Specification Phase Research Articles

Creating value with eHealth: identification of the value proposition with key stakeholders for the resilience navigator app

BackgroundFor a stress-management app to be persuasive and impactful, designers and developers should obtain a clear perspective of the value proposition according to key stakeholders before development. However, this is often not the case. In order to increase the chance of creating an impact by means of the Resilience Navigator app, this study aims to identify key stakeholders and work with them to gain an in-depth understanding of the value proposition of this stress-management app.MethodsThe approach used in this study builds on the approaches taken by Van Limburg et al. and Van Woezik et al. An initial list of stakeholders was identified by means of a literature scan. Stakeholders on this initial list took an online survey to identify key stakeholders with a ranking system. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a subset of key stakeholders to identify the value proposition using the value proposition canvas as a framework for data collection. Finally, the value proposition was validated by key stakeholders during focus groups.ResultsThe key stakeholders identified included employees, employers, participation councils within organisations, HR advisors, product owners, company doctors, and business analysts. The interviews produced a list of approximately one hundred values from which fifteen core values were distilled. One example is to take into account time constraints experienced by users during stress periods. In general, the Resilience Navigator app’s main goal is to increase awareness of personal stress levels and causes of stress. In addition, the sub-goal is to increase skills for effective stress management. The focus groups validated the idea that the most important values were reflected in the value proposition and had been appropriately translated into design elements, according to key stakeholders.ConclusionsA thorough, bottom-up identification and validation of the value proposition for the Resilience Navigator app was obtained, reflecting key stakeholders’ varying ideas on this piece of eHealth technology. The results will facilitate the continued development of the Resilience Navigator app from the value specification phase to the design phase. In the design phase, the remaining assumptions regarding the app’s value proposition should be tested using rapid prototyping.

Wnt signaling regulates neural plate patterning in distinct temporal phases with dynamic transcriptional outputs

The process that partitions the nascent vertebrate central nervous system into forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain, and spinal cord after neural induction is of fundamental interest in developmental biology, and is known to be dependent on Wnt/β-catenin signaling at multiple steps. Neural induction specifies neural ectoderm with forebrain character that is subsequently posteriorized by graded Wnt signaling: embryological and mutant analyses have shown that progressively higher levels of Wnt signaling induce progressively more posterior fates. However, the mechanistic link between Wnt signaling and the molecular subdivision of the neural ectoderm into distinct domains in the anteroposterior (AP) axis is still not clear. To better understand how Wnt mediates neural AP patterning, we performed a temporal dissection of neural patterning in response to manipulations of Wnt signaling in zebrafish. We show that Wnt-mediated neural patterning in zebrafish can be divided into three phases: (I) a primary AP patterning phase, which occurs during gastrulation, (II) a mes/r1 (mesencephalon-rhombomere 1) specification and refinement phase, which occurs immediately after gastrulation, and (III) a midbrain-hindbrain boundary (MHB) morphogenesis phase, which occurs during segmentation stages. A major outcome of these Wnt signaling phases is the specification of the major compartment divisions of the developing brain: first the MHB, then the diencephalic-mesencephalic boundary (DMB). The specification of these lineage divisions depends upon the dynamic changes of gene transcription in response to Wnt signaling, which we show primarily involves transcriptional repression or indirect activation. We show that otx2b is directly repressed by Wnt signaling during primary AP patterning, but becomes resistant to Wnt-mediated repression during late gastrulation. Also during late gastrulation, Wnt signaling becomes both necessary and sufficient for expression of wnt8b, en2a, and her5 in mes/r1. We suggest that the change in otx2b response to Wnt regulation enables a transition to the mes/r1 phase of Wnt-mediated patterning, as it ensures that Wnts expressed in the midbrain and MHB do not suppress midbrain identity, and consequently reinforce formation of the DMB. These findings integrate important temporal elements into our spatial understanding of Wnt-mediated neural patterning and may serve as an important basis for a better understanding of neural patterning defects that have implications in human health.

