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Engineering trustworthy software systems : 4th International School, SETSS 2018, Chongqing, China, April 7-12, 2018, Tutorial Lectures
This volume contains lectures on leading-edge research in methods and tools for use in computer system engineering; at the 4th International School on Engineering Trustworthy Software Systems, SETSS 2018, held in April 2018 at Southwest University in Chongqing, China. The five chapters in this volume provide an overview of research in the frontier of theories, methods, and tools for software modelling, design, and verification. The topics covered in these chapter include Software Verification with Whiley, Learning Büchi Automata and Its Applications, Security in IoT Applications, Programming in Z3, and The Impact of Alan Turing: Formal Methods and Beyond. The volume provides a useful resource for postgraduate students, resarchers, academics, and engineers in industry, who are interested in theory, methods, and tools for the development of trustworthy software.
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Influence of temperature on microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation for soil treatment
Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a potential method for improvement of soil. A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the influence of temperatures for soil improvement by MICP. The ureolytic activity experiments, MICP experiments in aqueous solution and sand column using Sporosarcina pasteurii were conducted at different temperatures(10, 15, 20, 25 and 30°C). The results showed there were microbially induced CaCO3 precipitation at all the temperatures from 10 to 30°C. The results of ureolytic activity experiments showed that the bacterial had higher ureolytic activity at high temperatures within the early 20 hours, however, the ureolytic activity at higher temperatures decreased more quickly than at lower temperatures. The results of MICP experiments in aqueous solution and sand column were consistent with tests of ureolytic activity. Within 20 to 50 hours of the start of the test, more CaCO3 precipitation was precipitated at higher temperature, subsequently, the precipitation rate of all experiments decreased, and the higher the temperature, the faster the precipitation rate dropped. The final precipitation amount of CaCO3 in aqueous solution and sand column tests at 10 °C was 92% and 37% higher than that at 30 °C. The maximum unconfined compressive strength of MICP treated sand column at 10 °C was 135% higher than that at 30 °C. The final treatment effect of MICP at lower temperature was better than that at high temperature within the temperature range studied. The reason for better treatment effect at lower temperatures was due to the longer retention time of ureolytic activity of bacteria at lower temperatures.
Journal Article
Can shifting attention to accuracy reduce misinformation on social media? A replication and extension in China
The inattention-based theory of Pennycook et al. (
2020
) holds that because social media context focuses attention on factors other than accuracy the sharing of online misinformation is often unintentional. They provided evidence in the context of COVID-19 misinformation by conducting two survey experiments with more than 1700 U.S. participants. The present study replicates and expands on the original study of Pennycook et al. (
2020
) through research on the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 in China. The study recruited 1319 participants through the Credamo platform for three survey experiments and found support for the original findings. First, participants discern far less between true and false information when asked about share intention compare to when asked about the accuracy of the information. Second, an intervention that nudges people to think about accuracy by asking participants to evaluate the accuracy of information unrelated to COVID-19 can significantly improve the quality of information sharing. Third, inattention-based theory can explain more than 37% of COVID-19 misinformation sharing in China.
Journal Article
Hydrophobic carbon dots with blue dispersed emission and red aggregation-induced emission
Carbon dots (CDs) have been studied for years as one of the most promising fluorescent nanomaterials. However, CDs with red or solid-state fluorescence are rarely reported. Herein, through a one-pot solvothermal treatment, hydrophobic CDs (H-CDs) with blue dispersed emission and red aggregation-induced emission are obtained. When water is introduced, the hydrophobic interaction leads to aggregation of the H-CDs. The formation of H-CD clusters induces the turning off of the blue emission, as the carbonized cores suffer from π-π stacking interactions, and the turning on of the red fluorescence, due to restriction of the surfaces’ intramolecular rotation around disulfide bonds, which conforms to the aggregation-induced-emission phenomenon. This on-off fluorescence of the H-CDs is reversible when the H-CD powder is completely dissolved. Moreover, the H-CD solution dispersed in filter paper is nearly colorless. Finally, we develop a reversible two switch-mode luminescence ink for advanced anti-counterfeiting and dual-encryption.
