four seizures were evaluated. Clinical testing during ictal and postictal periods was performed by nursing staff 82% of the time during 2020, compared with 67% during the 2018 to 2019 preeducation comparison period. This difference was not statistically significant, but it was clinically relevant (P = .07). In addition, the time from seizure alarm to clinical testing improved significantly from a median of 30.5 seconds in 2018 to 2019 to 14 seconds in 2020 (P < .001). CONCLUSION: The tool is easy and convenient for nursing staff to perform clinical examinations accurately during ictal and postictal periods.
Mutation testing is one of the oldest and unique testing techniques to perform white box testing of software applications. Code coverage becoming an increasing concern in the testing cycle of ...software, mutation testing technique aids in achieving higher code coverage and unearthing more number of errors at the testing site itself. The parameters like the database connectivity, session management, cookie management, are the beginning point of web application testing failures given the heterogeneity aspects associated with the development of a web application. A detailed account on list of available testing tools for performing mutation testing are presented here. A big bundle of mutation testing tools are still available, however they are not focussing on some of the crucial web vulnerabilities like session and cookie management in web apps. In the current work, a tool to perform mutation testing of web applications is developed and tested to see if desired results are occurring. An architecture of the tool is designed is discussed and presented. A brief analysis on results is presented.
In recent years, OpenACC has been used in many supercomputers and attracted many non-computer science specialists for parallelizing their programs in different scientific fields, including weather ...forecasting and simulations. OpenACC is a high-level programming model that supports parallelism and is easy to learn to use by adding high-level directives without considering too many low-level details. Testing parallel programs is a difficult task, made even harder if using programming models, especially if they have been badly programmed. If so, it will be challenging to detect their runtime errors as well as their causes, whether the error is from the user source code or from the programming model directives. Even when these errors are detected and the source code modified, we cannot guarantee that the errors have been corrected or are still hidden. There are many tools and studies that have investigated several programming models for identifying and detecting related errors. However, OpenACC has not been targeted clearly in any testing tool or previous studies, even though OpenACC has many benefits and features that could lead to increasing use in achieving parallel systems with less effort. In this paper, we enhance ACC_TEST with the ability to test OpenACC-based programs and detect runtime errors by using hybrid-testing techniques that enhance error coverage occurring in OpenACC as well as overheads and testing time.
The Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) has been considered the de-facto standard for communication between charge points and the central management system of the charge points. This paper presents a ...novel messages testing tool based on OCPP 1.6 to evaluate the conformance of the central system to the field category definitions specified by OCPP. The authors propose the test method, discuss the test case scenarios (positive and negative) used by the messages testing tool, and describe how to set up a test case to examine the system under test. Additionally, this study highlights the difference between the messages testing tool and the OCPP 1.6 Compliance Testing Tool (OCTT) provided by the Open Charge Alliance (OCA). To test its reliability, the message testing tool has been applied to an open-source central system platform. The result shows that the system under test is able to pass 100% of the positive test case scenarios, but only 33% of the negative test case scenarios. It is worth noting that similar results may occur in other central system platforms as well. The study's findings underscore the significance of using comprehensive messages testing tools during the development and release of central system platforms. This ensures conformance to the OCPP field category definitions and promotes reliable interoperability between charge points and central management systems.
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