Approach Model Driven Engineering: Profiling Group Collaborative Learner in Mobile Learning

Abstract Model Driven Engineering (MDE) has shown its results in the software development, particularly with the Model Driven Architecture approach (MDA). While the learner group specification phase, to perform collaborative activities in an integrated Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) embedded system, is in-depth. Our proposal is based on the model driven engineering in the context of learner profile. Our hypothesis is the clustering analysis and then the use of models extracted from the group profile during collaborative mobile learning (m-Learning). These extracted models are at the heart of the approach we propose and which is the subject of this paper.

A Fuzzy Case-Based Reasoning Model for Software Requirements Specifications Quality Assessment

Different software Quality Assurance (SQA) audit techniques are applied in the literature to determine whether the required standards and procedures within the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) phase are adhered to. The inspection of the Software Requirements Specification (iSRS) system is an analytical assurance tool which is proposed to strengthen the ability to scrutinize how to optimally create high-quality SRSs. The iSRS utilizes a Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) model in carrying out the SRS quality analysis based on the experience of the previously analyzed cases. This paper presents the contribution of integrating fuzzy Logic technique in the CBR steps to form a Fuzzy Case-Based Reasoning (FCBR) model for improving the reasoning and accuracy of the iSRS system. Additionally, for efficient cases retrieval in the CBR, relevant cases selection and nearest cases selection heuristic search algorithms are used in the system. Basically, the input to the relevant cases algorithm is the available cases in the system case base and the output is the relevant cases. The input to the nearest cases algorithm is the relevant cases and the output is the nearest cases. The fuzzy Logic technique works on the selected nearest cases and it utilizes similarity measurement methods to classify the cases into no-match, partial-match and complete-match cases. The features matching results assist the revised step of the CBR to generate a new solution. The implementation of the new FCBR model shows that converting numerical representation to qualitative terms simplifies the matching process and improves the decision-making of the system.

Paradigms that define lung epithelial progenitor cell fate in development and regeneration.

Throughout the lifespan, lung injury impedes the primary critical function essential for life-respiration. To repair quickly and efficiently is critical and is orchestrated by a diverse repertoire of progenitor cells and their niche. This review incorporates knowledge gained from early studies in lung epithelial morphogenesis and cell fate and explores its relevance to more recent findings of lung progenitor and stem cells in development and regeneration. Cell fate in the lung is organized into an early specification phase and progressive differentiation phase in lung development. The advent of single cell analysis combined with lineage analysis and projections is uncovering new functional cell types in the lung providing a topographical atlas for progenitor cell lineage commitment during development, homeostasis, and regeneration. Lineage commitment of lung progenitor cells is spatiotemporally regulated during development. Single cell sequencing technologies have significantly advanced our understanding of the similarities and differences between developmental and regenerative cell fate trajectories. Subsequent unraveling of the molecular mechanisms underlying these cell fate decisions will be essential to manipulating progenitor cells for regeneration.

CoqTL: a Coq DSL for rule-based model transformation

In model-driven engineering, model transformation (MT) verification is essential for reliably producing software artifacts. While recent advancements have enabled automatic Hoare-style verification for non-trivial MTs, there are certain verification tasks (e.g. induction) that are intrinsically difficult to automate. Existing tools that aim at simplifying the interactive verification of MTs typically translate the MT specification (e.g. in ATL) and properties to prove (e.g. in OCL) into an interactive theorem prover. However, since the MT specification and proof phases happen in separate languages, the proof developer needs a detailed knowledge of the translation logic. Naturally, any error in the MT translation could cause unsound verification, i.e. the MT executed in the original environment may have different semantics from the verified MT. We propose an alternative solution by designing and implementing an internal domain-specific language, namely CoqTL, for the specification of declarative MTs directly in the Coq interactive theorem prover. Expressions in CoqTL are written in Gallina (the specification language of Coq), increasing the possibilities of reusing native Coq libraries in the transformation definition and proof. CoqTL specifications can be directly executed by our transformation engine encoded in Coq, or a certified implementation of the transformation can be generated by the native Coq extraction mechanism. We ensure that CoqTL has the same expressive power of Gallina (i.e. if a MT can be computed in Gallina, then it can also be represented in CoqTL). In this article, we introduce CoqTL, evaluate its practical applicability on a use case, and identify its current limitations.