Carbon dots that display long-wavelength and multicolor emission are desirable for biological and anti-counterfeiting applications. Here, the authors design hydrophobic carbon dots with reversible two-mode fluorescence, which exhibit blue emission when dissolved in solution, and red solid-state fluorescence when aggregated.
Journal Article
Age-associated decline of Coenzyme A leads to intestinal stem cells dysfunction via disturbing iron homeostasis
The decline in adult stem cell performance is closely linked to tissue malfunction and the rising incidence of age-related diseases. To investigate the molecular basis of these impairments, our screening strategy identified reduced activity in the pantothenate/coenzyme A (CoA) pathway within aged ISCs. Furthermore, exogenous CoA supplementation restructured ISC metabolic pathways, reversing age-induced hyperproliferation and intestinal dysfunction, and thus extending Drosophila lifespan by curbing excessive iron accumulation in ISCs. These findings uncover a new mechanism of stem cell aging and propose that pantothenate and CoA could be potential therapeutic targets for treating age-related diseases and enhancing healthy aging in humans.
Journal Article
Classification of Circulating Tumor Cells by Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Markers
In cancer, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is associated with metastasis. Characterizing EMT phenotypes in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has been challenging because epithelial marker-based methods have typically been used for the isolation and detection of CTCs from blood samples. The aim of this study was to use the optimized CanPatrol CTC enrichment technique to classify CTCs using EMT markers in different types of cancers. The first step of this technique was to isolate CTCs via a filter-based method; then, an RNA in situ hybridization (RNA-ISH) method based on the branched DNA signal amplification technology was used to classify the CTCs according to EMT markers. Our results indicated that the efficiency of tumor cell recovery with this technique was at least 80%. When compared with the non-optimized method, the new method was more sensitive and more CTCs were detected in the 5-ml blood samples. To further validate the new method, 164 blood samples from patients with liver, nasopharyngeal, breast, colon, gastric cancer, or non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were collected for CTC isolation and characterization. CTCs were detected in 107 (65%) of 164 blood samples, and three CTC subpopulations were identified using EMT markers, including epithelial CTCs, biophenotypic epithelial/mesenchymal CTCs, and mesenchymal CTCs. Compared with the earlier stages of cancer, mesenchymal CTCs were more commonly found in patients in the metastatic stages of the disease in different types of cancers. Circulating tumor microemboli (CTM) with a mesenchymal phenotype were also detected in the metastatic stages of cancer. Classifying CTCs by EMT markers helps to identify the more aggressive CTC subpopulation and provides useful evidence for determining an appropriate clinical approach. This method is suitable for a broad range of carcinomas.
Journal Article
Transcriptome analyses reveal the utilization of nitrogen sources and related metabolic mechanisms of Sporosarcina pasteurii
In recent years, Sporosarcina pasteurii (S . pasteurii) has become one of the most popular bacteria in microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP). Various applications have been developed based on the efficient urease that can induce the precipitation of calcium carbonate. However, the metabolic mechanism related to biomineralization of S . pasteurii has not been clearly elucidated. The process of bacterial culture and biomineralization consumes a large amount of urea or ammonium salts, which are usually used as agricultural fertilizers, not to mention probable environmental pollutions caused by the excessive use of these raw materials. Therefore, it is urgent to reveal the mechanism of nitrogen utilization and metabolism of S . pasteurii . In this paper, we compared the growth and gene expression of S . pasteurii under three different culture conditions through transcriptome analyses. GO and KEGG analyses revealed that both ammonium and urea were direct nitrogen sources of S . pasteurii , and the bacteria could not grow normally in the absence of ammonium or urea. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first one to reveal the nitrogen utilization mechanism of S . pasteurii through transcriptome methods. Furthermore, the presence of ammonium might promote the synthesis of intracellular ATP and enhance the motility of the bacteria. There should be an ATP synthesis mechanism associated with urea hydrolysis catalyzed by urease in S . pasteurii .
