Exhaustive test sets for algebraic specifications

In the context of testing from algebraic specifications, test cases are ground formulas chosen amongst the ground semantic consequences of the specification, according to some possible additional observability conditions. A test set is said to be exhaustive if every programme P passing all the tests is correct and if for every incorrect programme P, there exists a test case on which P fails. Because correctness can be proved by testing on such a test set, it is an appropriate basis for the selection of a test set of practical size. The largest candidate test set is the set of observable consequences of the specification. However, depending on the nature of specifications and programmes, this set is not necessarily exhaustive. In this paper, we study conditions to ensure the exhaustiveness property of this set for several algebraic formalisms (equational, conditional positive, quantifier free and with quantifiers) and several test hypotheses. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Radon hazard in shallow groundwaters II: dry season fracture drainage and alluvial fan upwelling

²²²Rn concentrations have been measured in a well located on the edge of a large Pleistocene-Holocene fan and belonging to the shallow pyroclastic aquifer of the Pietramelara Plain, southern Italy. The aim of this study has been both to characterise the hydrological inputs that determine the influx of ²²²Rn to the shallow aquifer and to understand the correlations between ²²²Rn, major ions, physical-chemical parameters and rainfall. Results obtained from the time series indicate that the studied well shows a ²²²Rn variability that is inconsistent with a mechanism of pure hydrological amplification, such as described in Radon hazard in shallow groundwaters: Amplification and long term variability induced by rainfall (De Francesco et al., 2010a). On the contrary, in this well hydrological amplification appears to be mainly tied to the upwelling of alluvial fan waters, rich in radon, in response to pistoning from recharge in the carbonate substrate. This upwelling of alluvial fan waters occurs during almost the whole period of the annual recharge and is also responsible of the constant increase in ²²²Rn levels during the autumn-spring period, when both the water table level and weekly rainfall totals drop. Furthermore, a rapid delivery mechanism for ²²²Rn likely operates through fracture drainage in concomitance with the very first late summer-early autumn rains, when rainfall totals appear largely insufficient to saturate the soil storage capacity. Results obtained from this study appear to be particularly significant in both radon hazard zoning in relation to the shallow aquifer and possibly also for indoor radon, owing to possible shallow aquifer-soil-building exchanges. Moreover, both the spike-like events and the long wave monthly scale background fluctuations detected can also have potential significance in interpreting ²²²Rn time series data as seismic and/or volcanic precursors. Finally, ²²²Rn has proved to be an excellent tracer for hydrological inputs to the shallow aquifer when combined with major ions, physical-chemical data and geological and geomorphological controls.     

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Cleavage of desmin by cysteine proteases: Calpains and cathepsin B

The intermediate filament protein, desmin, was purified from pork longissimus dorsi and incubated with either μ-calpain, m-calpain or cathepsin B. Proteolysis of desmin was followed using SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. After incubation of desmin with the proteases, cleavage sites on the desmin molecule were identified by N-terminal sequencing of the different proteolytic fragments. Desmin incubated with either m-calpain or μ-calpain was primarily cleaved in the head and tail region leaving the rod domain relatively intact even after prolonged incubation. Incubation with cathepsin B produces a sequential C-terminal degradation pattern characteristic of this dipeptylpeptidase. The substrate primary structure was not found to be essential for regulation of the proteolytic activity of the cysteine peptidases studied. However, the degradation patterns obtained imply that calpains are involved in degradation of desmin early post-mortem, targeting the non-helical region of the desmin molecule and resulting in depolymerisation and initial disorganisation of the intermediate filament structures of the muscle cell.     

Fluorescence Polarization Immunoassay for Rapid, Accurate and Sensitive Determination of Ochratoxin A in Wheat

A sensitive and accurate fluorescence polarization (FP) immunoassay has been developed for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) in naturally contaminated wheat samples. A fluorescein-labeled OTA tracer was synthesized, and its binding response with three monoclonal antibodies was tested. The most sensitive competitive FP immunoassay showed an IC₅₀ value of 0.48 ng/mL with a negligible cross-reactivity for ochratoxin B (1.7 %) and no cross-reactivity with other mycotoxins commonly occurring in wheat. The wheat sample was extracted with acetonitrile/water (60:40, v/v) and purified by a rapid solid-phase extraction procedure using an aminopropyl column prior to the FP immunoassay. The overall time of analysis was less than 20 min. The average recovery from spiked wheat samples (3 to 10 μg/kg) was 87 %, with relative standard deviations generally lower than 6 %. Limits of detection and quantification were 0.8 and 2.0 μg/kg, respectively. The trueness of the method was assessed by using two reference materials for OTA showing good accuracy and precision. A good correlation (r?=?0.995) was observed between OTA contamination of 19 naturally contaminated wheat samples analyzed by both FP immunoassay and high-performance liquid chromatography/immunoaffinity clean-up used as reference method. These results show that the developed FP method is suitable for high-throughput screening, as well as for reliable quantitative determination of OTA in wheat at level far below the EU regulatory limits.     

Effect of calcination/rehydration treatments on the environment of V in β zeolite

A dealuminated zeolite β has been contacted with solutions of ammonium metavanadate to incorporate vanadium as tetrahedral V species which are not removed under treatment with aqueous solution of ammonium acetate. The effects of calcination and rehydration on the environment of the V species have been studied by diffuse reflectance UV-visible and ⁵¹V NMR. The reducibility of the V species has been followed by TPR and ESR. The dehydroxylation/rehydroxylation process occurring in the β framework upon dehydration/rehydration has been monitored by ²⁹Si MAS NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Linear parameter-varying versus linear time-invariant control design for a pressurized water reactor

The applicability of employing a parameter-dependent control to a nuclear pressurized water reactor is investigated and is compared to that of using an ℋ︁_∞ control. A linear time-invariant controller cannot maintain performance over the entire operating range. The parameter-dependent synthesis technique produces a controller which achieves specified performance against the worst-case time variation of a measurable parameter which enters the plant in a linear fractional manner. The plant can thus have widely varying dynamics over the operating range. The controllers designed perform well over the entire operating range. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.