An effective approach to develop location-based augmented reality information support

Using location-based augmented reality (AR) for pedestrian navigation can greatly improve user action to reduce the travel time. Pedestrian navigation differs in many ways from the conventional navigation system used in a car or other vehicles. A major issue with using location-based AR for navigation to a specific landmark is their quality of usability, especially if the active screen is overcrowded with the augmented POI markers which were overlap each other at the same time. This paper describes the user journey map approach that led to new insights about how users were using location-based AR for navigation. These insights led to a deep understanding of challenges that user must face when using location-based AR application for pedestrian navigation purpose, and more generally, they helped the development team to appreciate the variety of user experience in software requirement specification phase. To prove our concept, a prototype of intuitive location-based AR was built to be compared with existing standard-location based AR. The user evaluation results reveal that the overall functional requirements which are gathered from user journey have same level of success rate criteria when compared with standard location-based AR. Nevertheless, the field study participants highlighted the extended features in our prototype could significantly enhance the user action on locating the right object in particular place when compared with standard location-based AR application (proved with the required time).

TMEM88 Inhibits Wnt Signaling by Promoting Wnt Signalosome Localization to Multivesicular Bodies.

SummaryWnt/β-catenin signaling is regulated in a bimodal fashion during cardiogenesis. Signaling is initially required to promote generation of precardiac mesoderm, but subsequently must be repressed for cardiac progenitor specification. TMEM88 was discovered recently as a negative regulator during the later phase of cardiac progenitor specification, but how TMEM88 functions was unknown. Based on a C-terminal PDZ-binding motif, TMEM88 was proposed to act by targeting the PDZ domain of Dishevelled, the positive Wnt signaling mediator. However, we discovered that TMEM88 acts downstream of the β-catenin destruction complex and can inhibit Wnt signaling independent of Dishevelled. TMEM88 requires the PDZ-binding motif for trafficking from Golgi to the plasma membrane and is also found in the multivesicular body (MVB) associated with the endocytosed Wnt signalosome. Expression of Tmem88 promotes association of the Wnt signalosome including β-catenin to the MVB, leading to reduced accumulation of nuclear β-catenin and repression of Wnt signaling.

Rapid Formal Verification as Requirements Stage Verification and Validation Technique

Early formal verification of a system during initial stages of development has the potential to improve the confidence in the system specifications, in addition to improving the formal verifiability throughout the software development cycle. A formal verification methodology is derived to achieve system modelling and verification during the requirements specification and system design phase. This is achieved by using Focus Stream theory for developing a formal system model derived from requirements analysis leading to a preliminary software design. This results into component architecture and it incorporates the development of component behaviour using Finite Sate Machines. The models developed for real time system encompass modelling of infinite state domains. After model development, formal property enumeration under various categories is done. An enhanced safety property verification is proposed and implemented using Linear Temporal Logic propositions, pattern based properties and system safety based property patterns. Properties verification on the model is done in order to validate and refine the specifications. Derived properties are verified using NuXMV Satisfiability Modulo Theories based algorithms. Tool verification as mandated in RTCA DO-330 is incorporated in the proposed methodology. The proposed approach is practical, implementable by system designers and scalable to handle industrial systems.

An ontology-based module of the information system ScolioMedIS for 3D digital diagnosis of adolescent scoliosis