Journal Article
A synthesis method for zero-sum mean-payoff asynchronous probabilistic games
The traditional synthesis problem aims to automatically construct a reactive system (if it exists) satisfying a given Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) specifications, and is often referred to as a qualitative problem. There is also a class of synthesis problems aiming at quantitative properties, such as mean-payoff values, and this type of problem is called a quantitative problem. For the two types of synthesis problems, the research on the former has been relatively mature, and the latter also has received huge amounts of attention. System designers prefer to synthesize systems that satisfy resource constraints. To this end, this paper focuses on the reactive synthesis problem of combining quantitative and qualitative objectives. First, zero-sum mean-payoff asynchronous probabilistic games are proposed, where the system aims at the expected mean payoff in a probabilistic environment while satisfying an LTL winning condition against an adversarial environment. Then, the case of taking the wider class of Generalized Reactivity(1) (GR(1)) formula as an LTL winning condition is studied, that is, the synthesis problem of the expected mean payoffs is studied for the system with the probability of winning. Next, two symbolic algorithms running in polynomial time are proposed to calculate the expected mean payoffs, and both algorithms adopt uniform random strategies. Combining the probability of system winning, the expected mean payoffs of the system when it has the probability of winning is calculated. Finally, our two algorithms are implemented, and their convergence and volatility are demonstrated through experiments.
Journal Article
Effects of Nutrient Composition and Lettuce Cultivar on Crop Production in Hydroponic Culture
A greenhouse research study was conducted at Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, NM, USA, in 2019 to examine the effects of different nutrient solutions on the growth and weight of two lettuce cultivars grown in a floating hydroponic system. Two lettuce cultivars, Buttercrunch and Black Seeded Simpson, were subjected to one of four different nutrient concentrations of N, K and Ca at 150, 100, and 150 ppm (N1), 210, 235, and 200 ppm (N2), 250, 300 and 250 ppm (N3), and 300, 350, and 350 ppm (N4), respectively. The Buttercrunch cultivar and N3 treatment proved significantly more productive than the other cultivar/treatment combinations. The greatest fresh weights were recorded in the N3 nutrient solution, 115.33 and 93.17 g/plant for Buttercrunch and Black Seeded Simpson, respectively. Buttercrunch had the greatest fresh weight, leaf number, and leaf and root length in all nutrient solutions. The nitrogen content of the solutions showed a significant positive relationship with chlorophyll content for both cultivars. It is expected that the development of a cheap and easy-to-use hydroponic system will help growers produce high-quality organic vegetables including lettuce.
Journal Article
A Study on the Effects of the Dynamic Features of Light-Based eHMI on Pedestrians’ Crossing Behavior
While light-based external human–machine interfaces (eHMIs) on automated vehicles (AVs) are increasingly studied to mediate pedestrian–vehicle conflicts, gaps persist in understanding how specific dynamic features of the AV’s headlights influence pedestrians’ prediction of its yielding intention and their crossing behavior. This study systematically investigates the effects of dynamic elements of vehicle lighting—including animation patterns, animation speed, and light-emitting area—on pedestrians’ objective and subjective evaluations. A factorial design framework was employed, where participants viewed video simulations of an approaching AV displaying headlight designs combining multiple dynamic features. For different vehicle motion states, the vehicle–pedestrian distance was integrated as a variable to examine its interaction effect with lighting features. Objective measures of cueing effects were complemented by subjective ratings and user preference study via questionnaires. Results showed that there were more crossing behaviors of the pedestrian when presenting higher animation speed of dynamic light eHMIs. Animation pattern and light-emitting area does not play an important role in pedestrian decision-making, but proper design of these two features can evoke higher visual attention. When the vehicle–pedestrian distance is longer, the dynamic features of lighting will more affect people’s willingness to cross. The effects of light eHMIs seemed more significant for the AV travelling in constant speed. Our findings advance preliminary suggestions for selecting light-based eHMIs in the appropriate scenarios and can contribute actionable insights for designing intuitive, human-centric AV–pedestrian negotiation strategies.
Journal Article