Background and objectiveConventional information systems are built on top of a relational database. The main weakness of these systems is impossibility to define stable data schema ahead when the knowledge of the system is evolving and dynamic. The widely accepted alternatives to relational databases are ontologies that can be used for designing information systems. Many research papers describe various methods for improving reliability and precision in generating the type of the Lenke classification based on the image processing techniques or a computer program, but all of them require radiograph images. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the development of an ontology-based module of the information system ScolioMedIS for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) diagnosis and monitoring, which uses optical 3D methods to determine the Lenke classification of AIS and to avoid harmful effects of traditional radiation diagnosis. MethodsFor creating an ontology-based module of the ScolioMedIS we used the following steps: specification, conceptualization, formalization and implementation. In the specification and conceptualization phase we performed data collection and analysis to define domain, concepts and relationships for ontology design. In the formalization and implementation stage we developed the OBR-Scolio ontology and the ontology-based module of the ScolioMedIS. The module employs the Protégé-OWL API, as a collection of Java interfaces for the OBR-Scolio ontology, which enables the creating, deleting, and editing of the basic elements of the OBR-Scolio ontology, as well as the querying of the ontology. ResultsThe ontology-based module of ScolioMedIS is tested on the datasets of 20 female and 15 male patients with AIS between the ages of 11 and 18, to categorize spinal curvatures and to automatically generate statistical indicators about the frequency of the basic spinal curvatures, degree of progression or regression of deformity and statistical indicators about curvature characteristics according to the Lenke classification system and Lenke scoliosis types. Results are then compared with analysis of the Lenke classification of 315 observed patients, performed using traditional radiation techniques. ConclusionsThis part of the system allows continuous monitoring of the progression/regression of spinal curvatures for each registered patient, which may provide a better management of scoliosis (diagnosis and treatment).

The Adaptation Characteristics of Traditional Dwelling in Bawean to The Environmental Condition at Indonesian Archipelago

The Indonesian archipelago has typical traditional dwelling richness on every island. In island city, Bawean, the wind effect becomes very critical to the identification of environmental adaptation of its dwelling. The aim of this study was to identify the adaptation characteristics of traditional dwelling to the environmental archipelago condition of Bawean island. In this study, two main dwellings as references are the traditional houses, Bangsal or Limas and Barn, Durung. Generally, this research involves two major steps as follows: (1) Identification and specification phase (field observations, measurements) of the characteristics of building performance, (2) Simulation phase of the thermal performance of traditional house (using Ecotect Analysis and CFD Programs). This results highlighted that the houses performance is not optimum, both in spreads and compact orders. Meanwhile, Durung has better performance, only 17% of the samples are in discomfort condition (spread or compact). The optimum condition is achieved when the settlement spread out, otherwise uncomfortable when it is in the dense environment. The houses in daytime conditions are in the discomfort conditions and lower cooling load, while the night-time conditions are in the quadrant of optimum conditions, comfort, and low cooling load.

Today Was a Good Day: The Daily Life of Software Developers

What is a good workday for a software developer? What is a typical workday? We seek to answer these two questions to learn how to make good days typical. Concretely, answering these questions will help to optimize development processes and select tools that increase job satisfaction and productivity. Our work adds to a large body of research on how software developers spend their time. We report the results from 5,971 responses of professional developers at Microsoft, who reflected about what made their workdays good and typical, and self-reported about how they spent their time on various activities at work. We developed conceptual frameworks to help define and characterize developer workdays from two new perspectives: good and typical. Our analysis confirms some findings in previous work, including the fact that developers actually spend little time on development and developers' aversion for meetings and interruptions. It also discovered new findings, such as that only 1.7 percent of survey responses mentioned emails as a reason for a bad workday, and that meetings and interruptions are only unproductive during development phases; during phases of planning, specification and release, they are common and constructive. One key finding is the importance of agency, developers' control over their workday and whether it goes as planned or is disrupted by external factors. We present actionable recommendations for researchers and managers to prioritize process and tool improvements that make good workdays typical. For instance, in light of our finding on the importance of agency, we recommend that, where possible, managers empower developers to choose their tools and tasks.

An Analysis of the Impact of Transient Faults on the Performance of the CAN-FD Protocol

The increasing complexity of distributed real-time control systems in the vehicular area has led to the development of new protocols, such as controller area network with a flexible data rate (CAN-FD), that provides high-bandwidth communication with FD rate. Different topologies are used to interconnect electronic control units in safety-critical applications in the automotive area and the applied communication protocols, such as CAN-FD, must comply with reliability requirements. Moreover, the functional operations must be tested to their limits, since they require appropriate assessment techniques for different application scenarios. Recent research has highlighted that power switching systems cause transient faults that affect the communication network. In light of this concern, this paper explores the IEC/TS 62228:2007 and ISO 26262-3/4/9:2018 standards that can act as guidelines for the development of a test method and testing board for evaluating the impact of electrical fast transients on the performance of a distributed automotive control system. Metrics such as difference jitter, average jitter, and packet loss, are used to determine the fault impact on the control law of a critical vehicular control system. The experiments that were conducted show that during the four test scenarios in which the testing board was used, the average jitter increased from 10.41 to 29.05% in the worst case scenario. These results highlight the importance of carrying out consistent tests to prevent critical situations and that these data can be used in software requirements specification phases to improve reliability in vehicular control systems.

What Are Basic Liberties?

Two moral powers are central to Rawls’s approach to specifying the basic liberties: the capacity for a sense of justice and the capacity for a conception of the good. The fundamental case in which the first capacity is exercised is in “the application of the principles of justice to the basic structure and its social policies”. The fundamental case in which the second capacity is exercised is in “forming, revising, and rationally pursuing such a conception over a complete life”. Rawls distinguishes between two phases of specification. In the first, a list of basic liberties is identified at a high level of abstraction. In the second, the significance of different particular liberties is determined and adjudication over conflicts between them occurs. Rawls’s complete account, we argue, defines as basic those liberties that are necessary to the provision of the social conditions essential for the full and informed exercise of the moral powers (first phase) in the two fundamental cases (second phase). We argue that this account excludes certain particular liberties that it should not: e.g., some forms of freedom of movement. We suggest that probability should take over the role assigned to necessity in Rawls’s account. On this approach also, however, some particular freedoms rightly regarded by Rawls as basic liberties do not meet the definition. To remedy this, we appeal to the liberal principle of legitimacy and we defend this move.

Big Data Anonymization in Cloud using k-Anonymity Algorithm using Map Reduce Framework

Anonymization techniques are enforced to provide privacy protection for the data published on cloud. These techniques include various algorithms to generalize or suppress the data. Top Down Specification in k anonymity is the best generalization algorithm for data anonymization. As the data increases on cloud, data analysis becomes very tedious. Map reduce framework can be adapted to process on these huge amount of Big Data. We implement generalized method using Map phase and Reduce Phase for data anonymization on cloud in two different phases of Top Down Specification.

Model-based Construction and Verification of Cyber-Physical Systems

By combining communication, computation, and control (3C), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)0tightly couple the physical world with the cyber-world, to enable more applications, enhance performance, increase dependability and etc. Among these goals, as CPS are widely used in the safety-critical area, guaranteeing the basic dependability/safety is after all the prerequisite and often the top concern. However, the behavior of CPS is extremely complex. First of all, due to the existence of both discrete control modes transition and continuous real-time behavior in CPS, the behavior of CPS is a complex hybrid state space, which is difficult to understand and handle. Secondly, most CPS applications are working in the open environment and acquiring real-time data from the environment intensively to adjust their own behavior. The dynamic environment makes the behavior space more complex to reason. When a system is too complex to analyze directly, building an abstract model of the system and then conducting analysis on the model to answer questions about the original system is an important and widely-used method. Meanwhile, a reasonable model also plays important roles in the phase of specification, design, development, testing, monitoring and so on. Therefore, it is an important topic of investigating how model-based methods can be applied in the context of CPS to increase the quality and dependability of the system. During the past decade, our research group at Nanjing University has devoted a lot of efforts into this mission. We conducted comprehensive research in a wide spectrum of CPS including model-driven design, verification, control, monitoring, and testing. In this paper, we will make a general review of the progress we made on these directions recently.

In vitro conversion of adult murine endothelial cells to hematopoietic stem cells.

The ability to generate hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in vitro would have an immeasurable impact on many areas of clinical practice, including trauma, cancer, and congenital disease. In this protocol, we describe a stepwise approach that converts adult murine endothelial cells (ECs) to HSCs, termed 'reprogrammed ECs into hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells' (rEC-HSPCs). The conversion, which is achieved without cells transitioning through a pluripotent state, comprises three phases: induction, specification, and expansion. Adult ECs are first isolated from Runx1-IRES-GFP; Rosa26-rtTa mice and maintained in culture under EC growth factor stimulation and Tgfβ inhibition. In the first (induction) phase of conversion (days 0-8), four transcription factors (TFs)-FosB, Gfi1, Runx1, and Spi1 (FGRS)-are expressed transiently, which results in endogenous Runx1 expression. During the second (specification) phase (days 8-20), endogenous Runx1+ FGRS-transduced ECs commit to a hematopoietic fate and no longer require exogenous FGRS expression. Finally, the vascular niche drives robust proliferation of rEC-HSPCs during the expansion phase (days 20-28). The resulting converted cells possess a transcriptomic signature and long-term self-renewal capacity indistinguishable from those of adult HSCs. In this protocol, we also describe functional in vitro and in vivo assays that can be used to demonstrate that rEC-HSPCs are competent for clonal engraftment and possess multi-lineage reconstitution potential, including antigen-dependent adaptive immune function. This approach thus provides a tractable strategy for interrogating the generation of engraftable hematopoietic cells, advancing the mechanistic understanding of hematopoietic development and HSC self-renewal.

Relationship between psychophysiological measures during an imitation-inhibition task and personal traits

The development of a software application involves several phases ranging from the specification to coding and including all of the test phases. In the specification, architecture and design phases, the use of a model is a way to capture the need for and choice of implementation. Finally, it is possible to implement models to perform the verification but also to select test cases. In the specification phase, modeling is part of requirement elicitation

Methods for testing automation and control

During the commissioning of the substation automation systems (SASs) with protection, automation and control traditionally the main focus of testing is on testing the protection system and its settings. Protection testing uses established methods. When looking at the time spent during commissioning, testing the automation and communication system nowadays consumes even more time than testing the protection. Automation systems became increasingly complex and the efforts for testing communication and proper operation of all signals transmitted to the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems grew dramatically. This study describes a new approach to be used in all phases of the lifecycle of SAS. By utilizing the data available in substation configuration description (SCD) files it is possible to introduce new and more efficient methods for factory acceptance testing (FAT) and site acceptance testing (SAT). The approach identifies potential signals to be tested in the SCD file. Communication links and the used IEC 61850 services are recognized, documented and can be used for generating test plans. These test templates can be created during the specification phase, adapted for FAT and subsequently reused during SAT. Requirements for test equipment will be identified. An example of technical realization will be presented.

Embryonic neurogenesis in echinoderms.

The phylogenetic position of echinoderms is well suited to revealing shared features of deuterostomes that distinguish them from other bilaterians. Although echinoderm neurobiology remains understudied, genomic resources, molecular methods, and systems approaches have enabled progress in understanding mechanisms of embryonic neurogenesis. Even though the morphology of echinoderm larvae is diverse, larval nervous systems, which arise during gastrulation, have numerous similarities in their organization. Diverse neural subtypes and specialized sensory neurons have been identified and details of neuroanatomy using neuron-specific labels provide hypotheses for neural function. The early patterning of ectoderm and specification of axes has been well studied in several species and underlying gene regulatory networks have been established. The cells giving rise to central and peripheral neural components have been identified in urchins and sea stars. Neurogenesis includes typical metazoan features of asymmetric division of neural progenitors and in some cases limited proliferation of neural precursors. Delta/Notch signaling has been identified as having critical roles in regulating neural patterning and differentiation. Several transcription factors functioning in pro-neural phases of specification, neural differentiation, and sub-type specification have been identified and structural or functional components of neurons are used as differentiation markers. Several methods for altering expression in embryos have revealed aspects of a regulatory hierarchy of transcription factors in neurogenesis. Interfacing neurogenic gene regulatory networks to the networks regulating ectodermal domains and identifying the spatial and temporal inputs that pattern the larval nervous system is a major challenge that will contribute substantially to our understanding of the evolution of metazoan nervous systems. This article is categorized under: Comparative Development and Evolution > Model Systems Comparative Development and Evolution > Body Plan Evolution Early Embryonic Development > Gastrulation and Neurulation.